| Max Bemis | |
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Max Bemis performing in Chula Vista, California on August 14, 2008 at Warped Tour. |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Maxim Adam Bemis |
| Born | April 6, 1984 |
| Origin | New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | Pop-punk, indie rock |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Labels | J, Doghouse, A.D.D., Equal Vision Records (EVR) |
| Associated acts | Say Anything, Two Tongues, Forgive Durden, Max Bemis and the Painful Splits, Perma |
| Website | www.sayanythingmusic.com |
Max Bemis (born April 6, 1984) is the lead singer and primary lyricist of the band Say Anything. He is also co singer along side Chris Conley of the supergroup Two Tongues, which features members from Say Anything and Saves the Day.
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Max Bemis was born in New York City on April 6, 1984.[1] His family moved to Hollywood, California when he was a child.[1] He had minor roles in some films due to his father's work in Hollywood, including an uncredited role as an altar-boy in Face/Off. Bemis took piano lessons which he credits for the realization that he wanted to make music.[2][3] In addition, Bemis was raised "in a strong Jewish environment," which has influenced his music.[4] His maternal grandparents were survivors of the Holocaust, which was the inspiration for the song, "Alive With the Glory of Love."
Bemis attended high school at Windward School, a private school in Los Angeles.[1] He had also attended Camp Ramah in Ojai, California, where he met future band-mate Coby Linder.[1] In 2000, Bemis, Linder, and friends from Windward and Beverly Hills High School formed Say Anything. The band was described as a high school band, but they released a full-length LP and an EP. In 2002, Bemis attended Sarah Lawrence College. However, he spent much of his time recording his own music and left the school after only a few months.[1]
Bemis is the lead singer and primary lyricist of Say Anything as well as a founding member of the band. He and Linder are the only two original members remaining in the band. In 2000, Say Anything released Junior Varsity. The band released its debut full-length album, Baseball, in 2001. Despite attending Sarah Lawrence College for a short time, Bemis kept the band alive, performing much if not all of the music that went into Menorah/Majora and the band's dormroom demos.[2]
Say Anything released ...Is a Real Boy in 2004. Bemis performed the vocals, guitar, bass, and keyboard parts for the album.[5] After the album's release, the band went through a rocky period lasting over a year due to Bemis's mental health. The band canceled at least two tours and lost several members.[6] By 2007 however, after going through rehab, Say Anything and Bemis got back on track with co-headlining tours with Saves the Day and Hellogoodbye.[7][8] In 2007, the band released In Defense of the Genre, on which Bemis sang lead vocals and played guitar and keyboard.[9]
Say Anything recorded a single called "Hate Everyone" which now has a music video.
Say Anything's self-titled album was released November 3, 2009.
On November 5, 2010 at The Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, New Jersey, Max announced there will be another Say Anything album.
After recording In Defense of the Genre, Say Anything band members Max Bemis and Coby Linder worked with Saves the Day's Chris Conley and David Soloway on a side project named Two Tongues.[10] The new group will have Bemis and Conley sharing the lead vocals and guitar duties while Soloway is on bass and Linder on drums. Thirteen songs were recorded in Electric Ladybug Studio, Conley's home studio in Chico, California.[11][12] Bemis, Conley, and Linder have previously collaborated on a cover song of Bob Dylan's "The Man In Me" for the compilation album Paupers, Peasants, Princes & Kings: The Songs of Bob Dylan released by Doghouse Records in 2006. On November 7, 2008, a release date of February 3, 2009, was announced for the self-produced, self-titled, thirteen-track collaboration on Vagrant Records.[12][13]
In fall of 2010, Two Tongues made their first performances as a surprise in the middle of Say Anything's set each night of the Motion City Soundtrack, Say Anything, and Saves the Day tour. They performed the song "Crawl". Arun Bali (current guitarist of Saves the Day) played guitar, Kenny Vasoli (of The Starting Line, and Person L) played bass, Jake Turner (of Say Anything) played guitar as well, Coby Linder played drums, while Chris Conley, and Max Bemis sang.
Bemis has made cameo appearances on several albums. One of his earliest cameo appearances was with friend Andy Jackson and Hot Rod Circuit on "Inhabit," a song from the band's Reality's Coming Through CD.[14]
In 2005, Bemis had a small part on "Ready" from The Starting Line's Based on a True Story.[15]
Bemis worked with Armor for Sleep on a cover of "Today" for a 2008 The Smashing Pumpkins tribute CD entitled The Killer in You.[16]
In 2007, performs in two songs, "Maxim and the Headphone Life" and "Regional Community Theater," on LadybiRdS' debut album, Regional Community Theater.[17] Bemis sang along with Shawn Harris (The Matches) and Rachel Minton (Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer) on "Hello Helicopter" and "Point Of Extinction" of Motion City Soundtrack's Even if it Kills Me.[18] New Found Glory's From the Screen to Your Stereo Part II and Down to Earth Approach's Come Back to You also featured guest vocals by Bemis on the songs "Crazy for You" and "See You," respectively.[19][20]
In 2008, Bemis sang vocals on Nightbeast's Inside Jokes for Outside Folks.[21] Also, Forgive Durden's second album Razia's Shadow featured Bemis as Barayas the Spider in "The Spider and the Lamps."[22]
Bemis also appeared on the opening track of You, Me, and Everyone We Know's 2008 sophomore EP, So Young, So Insane, entitled "I Can Get Back Up Now".
In August 2008 Bemis announced that he would be recording unique songs for individual fans written on their requested topics as a part of a project he hoped would decrease the growing gap between artists and fans. [1]
Bemis announced in September 2009 that he and his wife, Sherri, were working on a small project that "became something even cooler". They created a side project called Perma. Limited edition CDs will be sold on the fall promo tour of the self-titled "Say Anything," each copy including a hand drawn cover by Max or Sherri.
Bemis and Say Anything were also featured on the Punk Goes Crunk album with their cover of Ol' Dirty Bastard's "Got Your Money".
Bemis announced in late September 2010 that he had wrote and recorded a 10 song album of acoustic songs that he called Max Bemis and the Painful Splits. Bemis stressed that this release was not an official solo record, but a collection of songs he had written that he was proud of and wanted to share with Say Anything fans. The disc can only be found and purchased by going to one of the show dates of Say Anythings tour with Saves The Day and Motion City Soundtrack October through November 2010.
On his Twitter in mid-November 2010, Bemis announced, "There WILL be a second Max Bemis and the Painful Splits record sold next year at a very special SA event that I can't reveal yet.... ", confirming that there will be a second Painful Splits record. It was later revealed that this event was to be a Max Bemis' solo tour. This tour is set to happen in February 2011. Max is set to tour ten different venues, beginning on the 11th and finishing on the 26th.
In 2004, Say Anything released its breakout record, ...Is a Real Boy.[2][23] Around this time, Bemis' mental health problems began to surface. "I literally lost my mind while we were recording," stated Bemis regarding the breakdown. Heavy marijuana use, anxiety caused by recording and writing the album, and what would later be diagnosed as bipolar disorder landed him in a mental institution. The breakdown centered around a mockumentary discussed by Bemis and producer Tim O'Heir. Bemis' state of mind led him to believe he was being secretly filmed for the mockumentary; the situation culminated in him walking the streets of Brooklyn thinking he was being filmed while encountering friends (who were actually strangers).[24]
Bemis' health problems continued into 2005. While touring with Armor for Sleep and Recover, Say Anything's management firm had Zyprexa delivered to Bemis daily. However, this did not work as Bemis began substituting Zyprexa with other drugs, which began to occupy an increasingly focal position in Bemis' life.[25] In June 2005, Say Anything was forced to cancel a six-week headlining tour with Circa Survive and Emanuel on the third day of the tour due to Bemis' health problems, including full-on paranoid delusions in Austin, Texas.[26][27]
He moved back home to California and was cared for by his mother, Shifra.[28] On October 3, 2005, Bemis had another breakdown; this time, it involved harassing children, spitting out food at an outdoor cafe, spending a "half-hour pouring a bowl of soup onto the floor, one spoonful at a time," engaging in a street fight, and finally being admitted to a mental hospital by an off-duty policeman.[28] This incident forced Say Anything to cancel their tour with Saves the Day, Senses Fail and The Early November. After returning from his stay in the hospital, Bemis' mother and the remaining members of the band selected the Menninger clinic in Houston, Texas, to rehabilitate Bemis. Eventually, Bemis improved and he has reportedly not had a relapse since.[2][6]
On April 4, 2009, Bemis married Sherri DuPree of the band Eisley and now resides in Tyler, Texas.
Max's current religious beliefs have changed as his relationship grew with his Christian wife, Sherri. Say Anything drummer Coby Linder has said that Max is now a Christian, a fact that Max confirmed in a Myspace Music interview.[29] He later clarified in a live chat on Absolutepunk.net that he doesn't like to label himself in any specific religious sect and that he has a "new age, metaphysical view" about religion. He said he considers himself "A Jew who is also a Christian," in other words, someone who has recently delved spiritually into certain beliefs of Christianity but who remains culturally Jewish and very much attached to his Judaism. This is similar to Messianic Judaism.[30] He again identified himself as being Jewish in an online fan chat during The Bamboozle fest in 2010.[31]
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