Say Anything @ Fillmore Auditorium

Say Anything rocked the Fillmore Auditorium in Denver, CO on June 14th, 2024. With Greet Death and AJJ opening, the crowd was guaranteed an unforgettable night.

Greet Death

Greet Death is a three piece post-rock band from Flint, Michigan. They initially made waves with their infectious debut album, Dixieland (Flesh and Bone, 2017). The album was well-received, with Pitchfork giving it a “7.7” rating and stating, “…This is a remarkably tuneful, forthright pop-rock band that just so happens to play six-minute songs at bradycardic tempos.”

New Hell (2019) is the latest album from Greet Death. Nick Diener (The Swellers) recorded it at Oneder Studios. Jake Morse performed additional recording. Jay Maas mastered it all at Getaway Recording. Illustrator Liam Rush created artwork for the release.

The album as a whole is a creative intermingling of lush melodic atmosphere with melancholic lyrical content. Within that haze, their personal subject matter is cleverly cloaked amid beautiful vocal deliveries and dreamy guitar work. This is the case in songs “Circles of Hell”, “Do You Feel Nothing”, “Let It Die”, and “You’re Gonna Hate What You’ve Done”. This not-so-subtle vitriol continues to spread through self-reflection in unforgettable songs like “Entertainment”, “Strange Days”, as well as the tone-soaked “Strain”. While “Crush” plays as a complex outpouring disguised as a hook-laden pop number. All of this leads to “New Hell”, a nearly ten minute epic of towering proportions. Lovingly constructed before ominously swaying in the wind and collapsing under its own emotional weight.

pulled from First Avenue

AJJ

AJJ is a prolific folk-punk band from Phoenix, Arizona whose wild sound incorporates eclectic instrumentation (horns, Theremin, mandolin, singing saw) and explores myriad subjects from the topical and political to the absurd. After debuting in 2005 under the name Andrew Jackson Jihad, they recorded at a furious pace, issuing numerous D.I.Y. singles, split 7″ releases, EPs, and demos in between studio albums like 2009’s highly regarded Can’t Maintain and 2011’s Knife Man. They moved away from their acoustic originals on 2014’s Christmas Island, then shortened their name to the abbreviated AJJ on subsequent releases like 2020’s Good Luck Everybody and 2023’s Disposable Everything, all while offering witty, intense commentary on themselves and society at large through their copious auxiliary releases.

Released in January 2020, Good Luck Everybody was a frenetic missive exploring topical and political themes and featured guests like Kimya Dawson and Jeff Rosenstock as well as drummer Owen Evans who had replaced Batchelor a few years earlier. It also marked the first released on their own label, AJJ Unlimited LTD. A scattering of self-released singles followed over the next two years before AJJ found yet another new home on the Hopeless Records roster. With incoming drummer Kevin Higuchi now on board, they recorded their eighth studio album, Disposable Everything

pulled from Tidal

Say Anything

The pop-punk brainchild of Max Bemis, Say Anything rose to prominence in 2004 with the release of their critically acclaimed sophomore LP …Is a Real Boy and the breakthrough single “Alive with the Glory of Love.” The group continued to hone their visceral blend of emo, punk, pop, and alternative rock on chart-topping albums like Say Anything (2009) and Hebrews (2014), before ceasing operations in 2019 with the release of their eighth and final record, Oliver Appropriate. The band reunited in 2023 for a series of live shows and released a pair of singles, “Psyche” and “Are You (In) There?”

Formed in 2000, Say Anything came together while lead singer and songwriter Max Bemis and the other members were still attending high school in Los Angeles, California. Although the lineup has since featured a rotating cast of characters, Bemis remains at the band’s core. He spins tales of insecurity and frustration with help from longtime drummer Coby Linder. Say Anything made their studio debut with two self-released and self-produced EPs — Junior Varsity! and Menorah/Majora, the latter being released online — as well as a full-length album, 2003’s Baseball. These releases saw the band leaning toward the same mix of emo and pop-punk made popular by bands like blink-182.

In 2023, Say Anything reunited for appearances at Chicago’s Riot Fest and the When We Were Young Festival in Las Vegas. That same year, the band released a pair of standalone singles, “Psyche” and “Are You (In) There?”

pulled from Spotify