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Say Anything (band)

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Say Anything

Say Anything is an American indie band from Los Angeles, California, fronted by 23-year-old singer-songwriter Max Bemis.

History

Say Anything began their career in 2001 under the name Sayanything. All but two of the original members attended Windward School at this time. Coby Linder attended Shalhevet High School and Josh Eichenstein attended Beverly Hills High School. They self-released two EP's, Junior Varsity and Menorah\Majora (Menorah\Majora being an online release), and one LP entitled Baseball. Both Baseball and Junior Varsity are out of print and are no longer available.

Though it was previously indicated that Bemis would not perform any songs from Baseball live, he recently stated in an interview with Absolutepunk.net saying that "I will play them again at some point in some capacity." These early albums have a more straightforward emo/pop-punk sound, as opposed to the hard-rock sound of later works. In 2003, Forrest Kline (of power pop band hellogoodbye) recorded For Sale... with them, which was their third EP released. Photos of Kline recording with Say Anything can be found on the official hellogoodbye website.

In August 2004, ...Is a Real Boy was released on Doghouse Records. The album was produced by famed punk producer Tim O'Heir, with arrangements added by Stephen Trask, the Grammy-nominated author of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Some time after the album was released, a set of 8 songs entitled Vs. AIDS Demos was leaked onto the internet by an unknown source. Soon the band told fans that the demos were part of an AIDS benefit album that had been scrapped, and told anyone who had attained them not to distribute them to anyone else. Max Bemis later stated on his website that "that shit sucks" in regard to the demos, though it was eventually commercially released under the title ...Was a Real Boy.[citation needed]

During fall 2005, frontman Max Bemis was hospitalized after a nervous breakdown, shortly before the reissue of ...Is a Real Boy and the band's headlining tour, causing them to postpone it until January.[2] This marked the second time Bemis's mental health had forced the band to pull out of a tour.[3] He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder afterwards, but has had no related problems interfere with Say Anything since the original incident.

Say Anything then signed with J Records, owned by Sony BMG Music Entertainment, one of the "big four" record labels. Under J Records they have re-released ...Is a Real Boy with a bonus disk entitled ...Was a Real Boy containing seven of the eight Vs. AIDS Demos. This album, originally scheduled to be released on October 25, 2005, was delayed over 4 months to February 28th, 2006. Some copies ended up leaking out through various retailers, most notably Tower Records through their website. Most leaks occurred due to retailers shipping pre-orders before J Records had a chance to stop them. Soon copies of the album were selling for over $50 on eBay.[citation needed]

On May 17, 2007, an episode from the television show Scrubs ("My Point of No Return") featured Say Anything's song "Alive with the Glory of Love".

Say Anything has released a dual disc album, In Defense of the Genre. Pre-orders shipped October 20th, arriving the 22nd for most, with the street date being October 23rd. It is produced by Brad Wood (Sunny Day Real Estate, The Smashing Pumpkins).[4]

Say Anything released the single "Baby Girl, I'm a Blur" via iTunes on October 2nd, 2007.

Members

Say Anything currently comprises members Max Bemis, Coby Linder, Alex Kent, Jake Turner, Jeff Turner, and Parker Case. Several band members are known from previous ventures, musical and otherwise.

Band member Max Bemis was an extra in the movie Face/Off (he can be seen standing next to the choir girl). More personally, vocalist Bemis is Jewish and was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder, both of which are reappearing themes and inspirations behind his songs.

Musically, Max Bemis has also lent his vocal talents to The Starting Line (on "Ready", off the record Based on a True Story), Armor for Sleep ("Today," a Smashing Pumpkins cover), Hot Rod Circuit (on "Inhabit", off the record Reality's Coming Through), LadybiRdS (on "Regional Community Theater," and "Maxim And The Headphone Life," off the record Regional Community Theater), Motion City Soundtrack (on "Hello Helicopter" and "Point of Extinction" off the record Even If It Kills Me), New Found Glory (on "Crazy For You," off the record From the Screen to Your Stereo Pt. II, and on the Yo! Indie Rock Raps CD singing his his version of Ol Dirty Bastard's "Got Your Money".

Additionally, Parker Case is currently working on a solo project I and the Universe [5] and was half of the now-defunct alternative rock duo JamisonParker, the other half being Jamison Covington (who now performs in the band E For Explosion). Both Jake and Jeff Turner were in now-defunct bands Safety In Numbers (Andy Jackson of Hot Rod Circuit's side-project) and the Atlanta, Georgia based band Parkside View. Jake and Jeff now participate in another band named XO. [6]

In 2007, bassist Alex Kent started a record label, Gnome Records, which plans to release Japandi's debut album, The Great Dinosaur Mystery, in July of 2007. [7] Alex Kent is the only married member of the band, having wed in mid 2006.

Former members of Say Anything include Evan Span, Michael Levin, Josh Eichenstein, Dan Delauro, Kevin Seaton, Casper Adams, and Gabriel Rodriguez.

Performances

Say Anything has toured/performed with bands such as Dashboard Confessional, City and Colour, The Almost, My Chemical Romance, Saves the Day, Straylight Run, Meg & Dia, The Dear Hunter, Armor for Sleep, Recover, Sparta, Chase Pagan, Pistolita, Hot Rod Circuit, Northstar, Senses Fail, The Early November, The Bled, Circa Survive, Emanuel, Audio Karate, Thrice, The Get Up Kids, Jhombi, Hayden, Brazil, Forgive Durden, mewithoutYou, Hellogoodbye, Piebald, Paramore and MC Lars.

They had to cancel national tours in 2005 on two separate occasions due to Max's mental health issues. The two tours, one in the summer and one in the fall, featured Circa Survive and Emanuel opening for Say Anything, and a tour with Senses Fail, Saves the Day (Max's favorite band), and The Early November. On the latter, they were replaced by Emanuel.

Say Anything co-headlined a U.S. tour in spring 2007 with Bemis' well known favorite band, Saves the Day. Plans were originally made for Say Anything to headline with Saves the Day opening, but Max refused to go on after Chris Conley, so a co-headlining tour was a compromise (with the bands taking turns playing last). Also, a few days before Max announced their tour Chris Conley posted notice on the Saves the Day website that they would be going on tour in the spring. It was later announced that Saves the Day and Say Anything would tour with the bands Meg and Dia, The Dear Hunter, Manchester Orchestra, The Almost, and John Raulston. While on this tour, band members Max Bemis and Chris Conley sometimes performed each others songs together.

Say Anything were confirmed to play Give It a Name festival at the end of April 2007 for the second year in a row, but have since pulled out. They were also scheduled to play Summerfest 2007 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but they backed out at the last minute. Another band, The Graduate, was bumped up to play their spot.

Say Anything was part of the first Myspace tour, co-headlining with Hellogoodbye; others who also performerd are Polysics and Young Love, with bands such as Dr. Manhattan making appearances along the way.

In other performances, Say Anything has been featured on television shows The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and Last Call with Carson Daly, as well as premiering their video "Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too" on MTV. Their current video for "Baby Girl, I'm a Blur" plays regularly on mtvU.

In late 2007/early 2008 Say Anything toured the United Kingdom in support of Hellogoodbye, along with Sherwood and Go:Audio, (December 2007).

On January 14th 2008, Say Anything announced their latest US Headlining tour, being supported by bands such as Manchester Orchestra, Biffy Clyro and Weatherbox. The tour will begin in March.

Discography

Albums

Release date Title Label
2001 Baseball self-released
2004 ...Is a Real Boy Doghouse Records
2007 In Defense of the Genre J Records

EPs

Release date Title Label
2000 Junior Varsity self-released
2002 Menorah\Majora self-released
2004 For Sale... Doghouse Records

Singles

Release date Title Album US Modern Rock
2006 "Alive with the Glory of Love" ...Is a Real Boy #28
2007 "Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too" ...Was a Real Boy
2007 "Baby Girl, I'm a Blur" In Defense of the Genre #29

References

  1. ^ "Say Anything Overview". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-2-1. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  2. ^ "Say Anything Eyes Early 2007 For New CD". Billboard.
  3. ^ "Say Anything Guy Talks Psychiatric Drugs". Aversion.
  4. ^ "Say Anything Eyes Early 2007 For New CD".
  5. ^ MySpace.com - I And The Universe - Los Angeles, California - Autre / Indie - www.myspace.com/iandtheuniverse
  6. ^ http://www.myspace.com/xotheband XO the band on MySpace
  7. ^ http://www.japandi.com Japandi official site

Official sites

Other pages

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