Say Anything: On Tour and On the Record

Photo by Noah Kalina (from The Village Voice's article, "Say Anything Calm Down")

On the verge of releasing its third full-length album, emo-pop punk band Say Anything has been in the spotlight lately. Its self-titled record -- set to drop this coming Tuesday, Nov. 3 -- is receiving critical attention due to public knowledge of changes in the mental health and spiritual life of frontman Max Bemis.

Bemis pulls from his experiences, failed relationships, and struggle with bipolar disorder to create the band's material. Critics and fans alike have worried that his current happiness and recent marriage to Eisley's Sherri Dupree, the visionary would lack his signature style and edge, putting Say Anything in danger of being placed on the alternative chopping block.

However, the majority rules that's not the case.

Max Bemis sings to a sold out crowd at Vic Theatre in Chicago Oct. 23.

Time Out New York featured a story on Bemis as a preview for Say Anything's album release and live shows in New York City. The article is noticeably short, but sweet, and includes a playlist of some of the band's most-played and most-recognizable songs at the bottom of the page.

Start with the lead, a quote from Bemis:

“If you looked at my life on paper during the last couple of records, you’d be like, ‘This guy is messed up—he needs to get his stuff together,’?” says Max Bemis, leader of the uncommonly innovative emo-punk outfit Say Anything.

It's an unmistakably great quote that should be in the story.

But is there a reason for starting with a quote? And a grammar error (note the random question mark)?

Quotes are not set-apart in the story either, and the paragraphs are long making it visually hard for a reader to notice a change in thought.

Also accompanying the article is a link to a "related article" titled, "Five Emo Bands That Don't Suck." One would think after reading the story that Say Anything might be included... It's not. It is beyond explanation why a link would be provided to a story that implies almost all emo music sucks when the article itself is about a "beloved emo outfit" that is not included in the list.

The Village Voice did a similar article detailing Bemis' journey. Right away, this story takes a different tone; A tone that is more likely to appeal to Say Anything fans.

Village Voice reporter Mikael Wood uses slang and Bemis' own lyrics to describe the change in him.

The last time we heard from Max Bemis of Say Anything, on the Los Angeles emo band's 2007 double-album doozy In Defense of the Genre, dude was giving all his Hot Topic homies a master class in emotional blackmail. "Cater to me, or I'll punch myself until my face is blue," Bemis demanded on "Spay Me," some kind of fucked-up mash note from "an arrogant prick shitting out heart attacks" to "the queen of the damned--feelingless, devoid of tact."

Sure, it includes expletives and some bold statements ("Hot Topic homies"), but the lead is more attractive than Time Out's, although it could certainly be shortened.

Not only that, but the story uses much more visual detail and humor... and a source other than Bemis. It is clear that Wood has spent some time with Bemis and Dupree and did work to add another side to the story by interviewing Coby Linder, Say Anything's drummer.

Neither one of these stories, however, thought to quote Dupree. As Bemis' wife and a figure significant enough to mention--however briefly--in both stories, she must have something to say about the changes in him.

Metallica Mama

The St. Petersburg Times out of Tampa, Florida recently published a feature on 85-year-old Margaret Priebe, cancer survivor and... Metallica fan.

On Saturday, Priebe attended her first Metallica show with her 48-year-old son, Jim, and met the band due to the article's popularity.

Despite an intensely fascinating subject with a personality to match, the article itself wasn't all that. Sean Daly, the Times' Pop Music Critic, missed the mark.

One spot in the story in particular was rather disturbing, and borders on inappropriate assumption:

After inspecting plane engines during WWII — B-24s to be exact — Margaret met the man who became her husband. They moved to Cleveland, then Florida, and enjoyed a 44-year marriage until his death.

Well, mostly enjoyed it. "He didn't like the hard music. I couldn't turn on the stuff when he was around."

Is Daly assuming that Priebe resented her husband for not liking the same music as her? If her marriage was unhappy and she said so, this would be a different story, but from the way the story has been reported, it doesn't seem to be the case.

But Daly further pushes the point:

Now it's just Margaret and Jim. They share a house in the buttoned-down Lakeside Estates neighborhood. About nine years back, Margaret turned on the radio and heard Metallica's 1999S&M album, recorded with the San Francisco Symphony. She bought it; she blasted it. For the first time in her life, there was no one to tell her no.

Does Daly want us to assume that Priebe is relieved to not have her husband there to suppress her musical tastes?

However, from the article, the reader really gets a sense of Priebe's personality. Daly obviously spent quite a bit of time with her judging by the amount of backstory he included and details of her living space:

At home, on a table next to her favorite chair, are an Art of Knitting DVD, a giant magnifying glass, The Rough Guide to Heavy Metal and a magazine devoted to the four men in Metallica: singer James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo.

While the story claims to focus on Priebe's cancer battle and how Metallica helped her through, there is really minimal detail of her struggle. The description is limited to the photo tag and one short paragraph in the story:

Mother and son have tickets to Metallica's show at the St. Pete Times Forum on Saturday. They wouldn't miss it — not after last year, a hard year for Margaret. She battled lymphoma and chemo and lonely nights in the hospital when the only thing she could do was untangle the headphones of her MP3 player and tune out: Enter Sandman, Bleeding Me, Devil's Dance.