Say Anything - Oliver Appropriate (January 25, 2019) Album • Page 28

cool guy. Museum Mouth. Tiny Engines.

 

word ill have to check them out

 

Kind of random, but I just remembered I bought a song from the Song Shop about 7 years ago and realized I never even listened to it until tonight. Has anyone here ever bought one?

 

I bought two a few years back. I was insanely let down by them. I’ve been such a huge fan of his output, but it really felt like he took a single pass and called it a day. I initially wanted to get an EP, but didn’t have the funds. As soon as I heard them, I was so relieved that I didn’t stretch myself to get one. I still like all his albums, and I’ll still support whatever he does, but I was just so let down by the songs.

 

I bought one a few years back as well and felt similarly when I first heard it but looking back, I think my expectations were a bit high considering he had to try to match a small description of my feelings about life at that time. I need to go back and give it some more listens to see how it matches up now.

On a side note, in lieu of receiving a call, Max had mentioned sending out some kind of acoustic LP for those who purchased songs. I think I'm more sad that was never finished or whatever.

 

Max Bemis: master of not following through.

 

Seems like he's been overextending himself for years now. He really needs to take a break especially since his personal life seems so strained.

 

The Kickstarter video was just...uncomfortable to watch? Not even sure how to explain it.

 

Throw them a couple hundo and I’m sure they’ll redo it.

 

What's this "kickstarter meltdown" I see mentioned? The video on KS is just them chatting for a bit.

 

He posted a twitlong on twitter

 

Just read that long Twitter post. On one hand I get it, making all of those phone calls to song shop buyers would surely have to be a nightmare and would very much turn into a "job", but on the other hand, I don't think it's rational of him to get angry about it right now, given the fact that he's launching a Kickstarter for a shit ton of money, way more than most of his fans would see in their annual salary (or even two years' worth of salary)... of course the people who paid him directly for a service in the past and watched the terms change somewhat after their money had already been given are going to be a little skeptical of the services that he's offering as perks now, and whether or not he's able to deliver exactly as promised. That comes with the territory of how he's trying to raise this money, and with the fact that he's been so vague about how he's going to make it up to the people who still wanted to get a phone call from him after buying a song shop song.

Also, is it just me or is he trying to reference Brand New as much as he possibly can these days? This is at least the second direct Brand New reference that he's made within the past few weeks, which, sure, isn't a lot, but it's like he doesn't think anything at all of what kinds of feelings that band evokes for certain people right now.

Finally, I got three song shop songs from him a few years back and was unfortunately disappointed by all three. Melodically they were totally slapdash and generic, and the lyrics didn't seem to convey a whole lot of insight into the topics/experiences I shared with him to write about. I think I just don't like the concept of the song shop in the first place, and I found it weird to listen to songs that were meant to be about my life based on what I shared with him but just ultimately didn't hit home in the way I hoped they would. I remember being pretty bummed out that he made a direct lyrical reference to me wanting to dance with a girl in one of the songs, when I didn't mention anything about a girlfriend or wife (considering I'm gay). Can't be too mad about that since it's not like I told him I was gay, but it was an immediate feeling of, oh, this song isn't actually about me, and that's a bummer. Heteronormativity sucks.

 

Definitely just feels like he's trying to be like "at least I'm not as bad as a literal pedophile" and even if that's not his intent it's what it ends up feeling like. It feels like he's only going by the influence JL had on HIS life rather than what JL actually is, has done, and represents. It's insensitive at best.

 

I wish his song shop was just limited to like 20 a year or less or something. Like an album worth. That way he could focus on making them quality.

 

Some of them were pretty good (ones floating around YouTube) but a majority of them seemed pretty lackluster and never seen the light of day.

 

I think part of it has to do with Jesse’s well-publicized relationship with his wife, too, especially when he talks about how he’ll sing Brand New and New Found Glory songs with more enjoyment than he should (since NFG’s Chad Gilbert also was in a relationship with her)

 

That's how I read it as well, basically "I'll sing anything and put my all into it, even songs that I don't want to sing"

 

yes, and we're acknowledging that, but as I said, "It feels like he's only going by the influence JL had on HIS life rather than what JL actually is, has done, and represents.", it's reductive. He can't compare covering brand new songs and covering nfg songs as if it was the same, that's tone deaf. Maybe for HIM it's the same, but just because those two dudes have had the exact same impression on HIS life doesn't mean that in the public sphere him covering NFG and him covering BN would have the same impact/implications.

 

ok yes, now I gotcha. Totally agree

 

It's entirely possible that with a wife, three children, and multiple musical projects, he's not up-to-date on the Brand New situation.

 

When his wife dated Jesse? HIGHLY unlikely.

 

He retired the song wow I can get sexual too around the time the news came out about JL, I think he may have tweeted about it too but I don't remember exactly

 

I mean, who gives a shit? It legitimately doesn't matter why he might not want to cover those songs.

 

I have complete respect for anyone no matter what their orientation or identification is. I do think Max is heading/off the rails with well, everything, and as a guy who grew up with him as some kind of hero in a way, that concerns me. But hopefully he's well.

However, are people not allowed to tell a story that involves a gay man with negative characteristics? That's a serious question not trying to be obtuse about it. Isn't the other character also gay, who is a "good guy" so to speak? Haven't heard the album, obviously, so I don't think it's fair to judge this.