Say Anything Band • Page 31

I've never really liked Mara and Me because of the voice that sounds like that old man from Family Guy. Fed to Death is a good opener but I never listen to the album as a whole anymore and it doesn't really stand up by itself.

 

Let's not pretend Do Better isn't one of SA's best songs. Also have a lot of love for Eloise, Mara and Me, Cemetary, and Ah... Men.

 

Do Better fell off hard for me.

 

Death for My birthday though.... That song was super uplifting for me when I first heard it haha

 

That bass on Mara and Me..

 

I still ride for Anarchy, My Dear. I don't return to Self-Titled nearly as much. I know it's partially nostalgic value and I know the lows are lower ("Admit It Again," and "Sheep"), but the highs on that album ("Overbiter," "The Stephen Hawking") rival my favorite moments on S/T and are some of my all-time favorite Say Anything songs.

 

OK now running back through Anarchy, finding that I enjoy this now less than I remember... anywhoo, here's my breakdown!!

Great:
Burn A Miracle
The Stephen Hawking

Good:
Say Anything
Night's Song
Anarchy, My Dear

OK:
Admit It Again
Sheep
Peace Out
Overbiter
Of Steel

Bad:
So Good

 

"Of Steel" and "So Good" are underrated

 

I really hate So Good, just no redeeming qualities to that song for me

 

So Good is great, Of Steel is even better.

 

Love Of Steel.


Peace Out always gets hate, but I love it.

 

It's 4:30 in the morning and I just got off the phone with Max. Life is weird (and I love it)

 

I'm embarrassed to love your avatar as much as I do.

 

Y'all want to know the answers to your questions now or wait until I publish the interview?

I'm transcribing today and then I just need to come up with a name for the damn thing

 

Anarchy, My Beer
I Don't Think It Is Max's First Interview
Baby Girl, I'm a Blur: How Darren King Plays the Drums

 

I would like to hear my answer now please. ESP with the recent S/T love discussion in here.

 

Sorry this is late - I'm still transcribing and I just got to your question. I also have a dreadful habit of walking away with the phone while I'm recording an interview, so there's often a little more to some of the answers than what makes publish. I can tell you that right before this answer, he basically said Say Anything would likely never return to a major label, both because it's unlikely he'd ever have the opportunity to and because he's very happy with the creative control he's been afforded since the self-titled record.

Aiming to have the full interview published by Tuesday.

 

Hey guys!

This is ACTUAL max. As I discussed with Aaron on the phone, people in bands are people too. I haven't been on a message board since maybe 2008 but because of my discussion with Aaron I felt like it would be interesting to visit this thread.

Firstly, it's amazing to see that people have such a constant discourse or discussion about what I output, our (even though it's king of fucking weird) what I tweet.

Thank you so much to anyone who said something nice or moderately complimentary about anything we've created. and thanks to those who don't like something and feel compelled to contribute to the conversation. As much as this thread and this site are only one facet of the reaction to everything I do, y'all's extension from absolutepunk makes me take it a bit more seriously than i would the average thread.

i gotta be honest though.

any implication that my family (who comes on every tour i do and is the focus of my entire existence) or my personal life are fucked up is deeply hurtful, degrading and something you should think about before posting about, even if just for the fact that i (a person who is nothing more than a person who cares what people think about my art) might stumble upon it.
i'm sure you guys recognize the toxic nature of like, buzzfeed, but if you're speculating on someone's personal life on a message board, you're no better.

i live a pretty mellow life at home with my kids and mostly sit around reading and writing comic books and playing pretend with them. anything i project publicly is something i don't feel ashamed doing, as i want my kids to know everyone is merely a human being, especially their neurotic, messed up father. if that bothers you... i dunno.

i adore the divide in opinion about each of our records. i feel the same about my favorite bands (or bands i just like). one day, something will be a terrible career misstep in my eyes, and the next day if i'm in the right mood it's the best album i've ever heard. sometimes i just ditch a band entirely. and the fact that you're even taking the time to comment on the process as a fan is beautiful (though i can't relate to the idea of saying negative or personally insulting things about art on a message board, and have never done it myself).

to address some of the more "conflicted" opinions on this thread....

i am very open about the fact that i drink, but don't do drugs anymore. sometimes, after an entire month of living in a bus and waiting to play late at night (which is a crazy-making experience, i shit you not), i will totally fuck up a show.
that being said, the same thing could be said about many of my favorite bands from bright eyes to oasis to the stooges - rock can be a messy, fucked up affair. all of us are reaching to appear talented at best and just trying to express ourselves through loudness.

and we're not bieber. we're a sloppy indie punk pop band. with say anything, if you see us live, you're signing up for a completely genuine experience. about 95% of the time that is a well balanced thing (which i've seen people stand by on this site, and very much appreciate). clearly, i will inevitably fuck up and totally make an asshole of myself a couple of times on every tour. i'm not ashamed of it, but even when that happens, i am still TRYING as hard as i can. i'd rather lose myself in the music and the experience and have that bite me in the ass a few times rather than phone it in, ever.

i've seen a few mentions about me "putting my foot in my mouth" politically on twitter. this is VERY weird. not to mention i've read a few offensive things about me (a jew) writing songs about the plight of jewish identity and that my perspective as a jew is invalid... which is super fucked up. (i'm specifically talking about our songs "hebrews" and "died a jew".

are any of those who've stated this actually jewish? it's hard to be the descendant of people who died in the holocaust, but are forced to stand witness while jews victimize islamic people in our own self prescribed country/colony. it's a pretty disturbing phenomenon and creates a constant divide in my mind between what i believe and what is imposed on me and my identity. additionally, regarding my tweets, i'm yet another talking head who hates donald trump. if you like the dude and are on this message board, you're a dipshit. and if simply wanting a society that isn't focused on capitol or a self imposed, rigid set of rules is naive...fuck yeah i'm naive. nothing will stop me from expressing that through my lyrics or my pointless masturbatory tweets. and yes, i feel plight for anyone who was born a bit too late to understand the nomenclature of politically correct society, but wants to contribute to universal freedom and love. i want us all to team up and fuck with the bad guys.

as i said, i appreciate any opinion on the ACTUAL MUSIC that i've read on this site and i owe my career to you guys, and it's an amazing career that feeds my kids and enables me to keep making music. i take you guys super seriously and while some bands and artists do their best to pretend people like you don't matter, i'm pretty dead set on being tuned in. our next record IS a concept record, and is as utterly naive and probably divisive as everything i've done. it's not "lo fi" but nor is it a recreation of is a real boy or in defense or any record that it's socially acceptable to be dedicated to. the only substantial connection with is a real boy is how dark the lyrics are, and how they're about someone younger than i am struggling with identity and self loathing. will yip will be producing it, and anyone who doesn't understand how awesome he is is missing the point (IMO).

thank you guys. i hope this conversation continues long after this utterly self aware intrusion, but, again, we live in an age where the artist is equivalent to the listener so maybe i just fucked up your ability to openly love or hate what i do (probably not... y'all don't give a fuck, clearly and i love it).

don't think of the bands you like as above you. we're pathetic. we're here. we're listening. and we're butthurt.

xo
m

 

Thank you for the post Max, I genuinely feel bad that this thread has brought any sort of negativity towards you or your family. I hope that the site as a whole can learn from this. Keep on rocking, I am (and most of this thread) a forever fan of your music

 

Very cool of you to join us in here, hope I haven't said anything too dumb. Despite all the IDTII bashing I'm still a huge fan and very much looking forward to whatever you put out next. Like you said though, disliking things your favourite bands put out is normal and maybe one day I'll come around on it. I still respect your right as an artist to make what you want and I definitely think it was an interesting artistic statement, haha.

Anyway, can't imagine you'll stick around very long, I'm sure you're very busy, but if you do read this thanks for all the music. I do love most of it and IARB means a lot to me. I hope you continue to make interesting and different music for years to come.

 

hey, Max!



sorry people suck

 

Hey, Max!

I don't know if you'll continue reading posts here or not (Hope you do, but don't blame you if ya don't), but I thought it might be helpful or it would at least make me feel less guilty to give a perspective on some of the comments here. I've often felt that the biggest fans can sometimes offer the harshest criticism, because they're defensive of the things they love. I've been to different forums all over the internet and this is really the only one I post on, because unlike 4chan, Reddit, or even something like Sputnik, there seems to be a sense of community here and a positive, encouraging one, at that. I'm not as active as most users, nor do I tend to agree with many things said (as I'm sure other users will say of my opinions), but what I can say is that this is a good group of people that I don't believe would ever say something with the intent to hurt or damage one's feelings...but, when discussing celebrities or figures that seem "distant," I think it becomes very easy for us to put our feet in our own mouths (more on that later). If you look at the Kanye discussion board, or many others, you might see some of the same discussions that can be critical, or personal. What I'm getting at is that (I feel) we're discussing your band because we care about it, we care about you, and wish you success. I've been a fan since the self-titled era, and despite different opinions, I've noticed that with each new album, fans want to enjoy it, even if the last one didn't fall in line with their taste. Words can be said carelessly, especially online, and for my own, I apologize if it came off insensitive (and I'm sure to a degree, they were). Anything that I have said, and many other users, I'm sure, were said simply because we care and sometimes, possessive fans can be like overprotective parents...or children, maybe? (O.K., now you're definitely not coming back here, lol.)

On the topic of the politics, because I feel like my own comments are probably to blame, the reason I brought it up is because I believe that we should criticize the leaders of our country (no matter who they are), that it's somewhat of a civic duty to do so, actually. However, I've seen many bad examples of this in the last year or so actually make such heinous organizations as the alt-right seem more "reasonable." (One recent example is that "Goodnight, Alt-Right" video that has gone semi-viral.) Not to make this even more ego-centric, but I'm working on my own criticism of Trump followers and how it can become a cult very quickly, and how scary many of these people are who could be interacting with our peers, or even in some horrifying cases, our children. What I'm saying is that as a fan, I'm hoping to love the shit out of the new album and in the case of talking about this, put my own foot in my mouth.

With the discussion over songs like "Died a Jew" and "Hebrews" and the content...when approaching such sensitive issues in art, it can often create dialogues and I think it is often a compliment to the provocative powers of a work. I enjoy both songs (though I do like "Hebrews" quite a bit more, personally), but I do feel that such conversations can be productive. I'm sure you already got that and it's probably stupid of me to even try to explain this to someone who shaped my views on art and ironically enough, how we discuss our favorite artists on web forums.

tl;dr: I'm sorry for any hurtful comments that were shed stupidly on my part and I do believe that most, if not everyone in this thread wishes the best for you and your band.

 

Max


We love you here. I'm sorry if what any of us has posted made you feel attaked. As far as the people saying you're live shows are hit/miss, and you feeling upset about that let me say this:

I saw SA in Oct of '09 right before the s/t came out. You guys were amazing. I never would have thought a live SA show would sound so heavy, and raw. Me, and my friend had a blast. Then I saw you solo in '12 in SF. Again a stellar performance.

Keep performing how you see fit. I'll go to another SA show soon I hope.

 

I'm still waiting to see SA live, ha. I almost saw them back in 2012 with MCS but I had an exam on the same day, I was so sad.

 

Max, thank you so much for taking the time to post and interact with us. I am sorry that any comments have hurt you or your family. I want you to know that your music has got me out of so many dark times/ has saved my damn life so many times, and your family/Lucy and Coraline and their videos on instagram bring me so much joy all the time. I was one of those people who posted in here about that show in Virgina a few years ago where you were struggling, but I love you no matter what, and you will always continue to be one of my heroes and my favorite band. I have seen you 15 times live and don't plan on missing any tour - even if you have an off night from time to time. Don't let the haters affect you or get you butthurt. I can't wait for the new album. Sending lots of love.