Love Letter To A Record: Say Anything’s Max Bemis On Queen’s ‘A Night At The Opera’

Many of us can link a certain album to pivotal moments in our lives. Whether it’s the first record you bought with your own money, the chord you first learnt to play on guitar, the song that soundtracked your first kiss, the album that got you those awkward and painful pubescent years or the one that set off light bulbs in your brain and inspired you to take a big leap of faith into the unknown – music is often the catalyst for change in our lives and can even help shape who we become.

In this series, Music Feeds asks artists to reflect on their relationship with music and share with us stories about the effect music has had on their lives.

Here are their love letters to records that forever changed their lives.


Say Anything’s Max Bemis: Queen – A Night At The Opera

Dear A Night At The Opera,

I started to become obsessed with music intensely after getting into punk. I started listening to everything. I was always a music fan, but I really started to study it once I started a band and got into punk music. Then I burned a bunch of CDs from my friend who was into what was known as ‘classic rock’, which is really just, like, anything that existed before the 90’s. And all my friends who liked that kind of stuff were way into The Beatles and Zeppelin, but the thing that I gravitated to the most was you, because of your sense of humour.

You were emotive, you were not pretentious. And as much as your music could be over-the-top — let’s face it, you were basically a musical — I still felt like you were less pretentious than The Beatles or The Rolling Stones.

There was a knowledge that you were kind of silly, but that didn’t stop you from being sincere, and I think that’s something that is very commonly found in everything I’ve ever written, especially since I met you.

No matter how musically intricate we get or how over-the-top the music is, there has to be a knowledge that this is all kind of, like, wankery, essentially. That’s what’s great about you, and that’s what’s great about art and performing and theatre, and I think that’s what you as a record mean, to some degree. Like, ‘this is opera, this is theatre. And rock is theatre, so embrace it’. That’s how I feel about you.

– Max

Say Anything’s ‘In Defence’ Australian tour kicks off this Sunday, 25th February. Catch all the dates below.

Say Anything 2018 ‘In Defense’ Australian Anniversary Tour

Tickets on sale now

Monday, 26th February

Max Watt’s, Melbourne (Performing Self Titled + In Defense Disc 2) 18+

Tickets: Destroy All Lines

Wednesday, 28th February

Factory Theatre, Sydney (Performing Is A Real Boy + In Defense Disc 1) 18+

Tickets: Destroy All Lines

Thursday, 1st March

Factory Theatre, Sydney (Performing Self Titled Album + In Defense Disc 2) 18+

Tickets: Destroy All Lines

Friday, 2nd March

The Triffid, Brisbane (Performing Is A Real Boy + In Defense Disc 1) 18+

Tickets: Destroy All Lines

Sunday, 4th March

The Zoo, Brisbane (Performing Self Titled + In Defense Disc 2) 18+

Tickets: Destroy All Lines

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