EPB Site Darling Max Bemis is… Working on New Say Anything Songs

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Oh, hi. Did you hear that sort of high-pitched squaling sound just now? That was me, upon discovering that Max is heading off to write a new album. The death moan was releated to the closing of the Song Shop, as I missed the cut off every time and didn’t get to have my own personal Max song.

Here’s what our boy had to say:

Hi guys…Max here. lot of say anything announcements coming soon, but i just wanted everyone to know we have now completed about 120 song shop songs! thank you so much for everyone for being involved with the project. however, its coming time to work on a new say anything record, so i have to delay song shop for a while. there are a few people who have paid for songs but haven’t received them yet. we appreciate you buying a song so much and WILL deliver you one as soon as possible, but i have to work on the record now.

120 songs. He wrote 120 songs for people. The vexing part is that means there are 118 Max songs floating around out there that I do not have [I managed to snag two of the Song Shop songs — and they’re amazing. Does anyone have links/copies of any others?]

This leaves me wondering what the status of the Two Tongues album is [earlier this year, word was it would be along by the end of the year and there would also be a tour — but I figured when XO announced theirs and there was no news on Two Tongues, that was off the table.] Are we meant to suffer with just one Two Tongues song?

I guess it doesn’t matter because we’ll most likely be seeing a new Say Anything album in 2009 [meaning nobody else should bother attempting to make it to #1 for the year, because we already know who has that locked down.]

Oh, Max. I, for one, can not wait for new songs from Say Anything, especially since the live videos someone caught over the summer were pretty amazing. For those who missed them:

“Cemetery”

and

“Loathing”

I will end this post saying that Max Bemis is probably the perfect man and I would like if someone would deliver one to my new house. I even have an extra bedroom, so he’d be able to escape my clutches from time to time, I swear. Christmas is coming, he’d make a nice gift.

Congratulations to Barack Obama

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I don’t really use this site to get political, but what happened last night is more than worthy of a post. I came home from a crazy day of doctor appointments, voting, and hair dyeing to see the results trickling in. i was actually scared for a bit, wondering if all the Obama supporters had maybe become complacent, and McCain would pull it off. So many thoughts went through my head. I took a nap and woke up to see Barack Obama taking a commanding lead.

I met a friend at the bar by my house and as we sat there talking, the screen on one of the televisions suddenly said “Barack Obama Elected President of the United States.” I just looked at him and said, “my god. It happened,” as I pointed at the television. It was amazing. People sort of went a bit quiet for his speech, paying attention, realizing we were living and breathing history. I want to remember the looks on people’s faces, particularly the three black men who were having a few drinks but not even paying attention to that because they were proud. We were proud. I leaned against my friend and we sat there, feeling each other get chills at moments during the speech. Toasts were being given to our new President — people who knew each other, people who had never met before. It was unifying. In a sense, it was punk rock.

This morning, it’s hard to not check MySpace and Facebook and all of that and read the happiness and hope that so many of my friends have now. We’re living history for the second time this decade, and unlike in 2001 when we faced a crisis, we’re largely celebrating this time. It feels like we’re healing from the scars of that day, the aftermath, our country’s fall from grace in our own eyes as well as the eyes of the world. It feels like once again, we can do anything we want to — we’re Americans. This is a land of opportunity. We just watched a man with a humble background, raised by his single mother and grandmother who clawed his way to the top accept the Presidency.

How can we not be proud?

I’m getting chills as I write this. Today is a very good day for our country. I, for one, am truly proud to be an American. I was afraid I’d never be able to say that again. I’m glad I can.

It’s Never the Jerks that Die

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Frank Navetta, a founding member of one of the most influential, and awesome, punk bands of all time, The Descendents, passed away on Halloween, last Friday. There are almost no details, beyond the fact that he became ill and died very suddenly. The band posted the following on their Web site:

“We’re very sorry to announce that founding member of The DESCENDENTS, and close friend Frank Navetta passed away on October 31, 2008 after becoming ill over the course of a few days. This is obviously a huge loss for the DESCENDENTS family. His contribution to the band, and to music in general can not be overstated. Frank will be truly missed. We will share information about memorial services when we find out.”

The Descendents are one of the first punk bands I got into when I was 12 or 13. They were one of those bands that I heard and said, “wow… these words make so much sense to me,” even  though it would be many, many years before I truly understood how someone could write a song like “Bikeage” or “Clean Sheets” and what that would feel like.  Or actually see how “Suburban Home” could play out with people I knew and loved. This band influenced so much of the music we listen to today. They were a staple of my teenage years… hell, I still keep them in heavy rotation.

I always think “rest in peace” sounds cheesy, but I’m not sure what other sentiments could be sent the way of Frank.

Save Your Pennies if You Want the $129.99 Fall Out Boy Pre-Order

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I couldn’t make that one up. In fairness, they’re offering a lot — a wristband, a print, a t-shirt, a USB, and a hoodie, plus the CD, but… it just seems like a lot to lay out at once. [If they threw in the impossible to get in a big comfortable size Medium “Daylight is your arch-enemy” Clandestine Hoodie, we’d be talking, but I’m a whore like that.]

Pete explained all of the pre-sales on Folie A Deux in this video:

I’m honestly not that excited about this album, but attempting to keep an open mind. That said, I really, really like looking at Pete Wentz [and I think a lot of you do, as well], so I’m posting it here. This photo, too:

It was posted on FOE, with the accompanying text:

consider this
a conjugal visit. at home in the villain shirt at the end of the heatwave.

What it means, I don’t know. I’m too busy looking at that photo.

Sorry for the sporadic updates — I’m moving this weekend [again, for the last time for a while] and trying to hold down two jobs. That’s why we have message boards — but you guys better behave since Heather and I are super-busy right now. We’re still watching you. ♥

Epitaph Is Kicking a LOT of Ass Lately

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Okay… so first, they sign New Found Glory. Then they snap Thursday up — and promise the band all the freedom in the world to make the album they want. And today, they announce they have signed Frank Iero’s band, LeATHERMOUTH. Can we please have a few thousand cheers for this label?

As if they didn’t already have a ton of awesome bands [I Am Ghost, Our Last Night, Vanna, HorrorPops, and of course Bad Religion and Rancid] they now have two fairly huge bands and one that can’t help but be huge, even if some of LeATHERMOUTH’s fanbase is just My Chemical Romance fans who wouldn’t listen to the band otherwise. When a lot of bands are moving around or being dropped from labels, Epitaph is doing a great job of choosing who to sign.

As for LeATHERMOUTH, their album will be out sometime in 2009. In the meantime, there is a bootleg of a show at the Social from their short early autumn tour that is pretty amazing and I highly recommend tracking it down. [I’d link, but I honestly forget where I found it. The audio is from this video series, though.]

And if you’re wondering why Frank is such a weirdo between songs, I think this quote makes it pretty clear:

“For me LeATHERMOUTH is how I can vent about all the bullshit that I see going on in the world that makes me ill,” says Iero. “I try to belabor the topics people want to forget exist. LeATHERMOUTH is where I can vomit out all the aggression that has built up inside. After recording or playing a LM show I feel empty of all that hatred that’s been bottled up. It’s a pleasant, cathartic experience. I would love to not feel the way I do about certain things, and have rainbows and birds chirping in my head, but that’s just not the way I’m built. I am embarrassed by my emotions and originally wanted to keep LeATHERMOUTH anonymous…but fuck it, none of us are perfect, the world is going to shit, and someone has to say it. I think it would be worse if I hid from it.
”

This band seriously rocks. I like what he did with Pencey Prep, but this stuff is just so much more angry — it hits the spot a bit better than the somewhat nasal pop-punk of Pencey Prep. And Frank has really become quite the screamer since his early days… I hope they work some of his aggression and ideas into upcoming My Chemical Romance songs. Though who knows when those will come along?

My Local Bands Rule: Meet The Boardlords

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I live in Westchester, NY, and this is one of our finest bands — The Boardlords.

You want to get into them because they are in my top 5 albums for 2008, rule the world live.

You want to buy their music, too: at MySpace, though I recommend you use CDBaby rather than MySpace because it is way more affordable.

Also, is that not the hottest bassist you have seen since Pete Wentz and Mikey Way?

Anyway… Get to know The Boardlords. I’m going to start treating you guys to the best of NY.

[Reviews] Bayside - Shudder VS I Am Ghost - Those We Leave Behind

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Why am I juxtaposing the reviews of these two extremely different albums? Because they are my two most-awaited albums of 2008, and are in a dead heat for my favorite album of the year.  The problem is, they’re both just so different, it’s hard for me — loving them both — to say which is actually better.

Let’s start with  Bayside’s Shudder.  Released just a year and a half after the phenomenal The Walking Wounded, the album is, on first listen, not quite what one would expect. It’s clearly a Bayside album, but there’s almost something muted to the whole thing. And then you listen again, and again, and again. As Anthony Ranieri’s lyrics drill holes into your head and you start to wonder how it is he’s picking pieces of your gray matter or grabbing chunks of your heart off the floor and twisting them into lyrics that say it all so well, the album transcends the first listen.

The opening song, “Boy,” is a perfect illustration of what Bayside does best: it’s a sing-along, punk rock sing-song about some of the most depressing moments in ones life. But much like many of us who suffer the hard times, there’s this ever-present, persistently nagging optimistic streak that runs through every song.  It’s largely subtextual, but much like its predecessor, Shudder is an album of surviving, whether or not you necessarily want to.  There’s a reason why this band is so popular and respected, and it absolutely lies in the lyrical genius.  Anthony Ranieri and Max Bemis should never be allowed near each other — I am pretty sure it would open up a wormhole that would suck the universe as we know it inside. Then again, would that be such a bad thing? I’m not sure the person who wrote “Boy,” “I Can’t Go On,” and “No One Understands” would say so. Aside from that optimism….

Bayside are a band that understand what they do well, and while they have not stagnated in any way, shape, or form, they also haven’t taken any wild risks and released an album that made their fans say, “what the hell is this?”  This is a good thing, mind you. Taking cues from Alkaline Trio, they play to their own strengths — lyrics, the way Anthony sings, and chord progressions that just sort of make your heart soar — rather than trying to re-invent the wheel with every album the release. On Shudder, the results are gorgeous.

Meanwhile, I Am Ghost stand in stark contrast on Those We Leave Behind. The band has only two of its original members, and a completely new attitude on this album. The strengths lie in the new members, though, particularly bassist/screamer from hell, Ronnie.  When I saw him play with them last year, I felt like he completed the band — and was far better than Kerith, who always sort of annoyed me.

Which brings me to my one issue with this album: I would pay very good money for a remastered version of the album that cuts out the female vocal tracks. 90% of the time, they feel out-of-place, and the chick’s voice is even more grating than Kerith’s was on their older songs. I don’t understand why Steve seems afraid to sing without a woman behind him — but when he does, and lets Ronnie back him up with screams [this is wildly evident on the first single, “Bone Garden,”] the band thrives.

I suspect this is what we’ll hear live. I won’t know, since the band is releasing the album and then skipping off to Europe for a month, but since there is no female member of the band, I can’t imagine they’ll be bringing the band’s personal ghost — the female vocalist — with them.  In a sense, I can’t blame them for making the decision to stick with the quasi-familiar. On many of the songs, the band has turned up the tempo and the guitars to an almost metal feel — which strengthens them in a million ways. It feels like they left the male-female dynamic because it was staying in a “comfort zone,” rather than just fully breaking free and being the band I saw live a year ago.

That said, the lyrics are amazing — lots of gothic depth, which is something we have come to expect from I Am Ghost. The album absolutely cuts to the heart of things, but using detours and imagery, rather than just flat-out saying it all the time, the way Bayside did. Then again,  you take a song like “Bone Garden,” where Ron just screams “you said you loved me, but you dont!” and you have the simple message of rage and anger at a former love.

The two albums are my favorites of 2008, still duking it out in my mind for #1. The two are so very different — even where they cross paths on things like theme, you find them handling it in different ways.  I recommend them both to fans and non-fans alike, as they’re both excellent starting points for each band, even if you have never heard them before.

My Love/Hate Affair With Fall Out Boy Swings Back To Love

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Today, the band announced they have donated $50,000 to the No on 8 campaign in California. For those of you unfamiliar with this, it is a group dedicated to educating people about voting “no” on proposition 8, which would overturn the legality of gay marriage in the state.  Because clearly, the world has ended since same-sex marriage was legalized in California.

The band passed on the following statement: “We believe government shouldn’t legislate love. Vote no on proposition 8.”

I’ll take it a step further: the government shouldn’t legislate hate, which is precisely what proposition really is. It’s an opportunity for people who are afraid of gay people for reasons that are well beyond my comprehension to say “simple rights to see your partner in the hospital, or to have the same benefits of male-female couples can not be yours. For no reason other than we have an irrational fear and hatred of you.”

I think it’s disgusting that this is even debated. The government needs to simply say, “here is the tax information and legal protections provided by the legal contract of marriage [or if you insist, civil unions]. Now go and enjoy your lives.” It really should be that simple. It’s no different than saying a black man and a white woman can’t marry — all of it is discrimation of the worst kind, and it’s sickening.

Anyway, with my rant out of the way — Fall Out Boy are really good for doing this, and for stepping up and putting money behind their words. A lot of celebrities just talk about the issues, but these guys are actually doing their best to do something about it.

And that’s saying a lot considering how scary the times we live in really are.

P.S. I did choose an older photo of the band, mostly to lighten the mood.

There is a Literal Music Cock Fight Going on Right Now

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I’m usually more of a catfight kind of girl, but this one is too good to pass up. Apple is going head-to-head with the US Copyright Royalty board over a proposed increase of the royalty rates Apple pays to the artists whose music they sell via iTunes. Both of them are swinging their big sticks mightily, but in the end, who shall win? Time will tell.

Should the US Copyright Royalty Board win, Apple representatives have said they’ll have no problem shutting down the Apple store — which is responsible for 85% of all online sales. The USCRB could fiesably attempt to rely on Amazon or MySpace, but who’s to say they’d goo along with the demands of the copyrighters?

But here’s the thing. They’re fighting over pennies — literally. Apple pays $.9 of the $.99 they charge to the artists. The US Copyright Royalty Board wants to see this raised to a whopping $.15. In response, Apple said they’d much prefer to pay 4.8 cents. A statement released by Apple Vice President Eddy Cue claimed any increase in the royalties would cause the Apple store to operate at a loss, which is why they would be likely to close the store.

Considering music sales were down across the board in the United States in September [this may have something to do with that pesky “economic collapse” we’re facing], now might not be the best time to have the most-trusted and most-used legal downloading service/store close down. Especially since iPods are still the #1 MP3 player and many of the other stores online don’t have iPod compatible files. Of course, Apple knows this, which is why they are playing so tough. Like I said, cock fight.

Honestly, as much as I love my iPod, I’d love to see someone else come in and maybe make things a bit more competitive. There’s no way I am buying music off the new MySpace — they can’t even keep passwords secure, there’s no way in hell I am giving them my debit card information — but who knows? Maybe there is someone who can slay Apple. Or maybe Apple really is the best.

Still, I don’t see how they can’t operate if they give artists $.15 per $.99 download. How expensive can it be to run the Apple store?

Alkaline Single

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Haha. I slay me.

Seriously, though, would you like some free kick-ass punk music? The sort of thing that fits in fine with the Misfits, Cancerslug, and Blitzkid? Then look no further than Derek of Alkaline Trio, who has released an old-school solo project of his under the name Reaper.

D. Grant Meets The Reaper is available as such:

MP3s | ARTWORK (JPG FORMAT) | ARTWORK (PDF FORMAT)

I’m very pleased with what I am listening to right now. This is really good, but if there is one thing I can tell you about me, it’s this: you will never hear pixie complain about mixing monsters and punk rock.

For descriptions and all of that, head to MySpace.

I swear, those boys in Alkaline Trio. They can do no wrong, ever. I mean, they covered The Cure, a band I have liked for at least 2/3 of my life, and improved on the song. Solos, side projects, it doesn’t matter. It’s all brilliant.

I can not stress enough how badly you all need the Reaper album, especially since it is free. Free music is a very nice thing, but amazing free music that someone like me would happily pay money for is even better.

So enjoy. I’m pretty sure a free download just made the top 10 for 2008. Go figure.