Say Anything and Motion City Soundtrack

"Say Anything could conceivably make some of the best records of all time..."
SPIN Magazine

"With great power comes great responsibility." Surely a meaningful quote, but who can take credit for it? Thomas Jefferson? Sigmund Freud? Socrates? Nope. Spider-Man.  It goes to show how something sort of profound can spring from an unlikely source. Any reluctant underachiever can make a difference: nerdy dude who gets bit by a mutant spider or awkward bipolar kid in a vaguely "indie" punk-pop band. That is the premise behind the band and the new self titled record Say Anything - we are in danger and any one of us has the power to save us.  It's a fitting concept for a cult-favorite band who, on November 3rd, will release a definitive artistic statement aimed at the masses.

Like the origin of any unlikely hero, Say Anything was forged from conflict:  a feisty young punk band from Hollywood formed during the birth of "hipster" elitism, always out of place. In that day any group of rich kids with a penchant for the Velvet Underground and enough five o'clock shadow could be paid millions of dollars to be walking billboards for "anti-culture" consumerism. Say Anything shunted pretension, choosing initially to play sincere and nervous rock music and opening locally for the touring bands they closely identified with (The Weakerthans, Rilo Kiley, The Promise Ring). A few years passed and songwriter Max Bemis continued to feel alienated from the collegiate "scene;" He witnessed young rebels devolve into the counter-culture clichés they sought to avoid in the first place, "reverse psychology" victims of homogenized humanity.  By identifying this mass-marketed "hip” lie, Bemis found his  "arch villain" and, imbued with purpose,  Say Anything's music became a new monster - as theatrically pop-based as it was angular and dark. Influenced by bands like Fugazi, The Who, Botch and Smashing Pumpkins, Say Anything dually expressed its irreverence through sing along punk and almost awkwardly confessional Woody Allen-esque lyrics.

The band soon released their rock-musical debut Say Anything…Is a Real Boy on Doghouse Records, garnered a cult fan base, and then entered a partnership with RCA Music Group. They earned a niche of their own, more relatable than sometimes high fallutin' "indie rock" bands but more intelligent than the youth oriented "emo craze." A cathartic live show began to attract thousands of kids a night. Say Anything became unusually critically-lauded for such a pop-based "punk" band. Bemis's openness with his bipolar disorder increased awareness of the disease's affect on musicians and led to him creating a close, respectful relationship with Say Anything fans that has endured their success.  Their sophomore double record In Defense of the Genre affirmed they weren't leaving fans behind despite the "hype machine" they'd been placed in. Say Anything's first two records went on to sell several hundred thousand copies and the band became an underground rock fixture rapidly leaking into the mainstream.

So now what of the good fight?  Had their cause fallen by the wayside of the normal mechanizations of the music business?  After his tumultuous early twenties, overcoming an abusive relationship and a struggle with mental illness, Bemis was finally able to clear his head. He even fell in love and got married. Informed by this spiritual awakening,  he finally sat down to write a record  that would encapsulate Say Anything  while at the same time naturally appeal to a broader audience. Recorded early in 2009 by acclaimed producer Neil Avron (Everclear, Linkin Park, Weezer), Say Anything's self-titled record is almost undeniably the one they'll be known for, highly accessible but  replete with dark, sardonic lyrics and  musical twists.

It feels like the record the band has been destined to make: one that your Jonas Brother worshipping 12 year old sister and your quarter life crisis Arcade Fire fan big brother can both somehow enjoy. The record explodes with the gnarled, chunky chords of its fierce opener "Fed to Death," defining the band's crusade against both nihilism and fundamentalism.  The Clash-meets-Queen single "Hate Everyone" cheekily captures the first stage of personal renewal: waking up on the wrong side of the bed.   "Do Better" is an orchestral do-good-feel-good anthem for the mentally perverse.  "Mara and Me" finds Bemis declaring to fight his alienated nature over a frenetic Mike Patton-eque musical landscape replete with mathcore flourishes, circus music and a "surf" breakdown. "Property" tells the story of the world's worst boyfriend, skewering modern gender politics and serving an evil 50's doo wop love song over a punk rock beat. "Crush'd" satirizes Justin Timberlake and Lil Wayne, while at the same time evoking a sweaty, Jewish Coldplay.  The proverbial hooks keep coming all the way to an epic resolution, the "Hey-Jude" meets Minor Threat hymnal "Ahhhh....Men."   The record tells YOUR story: it's both a strange romantic epic and a call to arms.

Like Spider-Man, Say Anything is a bunch of skinny, weird dudes who have been given a gift; the privilege to speak their minds in the venue of mass culture. They aren't the type of band to take that for granted. Making music, despite being a rather silly preposterous enterprise, CAN actually affect massive change. There are wrongs to fight against:  society eating itself, the influence of a corporate controlling power, the death of TRUE morality or even one person feeling their will to live slip away. This album is a weapon for that fight and clearly Say Anything wants you enlisted, laughing like a lunatic and dancing all the way.

MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK

The Same Old Wasted Wonderful World

(EPITAPH RECORDS)

 “ One day I’ll disappear and you’ll be just like me” 

“Don’t Call It a Comeback” isn’t just the name of a song off Motion City Soundtrack’s 2003 debut I Am The Movie, it’s also an apt way to summarize the band’s mission statement. During Motion City Soundtrack’s initial run from 1997 - 2016, the Minneapolis-based group released six celebrated albums, toured the world countless times and achieved gold status for their hit single “Everything Is Alright.” After taking a three year hiatus, the band—vocalist/guitarist Justin Pierre, guitarist Joshua Cain, bassist Matt Taylor, keyboardist Jesse Johnson and drummer Tony Thaxton—started performing live again in 2019, but even the most optimistic fans didn’t necessarily expect a follow-up to 2015’s Panic Stations. “When we started conceptualizing the idea for this record, I was thinking about what we loved about doing this originally,” Cain explains. The result is The Same Old Wasted Wonderful World, an album that sees the band transmuting the last decade of life experiences into the most catchy songs of their career.

Some of these songs were originally conceived during the making of Panic Stations, such as the first single “She Is Afraid.” However it took some time and perspective for the songs to finally come together in their final form. “I love the opening riff of “She Is Afraid,” I knew it was one of my favorite things the first time I heard Josh play it,” Pierre says of the distorted guitar bends that immediately set the tone for this alt-rock anthem. “Sometimes we can get caught up with the idea of if a song is punk rock enough; we realized that for the song to be a success we need to have a great time playing it,” Cain adds when asked about the mindset behind Motion City Soundtrack’s first new collection of songs in a decade. That feeling of carefree exuberance is evident all over The Same Old Wasted Wonderful World from the instantly infectious palm-muted power of “You Know Who The Fuck We Are” to the motivational bent of “Things Like This,” the latter of which features vocals from Deanna Belos of Sincere Engineer.

Over the course of their career Motion City Soundtrack have worked with legendary producers ranging from Ric Ocasek to Mark Hoppus, but for The Same Old Wasted Wonderful World they reunited with Sean O’Keefe (Fall Out Boy, Plain White T’s) at the legendary Chicago studio, Electrical Audio. “Working with Sean was really comforting because he’s so laid back and I love that he’s a drummer, so he’s obsessed with drum sounds,” Taylor explains. “He’s super open to experimenting and it’s like hanging out with a friend you feel comfortable around.” That sense of experimentation is especially evident on the atmospheric, bass-driven “Mi Corazón,” which sees the band embracing their post-hardcore influences without sacrificing the keen sense of melody that has always defined their sound. “I don’t like hearing the demos with fake drums because I’ll get those parts in my head, so I literally showed up to the sessions not even hearing the songs,” says Thaxton, whose improvised creativity led to some of the album’s most memorable moments. “I’ve gotten a lot more comfortable doing that and trusting myself,” he adds.

Fully realizing the potential of their music without overthinking the execution is the secret to The Same Old Wasted Wonderful World’s success—and it’s evident on “Particle Physics,” a song co-written with and featuring Fall Out Boy guitarist/vocalist Patrick Stump. “We met Patrick in the early days of Fall Out Boy and had more recently talked about having him contribute to this album,” Cain explains about the song’s origin. “He told us he had an idea running through his head about a song Motion City Soundtrack would have written but haven’t written yet. It was this little riff and chorus to ‘Particle Physics’ and even though it was just part of the song, the vibe was completely there.” From there the rest of the band scaffolded the verses and bridge around that section while Pierre added his signature brand of pop culture-influenced lyrics, which reference everything from the indie band That Dog to celebrated neurologist Oliver Sacks. The result is a track that sounds distinctly like Motion City Soundtrack while still featuring one of rock’s most recognizable voices.

However the most impressive aspect of The Same Old Wasted Wonderful World is the fact that instead of relying solely on nostalgia and album anniversary tours, Motion City Soundtrack continue to experiment outside their comfort zone. In that spirit, another standout song is the moody meditation “Your Days Are Numbered,” which features an impassioned cameo from Citizen’s Mat Kerekes that Pierre describes as “fucking brutal.” “ It's a very interesting thing to feel like we made the most important record of our career this late in the game,” Johnson says when asked about how he views the album in the context of the group’s discography. “ You might have some callbacks to some older stuff but it wasn’t intentional, it was because we were just being ourselves.”

Motion City Soundtrack will be the first ones to tell you that The Same Old Wasted Wonderful World wasn’t necessarily an easy album to make, but now that it’s finished it’s a document of the last ten years that shows them growing as people alongside their music. “I think that if you look at a lot of our past records, it’s about ‘What’s wrong? What am I not getting right? Why do I feel fucking crazy? Why can’t I figure this out’… and I figured it out,” Pierre admits. “It’s  almost like I felt I didn’t have an identity [in the past] and now by working through the hard stuff, I know who I am.” That sense of self-discovery is mirrored by the music, so when the final track fades out with just acoustic guitar and Pierre’s vocals it may be the conclusion of the album, but it’s the beginning of another chapter for Motion City Soundtrack’s collective journey.