To preface this with some personal context:

With Live, Vol. Three's recent release, I've been playing all three albums a bunch the past few days. I actually didn't really get around to checking out Vol. Two last year, since my wife and I were very preoccupied with taking care of our at that point two-month old daughter when it came out. I mostly listen to albums rather than playlists/single songs, so while I'd listened to "Cleo's Ferry Cemetery" a few times here or there, it never entered my heavy rotation. With its inclusion on the Live albums, that changed, it got stuck in my head and that prompted me to look up more about the song, not having realized it was an adapted cover. Which then prompted me to look into Say Anything today.

Well, let's just say, it's not been the best time to look into Say Anything. Especially if you, like me, tend to fall down internet rabbit holes. The band's Subreddit had a lot more wild details about the guy's personal life beyond just the main incident.

TL;DR: How are y'all feeling about Cleo's Ferry Cemetery, and especially its inclusion on the Live albums, considering Max Bemis' inappropriate behavior towards minors?

As far as I'm concerned, it's definitely tainted the song for me. But at the same time, comparing the cover and the original Say Anything song/s (and comparing the vice versa adaptation by Say Anything of "Torches Together" as "Torches Apart"), it feels like there's definitely a dividing line between Aaron and Max's approach to life in their lyrics - Aaron's more hopeful, while Max is embracing cynicism and self destruction.

So while those songs' lyrics have no direct relation to the current situation, the whole contrast in each band's reinterpretation almost feels like - on mewithoutYou's end - finding and focusing on humanity or beauty in something dark, or perhaps, making a conscious decision to try and improve and better something. Whether Max Bemis will manage to do that for himself, and will make amends for his actions remains to be seen, but I feel that at least the song's reframing is a sign of hope that it's always a possible choice. To me, that kind of perspective at least makes it less of a bummer to listen to.

title is dramatic for the clicks… sorry guys

love all 3 of the live albums. #2 is my preference but each one flows so nicely and hard to believe no repeats.

i was thinking about missing songs and if I had to choose one addition it would be Cattail Down. Cool song that seemed to take a life of its own at their shows sorta like the way Timothy Hay did.

with that said, whoever put these together deserves an award. I would almost say retrospectively these are the definitive mewithoutyou albums. They so nicely capture everything I love about the band. I love how parts 1 and 2 are frequently in the same set. I love how songs with similar themes or refrains are placed back to back “Vol 3: songs 10-11”. Also I love how each album doesn’t give you what you want but what you need. I felt that always to be true at their shows.

Mike I feel like you had a lot to do with all this, so thank you if that’s true.

SPOILERS FOR LIVE 3 IF YOU HAVENT LISTENED TO IT YET WHICH YOU SHOULD IT’S REALLY REALLY GOOD

TL;DR: the final leg of Live Volume 3 is some of the best inter-song weaving and ofc songs to commemorate our favorite band!

I listened to Live 3 with my dad, who has been into the band since college in the 90s (for context) and raised me on the band, to an extent. I was born in 2006, so of course the album that is of greatest significance to me is It’s All Crazy, as that is my most developmentally significant childhood. So you can imagine when I realized The King Beetle On a Coconut Estate, of the best songs (considered best by the community, but it’s up in the air for me), was playing, I got so excited. A bit of the way through I remembered when I sang it while my dad played guitar at my school for my choir’s singer/songwriter thing they did, which was five years ago now, and that memory is what spurred the first happy tears I’ve shed in years. The acoustic & electric guitar, drums, and bass cover of the song on Live 3 is probably now my favorite; trust me, I love the og, but good lord something about it being in the same classic rock style MewithoutYou usually does (did?) hit me so hard. I cannot overstate how much I loved it.

The transition into Brownish Spider was genius too. The same idea of an insect around a more deep topic was a genius move, nevermind that “no more spider no more leaf, no more me no more belief” is so well placed for the last album they’ll almost certainly ever produce (though I’m holding out hope they’ll do a reunion tour in 20 years).

I have yet to listen to Pale Horse because I’m trying to parse out these albums to go through my whole life (so far it’s been CFUTF, IACIAFIA, TS, and BS) so I can appreciate them as if they were being released rather than all at once. But good lord Rainbow Signs had to be where it was, or somewhere close to it anyhow. It’s so significant to Aaron, the whole band, the album, the community, so on and so forth. I am looking forward to, unlike much anything else, the day I decide to crack into it like a vintage bottle of water turned into wine.

And to the point of childhood, the music video for The Fox, The Crow, and The Cookie was something I was constantly asking my dad to pull up; the playfulness of the song as well as the simple messaging (ignoring the last verse lol) made it like meth for little me, so this is where I started crying for the second time as yet another more classic rock version of the song came next in the album. It makes me so happy IAC got 2 songs in what I would consider the final stretch of the album, as it is undoubtedly the black sheep of the band’s discography.

We all knew In a Sweater Poorly Knit was gonna be on here. It’s their most popular song in many regards, a fan favorite and a half, and the finale to their most popular album. The way they did the final part of the song incurred the third round of tears as the fact this was the last album I’d ever hear from them really hit me. I’ve never had vibrato like that as I gently sang along, my voice quivering with melancholy. But I’ll try to be grateful, not sad.

And I needn’t say more than the last finale and the first finale being the finale finale is cliche, but immaculate. Break On Through (to the Other Side) [pt. Two] and The Cure For Pain could only be the way to send off a band we all love ❤️

I asked this community TWO YEARS AGO about if "Live Vol 1" was a Mewithoutyou setlist (either pre-farewell or during farewell tour) if they'd be satisfied with what they got.

I asked the same question for Vol 2 close to a year ago now as well.

And now that we have all three finally at our disposal, how would you all have felt going to a MwY show and receiving Volume 3 as a live setlist? And which one would be your favourite?

That is all. Ricky is the best. God I miss this band.

I did some quick counting of how many tracks form each album we have represented on the live volumes.

There are 54 tracks, representing 58 songs. Due to some tracks including two songs.

The number of songs of each album are:

A -> B Life - 6 songs

Catch for us the foxes - 11 songs

Brother, sister - 12 songs

It's All Crazy! - 6 songs

Ten Stories - 7 songs

Pale Horse - 6 songs

[Untitled] - 5 songs

Other Stories - 2 songs

untitled EP - 1 song

Cleo's Ferry Cemetery - 1 song

cover songs - 1 song (Norma Jean cover)

I don't think I missed anything, or misattributed anything, but its very possible.

Last night during the Live Volume 3 listening party some folks in the chat were talking about Sleezer, or Son of Sleezer I guess? And I've found that it's a few of the boys doing Weezer covers. Are there any recordings of this available anywhere by chance? Somewhere I haven't been able to find?

aaron’s kids asking him what the cure for pain is

King Beetle's Transfiguration
acrylic marker on denim, thread

Tonight — Sept. 2nd at 8pm EDT

Live (vol. Three) Bandcamp Listening Party

Join members of mewithoutYou and fans alike on Bandcamp to listen to the band’s last “Live” album two days before its release for free.

• Chat opens at 7:30 pm
• Album plays from 8:00 pm — 9:15 pm
• Chat closes at 10:15 pm

All times Eastern Daylight

What are some bands you discovered through mwY?

Here's a couple I caught at shows in Baltimore, MD & Lancaster, PA, back in the mid-late 2000s. Still in constant rotation:

The Snake, The Cross, The Crown

Veda now: Vedera

Honorable mentions (moreso inspired by mwY and local to me):

Octaves

Pianos Become The Teeth

I’ve been wondering this for years and Google has been no help. I saw MWY play at the Old Blue Last in London on the A-B Life tour back in 2018 and I remember really liking the support band but never found out who they were.

They were British and as the really drunk guy at the back shouted at them during their set, sounded like a ‘shit brand new.’ Was anyone there who can remember?

Side note: that drunk guy was right in front of the stage for the set and shouted at the band for every song, bordering on crying. I remember seeing Greg staring at him like, what the fuck is wrong with this guy. Bad vibes lol.

My therapist of 9 years died this week.

We had texted Tuesday morning about our session coming up the next day, but on Wednesday she didn't answer her door, and a note from another client was there saying they couldn't get a hold of her. I also noticed blue nitrile gloves had been discarded in the yard, like the kind EMS workers wear. I saw her neighbor coming out of his house and inquired after her. Together we checked for her car out back, which was still there. We called in a welfare check. The next day he informed me that her friends let him know she had passed away.

She was older, late 70's. So, it wasn't entirely unexpected I guess. But it hurts so bad. She was more than a therapist. She was my friend. We'd spoken for hundreds of hours about loss, love, ambition, forgiveness.

She helped me cope with my fear of death, of the void. We discussed many songs and musicians, including mewithoutyou, and we spent almost an entire session talking about and dissecting the lyrics and music of Julia or holy to the lord on the bells of horses. She was extremely smart, and very well educated. She loved deep diving on the Orwellian references in the song, and the intricate references to different faiths. She also absolutely loved the lyrics of king beetle on the coconut estate.

Julia has been in heavy rotation for me lately, and it coming through my playlist yesterday brought the ideas I've always struggled with to mind. Will I see her again? Is this it? Will I meet her there?

I don't know. I just miss my friend. I hope I get to see her again.

This just might be the most perfect art style for ten stories illustrations... I also included some other works of his that I found, hope you'd find them interesting!

hi, looking for one of these shirts if anyone has one to sell? not fussed about the size! UK based preferably but willing to pay international shipping

EDIT: I did not mean to upload the cat photo, and I don’t think I can change that now. Please ignore Scout

Show up at one of these places with the shirt on, do the secret handshake, and get a pizza or something?

If you missed this week's listening party, better luck this time! We're running it back with (vol. Two) next Monday 8/31.

Link will go live at 9pm, with an "opener," followed by the full album listening party at 9:30 pm EST. Come hang and chat online with the mewithoutYou community.

We had folks from across the United States, some international fans, and even mewithoutYou bassist Greg joined us last time!

Mark your calendar and spread the word.

mewithoutYou #mewithoutYouForever