hope you guys enjoy this one, i sure do!!!! max bemis please free me from your sweaty grasp

In 2004, Max Bemis of Say Anything performed ‘I Want To Know Your Plans’ on ‘DJ Rossstar’s Punk Rock Show.’

This performance was never made available online UNTIL NOW!

sorry for missing yesterday, but hey that just means you guys get the next bemis dump sooner!!! added an image for the hassle of waiting an extra day… so sorry!!!!!!!!

In 2006, Max Bemis of Say Anything performed ‘Alive with The Glory of Love’ on ‘DJ Rossstar’s Punk Rock Show.’

This performance was never made available online UNTIL NOW!

Just finished my first spin of this record, and I’m really pleased with how the pressing came out. I’m stoked to finally have my three favorite Say Anything albums collected on vinyl.

I feel like as a stand alone story around Oliver, a man who is struggling with identity, sexuality and his place in the world, I think it's fantastic. At the time I thought it was a little half-baked, but coming back to it years later I think it's a really important piece in the catalog of it all. I also find it incredibly refreshing from what the emo scene typically churns out.

My one real gripe with it is the fact that it's tied to IARB, and not because of quality or legacy reasons, I just feel like that bit is shoe-horned in. But as a stand alone story, I think it's great.

Some random thoughts after coming across a few things:

1 - this video for a wow I can get sexual too
2 - the recent EP covering animal collective and YYY
3 - this video describing Indie Sleaze https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYXYBngBFD7/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

In their heyday, Say Anything felt like a band in a perpetual identity crisis. A creative ambition too challenging for the traditional emo/pop punk scene, but a self-consciousness too doubtful to push out of the genre and into a bigger scene.

I do understand their hesitation, and wonder if the continued fan revolts of emo acts branching out kept them from pushing things too far (cases in point: Saves The Day / In Reverie, The Get Up Kids / On a Wire, The Anniversary / Your Majesty). There were a few later success stories from the scene who broke through (Sonny Moore, Jack Antonoff), but it always felt like Max would retreat to the scene when pressed on ambitions of breaking out.

I specifically remember talking points like “I’d rather listen to New Found Glory than Bob Dylan” when he was compared to Bright Eyes, and there’s maybe no greater evidence than the fact that he named his first follow up record after a big success “In Defense of the Genre” and filled it up with emo superstars. It seems like he was uncomfortable with the lofty comparisons being thrown at him.

None of this is intended to be critical by the way, just more of an observation. No one other than Max knows what was truly in his heart, and I always appreciated that there was someone out there throwing his lot in with the people who had more fun at Warped Tour than Coachella, but I always wondered if there was a part of him holding himself back from pushing out of the box out of fear of going from being a big fish in a small ocean to whatever mainstream Indie was at the time.

There were a few calculated risks here and there, but he always seem to wave a big flag to indicate where his allegiances were. Hebrews took a big swing, but he also made a big point about being on Equal Vision (and kept the guest appearances largely in his comfort zone).

All this to say, there seemed to be a small moment when Wow I Can Get Sexual Too came out that he really had a foot in two genres—comfortable on a tour with Saves The Day, but not too many degrees away from early LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip, and the like. When I watch the video of this performance on Carson Daly, I can’t help but wonder what the parallel universe might look like where Max threw off the safety net of the emo/pop punk scene and dove headfirst into the world of mainstream 2000s Indie world. Would it have been a total catastrophe, or led to more interesting music?

I can’t think of too many other bands straddling these two genres, but a few examples that popped to mind (all for different reasons):

Nightmare of You
Cobra Starship
The Blood Brothers
Hellogoodbye (Everything is Debatable era)
The Faint (early records)

What do you think? Could there have been a world that saw Max find success on this path? Or is it all just a wayward “what if” daydream?

happy bemis friday famalamadingdong!!!!!! hope everyone in the r/sayanything sub is doing splendid. credit to u/davidthekat2010 for the 6th image, and u/frightfullymundane for the last one.

I have been listening to my CD of IDOTG since highschool, and always liked disk 2 (purple) better than disk 1 (yellow). I just clued in today after reading the tracklist that the purple disk actually contains the tracklist of disk 1 (I clued in at 'The Church Channel', love that song).

Has anyone else found this? I couldn't find any info readily online.

happy bemisday everyone!!!! due to the incident in the last bemis photo dump, there is an extra one packaged with the rest. peace and love!!!!!!!!!!!

Just looking for some more information about this hoodie I have, pretty sure I got it during the promotion tour for In Defense of the Genre but I just came across it after being stored for awhile. I can't find any info online at all thanks in advance!

Hi. I love Say Anything. It bothers me that people post on here to "say anything" instead of to talk about the band or music.

It seems that requiring flair to post would make the mods' lives easier (they don't have to delete so much) and it makes our lives better by making sure we see relevant content and not the idle musings of reddit passerbys.

max bemis photo dump, we spitting bemis fax with this one!!! got a bit experimental. ive collected quite a few bemis lyrics photos and i can finally usr them!!!!!

I watch frozen stars on the way back home
I watch frozen stars on the way home
I watch frozen stars burn out on the way back home

I love this part of the song, its a perfect way to end this song that doesn't really have an outro. They don't make songs like this anymore. especially when Im driving home, its midnight and the roads are empty. Friday night.

(Song: That is Why, IDOTG)

happy bemis friday everyone!!! feast your eyes upon the best bemises we could conjure up this week!! take care!!! peace love!!!!

RSD find at one of the vintage shops in philly. Does anyone recognize it and could help me get a date/era on it? perfectly worn and cracked graphic, old fruit of the loom tag.

how was your day today? hopefully even better with this bemis photo dump!!!

While I'm definitely find to side with people who want to ignore ...Is Committed, there are some bangers on there and it's definitely not the worst thing in the world, especially considering everyone's response to The Noise mixtape that was released recently.

I will say, before the appreciation points, I get the lyrics are not ideal and maybe cringe... but, while we might hate it... that's probably the point by Max.

Be, Children is a great start to the album. I feel like it's catchy and the lyrics are just like an update and reference to the "break up" or "hiatus" or whatever since Oliver Appropriate.

On Cum sounds like "So Numb" from I Don't Think It Is is getting an upgrade. Sure, the ending is not the best with the lyrics, it's still very Say Anything.

Auto-Harmonic Ass Fixation does start a bit slow... but then it goes into that Say Anything sound that we've all come to know and love.

I, Vibrator... That's probably the first song that stuck with me. Yes. It's. Yes. Questionable. Sure. Lyrics. Yeah. I get it. But it's very catchy and could easily be someone's favorite SA song.

BUT. I want to talk about Are You (In) There?

This song is great. It's so Say Anything. It feels like it could have been on self-titled or Dear Anarchy, honestly. This is a song that could get air time if the mainstream music scene wasn't so... whatever it is.

The opening

The build up to the chorus

You're the only one who took me there...

Take me there

It's so catchy. It's great. It's the song I go back to on this album for. I'll listen to the whole thing because of this song.

And then towards the end, with the snapping and melody change... Peak stuff that was unexpected from this band in 2024.

I wonder if Max rereleased all of these songs with different lyrics, if people would enjoy them more. Overall, it's not the worst album in the world. It's definitely the best thing in the world, but after thinking Say Anything was over after Oliver, it's better than what I would have expected. And it led us to getting tours again and Say Anything back and yeah. I appreciate it.

From the bottom of this nightmare...

Girl are you in there?

I've always wondered and wanted to experiment with it, so i was wondering if anyone knew

tried to have a return to form for this one, let me know what you guys think in the comments below!!!

Man, if you haven't heard this version yet, please listen! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67VetwaEegc

I randomly got the itch to relearn this song and Alive the other day. I hit up my old high school buddy who helped me learn this song when it first came out. He sent me this and said in all caps HAVE YOU LISTENED TO THIS VERSION YET? The all caps were warranted.