Say Anything vocalist Max Bemis has shared a nine-page "goodbye summation," in which he has announced the band's plans to take a hiatus, along with detailed a new LP and addressed his sexuality and struggles with addiction.
In the document, Bemis wrote, "our plans as a collective are to, kind of sort of, end Say Anything. Or 'the first era of Say Anything,' adding, "Say Anything is retiring in the sense that Jay-Z did. It's not an indefinite hiatus or a breakup because that's impossible."
Bemis noted that the band's forthcoming full-length is titled OLIVER APPROPRIATE, writing that "there will be no full U.S. tour to support the record or in the near future. I am done being a touring musician as my main profession. But we'll get to that."
He explained, "I'm done with traditional music stuff as of a few weeks ago, and though it's sad for my label that it coincides with the album's near-release, I won't put myself in harms way for anything now. 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 also discussed his queer identity, writing, "I have always been bi-ish or queer or a straight guy who can also like boys. I always talked or joked about it with my friends and found it to be blatantly clear I was."
He expanded on the relationship between his sexuality and spirituality, adding, "I'm a queer, Jewish, Christian skeptic pseudo-anarchistwith a belief in metaphysics and the application of 'magical' stuff. Woof."
The vocalist also described a "year-long Heath Ledger-esque descent into pain and darkness and snorting antidepressants all day," writing that the birth of his son led to him reevaluating his choices.
"The day I stopped snorting said drugs all day, stopped gorging on Kratom, stopped disappearing into the abyss, was the day of the birth of my son Charlie," he explaind. "It really happened THAT DAY. That same morning. I looked into his eyes and I knew I was done with that chapter and things had to change, though it would be painful."
Sherri DuPree-Bemis, Max's wife, wrote an additional statement of her own that can be found on the band's website.
"If what Max wrote doesn't make it clear, he's recovering from a PTSD 'breakdown' and this is not really bipolar-related stuff," she explained. "It's a guy who followed his passion to the point of almost breaking who stopped and saved his own life for us and those who care. Which has left him joyful but needing rest and relaxation and positivity."
You can read Max Bemis' full letter over here. Say Anything's latest LP, I Don't Think It Is, arrived in 2016.
In the document, Bemis wrote, "our plans as a collective are to, kind of sort of, end Say Anything. Or 'the first era of Say Anything,' adding, "Say Anything is retiring in the sense that Jay-Z did. It's not an indefinite hiatus or a breakup because that's impossible."
Bemis noted that the band's forthcoming full-length is titled OLIVER APPROPRIATE, writing that "there will be no full U.S. tour to support the record or in the near future. I am done being a touring musician as my main profession. But we'll get to that."
He explained, "I'm done with traditional music stuff as of a few weeks ago, and though it's sad for my label that it coincides with the album's near-release, I won't put myself in harms way for anything now. 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 also discussed his queer identity, writing, "I have always been bi-ish or queer or a straight guy who can also like boys. I always talked or joked about it with my friends and found it to be blatantly clear I was."
He expanded on the relationship between his sexuality and spirituality, adding, "I'm a queer, Jewish, Christian skeptic pseudo-anarchistwith a belief in metaphysics and the application of 'magical' stuff. Woof."
The vocalist also described a "year-long Heath Ledger-esque descent into pain and darkness and snorting antidepressants all day," writing that the birth of his son led to him reevaluating his choices.
"The day I stopped snorting said drugs all day, stopped gorging on Kratom, stopped disappearing into the abyss, was the day of the birth of my son Charlie," he explaind. "It really happened THAT DAY. That same morning. I looked into his eyes and I knew I was done with that chapter and things had to change, though it would be painful."
Sherri DuPree-Bemis, Max's wife, wrote an additional statement of her own that can be found on the band's website.
"If what Max wrote doesn't make it clear, he's recovering from a PTSD 'breakdown' and this is not really bipolar-related stuff," she explained. "It's a guy who followed his passion to the point of almost breaking who stopped and saved his own life for us and those who care. Which has left him joyful but needing rest and relaxation and positivity."
You can read Max Bemis' full letter over here. Say Anything's latest LP, I Don't Think It Is, arrived in 2016.
