Say Anything

Say Anything
Origin	Los Angeles, California, United States
Genre(s)	Punk, Alternative Rock
Years active	2000–present
Label(s)	Doghouse Records J Records
Members
Max Bemis Coby Linder Alex Kent Jake Turner Jeff Turner Parker Case
Former members
Evan Span Michael Levin Josh Eichenstein Dan Delauro Kevin Seaton Casper Adams Gabe Rodriguez

Say Anything is an alternative rock band from Los Angeles, California.

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 Menora/Majora (Menora/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 AP.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 the For Sale Tour EP 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. While recording this album, Bemis suffered a nervous breakdown. He attributes the breakdown to stress. Bemis was convinced that other people were secretly filming him and he was the center of a constructed story, much like that portrayed in The Truman Show. He was sometimes found walking the streets of Brooklyn, accusingly questioning strangers, in a dreamlike state. Shortly after, he committed himself to a mental institution, Max was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but then returned in good shape to finish the album. ^{[citation needed]}

Some time after ...Is a Real Boy 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]}

Say Anything then signed with J Records, owned by BMG 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 25th, 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 is planning on releasing a double album on October 23rd, 2007, In Defense of the Genre. It will be produced by Brad Wood (Sunny Day Real Estate, The Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters).^[1]

They have recently played two new songs which are assumed to be on the new album, "This Is Fucking Ecstasy" and "People Like You Are The Reason That People Like Me Exist", the former being played acoustic by Max. Say Anything is done recording, mastering, and mixing the new album. Say Anything released the single "Baby Girl, I'm a Blur" via iTunes on October 2nd, 2007. As of October 15th, iTunes also is selling the tracks "Shiksa" and "Spores".

A blog was released stating that every week until the release of their album, they will be releasing a new song on their myspace until October 23rd.

Members

Say Anything is currently composed of 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 he often makes reference to his religion in his songs. He was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and did an interview on this subject in March 2007.

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), and New Found Glory (on "Crazy For You," off the record From the Screen to Your Stereo Pt. II).

Additionally, Parker Case is currently working on a solo project I and the Universe ^[2] 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. ^[3]

In 2006, 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. ^[4] Alex Kent rumored to "marry" his current wife during tour with Dashboard Confessional.

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 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, Piebald, 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.

According to their MySpace postings, Say Anything planned to co-headline a U.S. tour in spring 2007 with fellow 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 comprimise (with the bands taking turns playing last). Max also mentioned in his MySpace blog discussing the tour that it would be with "one of the greatest bands out there" and it's widely known that Saves the Day is his favorite band. 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.

Currently, Say Anything is part of the first Myspace tour, co-headlining with Hellogoodbye, also performers are Polysics and YoungLove

In other performances, Say Anything has been featured on television shows The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and Last Call with Carson Daly.

Discography

Albums

• Baseball (2003, A.D.D. Records)
• ...Is a Real Boy (2004, Doghouse Records; re-released in 2006 by J Records)
• In Defense of the Genre (2007, J Records)

EPs

• Junior Varsity EP (2000, self-released, EP)
• Menora/Majora EP (2003), self-released, MP3 only)
• For Sale Tour EP (2003, Doghouse Records, EP)
• ...Was a Real Boy (2006, J Records)

Singles

• A Boston Peace (Brett Gurewitz version) (2003, self-released, MP3 only)
• Alive With The Glory Of Love (2006)
• Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too (2007)
• Baby Girl, I'm A Blur (2007)
• Shiksa (Girlfriend) (2007) (Digital Single)
• Skinny, Mean Man (2007) (Digital Single)

Radio Airplay

References

External links

Official sites

• Say Anything's Official Website
• Say Anything's Soundclick Page
• Say Anything's MySpace Profile
• Say Anything's Purevolume Page

Other pages

• Say Anything Interview (July 1st, 2007)
• "The bands that are saving L.A.’s music scene"
• Say Anything Interview on Punk Press Online
• Say Anything Interview on Mammoth Press
• Drew Sandholm Reports: Say Anything Interview, 04/23/2007
• AP interviews Say Anything

Donate to Wikimedia