Background
Writing and plans for In Defense of the Genre began in March 2006 during Say Anything's extensive touring and promotion for the reissue of their previous effort, …Is a Real Boy. The band started rehearsing and piecing together the album through pre-production the next year in January 2007, until the record was finally completed half a year later in September. Max Bemis described in an interview that the record is more focused on "observations of other people", unlike ...Is a Real Boy's lyrical content revolving solely on Bemis and his problems. The record "picks up in my life where left off because it is very autobiographical, even more so than the last record. Musically, it's different, more mature and somewhat more cohesive and poppy, but darker in a whole different way."
| “ | It's the story of being alone and losing my mind and then overcoming that event by learning to trust and let go of that anger and fall in love for the first time. It's also about losing that love and the confusion that entails after, and the nature of first love; discovering what you really want whether it be to give yourself totally to someone or explore the endless abyss and risk losing your mind again and that love. | ” |
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—Max Bemis describes the concept of In Defense of the Genre |
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The album features 23 individual guest vocalists and musicians, including Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance, Pete Yorn, Anna Waronker, Adam Lazzara of Taking Back Sunday, Aaron Gillespie of Underoath and The Almost, Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio, and Hayley Williams of Paramore. Additional instrumentation was handled by DJ Swamp and Casey Prestwood, whom contributed on turntable and pedal steel guitar, respectively. The December issue of Alternative Press reported that Jesse Lacey of Brand New chose not to collaborate. In December of 2007, Absolutepunk.net did a 3-part video series showing an in depth look at the recording of In Defense of the Genre.
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