SECOND POST: SAY ANYTHING (AND GLASSJAW, FUCK IT)
people who write great songs but aren't otherwise deserving of the virtuoso title you seem to give them
Max Bemis is a way better guitarist than people give him credit for and while I think "virtuoso" is definitely a stretch, I wouldn't hesitate to call him "unique." You hear a Say Anything melody played on guitar or harp or synth and you're like, "That's a Say Anything melody." He's got his own thing going on and it's really quite wonderful. I'll get into that more in a bit.
why not just explain what it is about that record that you really like instead of putting everything on a pedestal
Ironically, I kept that post short, because I usually get ragged out for purple prose. I only have to modes: say nothing and say everything.
What I like about
...Is A Real Boy would take tens of thousands of words to explore fully, so I'll keep it brief. I've listened to it every other week since 2005 or so... uh... why not a number list in no particular order?
1. Lyrics. Bleaker than your average black metal record for their nihilism and honesty, but with an undercurrent of reluctant concession to some greater truth. Compare to similar artists Titus Andronicus and Bright Eyes who express nihilistic sentiments with humour in the same manner as Say Anything, but rarely allow that humour to blossom into something rosier; Say Anything is a band that's full of vitriol but doesn't really want to be. And as the career of the band unfolded, that promise was kept, as he got married, had a kid, found Jesus, the whole shebang. But here, it's these hideously bleak lyrics, coupled with the seed of something brighter, that's just incredible. It makes me feel like, you can reconcile those parts of your humanity, you can be hateful or apathetic and also in love or hope for something better. And that's exactly what Max was trying to do, here.
2. Production. For this album, Max Bemis brought on
Hedwig and the Angry Inch composer Stephen Trask for pre-production advice and uncredited co-writing. The songs definitely show the signs of having been collaborated on because their "flavour" is just so different from that of subsequent efforts. Before their association with the pop-punk scene, Say Anything were primarily referred to as an "LA rock band," and that's exactly what this album is: an LA rock album, just as drug-addled as anything Guns N' Roses ever put out, sun-baked and dripping ennui. Tim O'Heir was the album's producer, proper, and he captures a grittiness that isn't necessarily present on the band's subsequent albums. It was as if Max had this thing inside of him and the two people he worked with just provided a canvas for him. Coaxes incredible guitar sounds out of Fender Blues Deluxe that I know from experience isn't that great an amp. It never quite happened again for the band.
3. The Weezer factor. You know how Weezer will always be sort of cool because they released
Blue and
Pinkerton, and those records are so good, that it's sort of a blank cheque to put out whatever shit they want to for the rest of time, and fans will be cool with it? This is like that. I'm beyond comfortable with the band riding this record's coattails into perma-relevance that isn't necessarily deserved anymore. I find it amusing and, in some sick way, satisfying. It's a record good enough to be a career.
4. Influence. Going to a Say Anything show is just an insane experience because all of the fans are 100% as turnt as I am. There are very few halfway Say Anything fans anymore. I get up to the front, right against the bars, and I fucking belt every word of every song with my hand across my chest. And I look around and I'm not even close to being alone. The best part is that the bands themselves are excited to be there; touring with Say Anything has become a badge of honour. They always say, "We can't believe we're out here opening for a band that is honestly our favourite band, one of the reasons that we started playing," or something to that effect. Say Anything, and
...Is A Real Boy, have become one of those rare bands/records that revitalizes an entire scene, bridges the bands that came before it to the ones that came after it. Max is respected by musicians in bands like The Get Up Kids, Dashboard Confessional, Blink 182, and Saves The Day, and also by any of their contemporaries, and is now inspiring a whole new wave of bands, like The Wonder Years, Hotelier, Modern Baseball, and The World Is A Beautiful Place. You find me a pop-punk musician who doesn't at least like this album and I'll be surprised.
5. The guitar. ...Is A Real Boy is literally my favourite guitar record of all time. So concise, angular, well-paced, and melodic, that I'd be hard-pressed to think of a note that feels out of place or extraneous. The only derivative sound on the whole album is the solo in the song "Every Man Has A Molly," which sounds like one of Brian Bell's solos in Weezer, and it's telling that it's actually Casey from Hot Rod Circuit playing that, not Max. It's just not stereotypical guitar rock, despite the fact that it functions well in that role; all the chord voicing and scales are unique. The drums are pretty fucking sexy, too. Too bad Coby left the band to become a fitness instructor.
6. Max's voice. Nothing to explain here... it's my favourite voice. Sounds like no one else and full of intensity. Unafraid to be instantly recognizable.
I'm gonna stop there. "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture," etc.
But Coloring Book and My Color Green trump both of them.
As a diehard Glassjaw fan who owns physical copies of those albums and everything, I disagree. I don't think W&T has been followed up quite yet. It's heavy in a way that they don't seem to be able to recapture. I remember reading about Arab Strap's reunion and the singer said, "We're not really Arab Strap anymore, are we? More like... two guys doing their own informed pastiche." That how I feel about the new heavy stuff. "Informed pastiche." Like, I want it to be heavy but now when they do heavy it's like they're chasing the dragon or something. It's been too long. (Disclaimer: all of this jaded attituded will fly out the window when the new LP comes out and I squeel like a schoolgirl whilst peeing my pants in exictement like a drunk who overstimated his bladder and underestimated the distance to the pub bathroom.)
