Say Anything has been a band for 18 years, and after releasing their potentially final 10th studio album, the group has announced that they will not go on another tour at this time.
Frontman Max Bemis made the announcement yesterday, claiming that making this new record put a toll on him, and he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
“I’m done with traditional music stuff,” he wrote in his letter to fans. “I won’t put myself in harms way for anything now. The break from performing will be on my own terms. The break from publicity will only be partial but I won’t endure bullshit anymore. Say Anything will probably make music again, and I’m not claiming this is our actual last record, but it may be. Who knows. That’s up to me and my family.”
Bemis goes on to explain how he has struggled with drug and alcohol abuse, PTSD, and anxiety attacks.
“Max is doing great,” his wife, Sherri DuPree-Bemis said. “We’re all loving on him and supporting him through this whirlwind of change and a huge career shift. I’m here to let you know, the narrative doesn’t stop here. It’s just the beginning. So stay tuned. And you (like me) will always be pleasantly surprised.”
He noted that although he can’t quit Say Anything, this is the end of “the first era of Say Anything” and he is “done being a touring musician.”
“I need a break. We’ll return one day to play festivals and scoff at our career. But I want to say goodbye,” he writes. “Say Anything is retiring in the sense that Jay-Z did. It’s not an indefinite hiatus or a breakup because that’s impossible.”
Oliver Appropriate doesn’t have a release date yet, but it is meant as a sequel to …Is A Real Boy. The new record will follow the character from the 2004 LP, but 14 years after the first story took place.
“The first song kicks it off with Oliver waking up on a hungover Sunday in his filthy Bushwick apartment and follows him to a contrived dive bar where he meets the first boy he allows himself to fall in love with,” Bemis said of the record’s plot.
“The album ends with Oliver’s ascension after death and his acceptance of what he’s done to himself, Karl, and the world. I would like to think he is reborn and goes somewhere better and since I believe in the power of story, I believe this to be (fictionally) true, since I did write the damn thing.”
Along with music, Bemis will also be working on comics, as well as other writing pieces, however he said that unlike music, it’s going to be “safe and healthy from now on.”
“If you’re a fan and you’re reading this, I finally came to love my own band,” Bemis shared. “I mean that.
So that must mean something to you, and closing this chapter is my ultimate way of thanking you and saying ‘I know you wouldn’t want me to be in pain anymore’. So if you guys are like my kids, I’m doing this for you, too. And I couldn’t have done this, since I was 15, without you.”
“Say Anything will probably make music again, and I’m not claiming this is our actual last record, but it may be. Who knows. That’s up to me and my family.”
Throughout their career, Say Anything had a variety of band members as well as touring members, with Bemis acting as the sole frontman. After Bemis’ health problems in 2005, five members left the band, but they had a successful revival the following year, appearing on co-headlining tours with Saves the Day and Hellogoodbye, and playing every Warped tour date in 2008. Their self-titled dropped in 2009, followed by 2012’s Anarchy, My Dear, 2014’s Hebrews, and their latest, 2016’s I Don’t Think It Is.
“Alive With the Glory of Love,” “Every Man Has a Molly,” and “Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too” from their debut record still remain the group’s top tracks. Yesterday, Bemis dropped the single “Daze.”
