handwriting! (band)

handwriting!
handwriting!
	handwriting! performing in Marshfield, MA in May 2015
Background information
Origin	Marshfield, MA
Genres	Emo, Screamo, Math Rock, Punk
Years active	2013-2016
Past members	Devin Bailey, Joe Byrne, Mike Taylor, Conor McMahon
Website	handwritingma.bandcamp.com

Handwriting (stylized as handwriting!) was and American emo band from Marshfield, Massachusetts. The band was formed in 2013 by Joe Byrne (Lead Guitar/Vocals), Devin Bailey (Vocals, Bass Guitar), Mike Taylor (Rhythm Guitar), and Conor McMahon (Drums).

The band announced in Fall 2015 that they would soon be disbanded. Handwriting played their final show on January 9th, 2016 in drummer Conor McMahon’s basement, also known as “Marshfield House.”

Handwriting was well developed in the Boston-based emo scene playing at venues such as The Middle East Nightclub and T.T. The Bear's Place and have opened for well-known emo bands such as Tiny Moving Parts, and offered to for Turnover and A Great Big Pile of Leaves.

History

2013: Formation and Name Changes

Formed in January 2013, former members of the emo band Let’s Go Blue; Devin Bailey, Joe Byrne, and Mike Taylor, all currently enrolled at Marshfield High School, operated under the name Bike Scene and played at the Middle East Upstairs supporting Silent Disco (formerly Closer Than We Appear).

In the summer of 2013, after a few name changes, they recruited drummer Conor McMahon and formed Handwriting with Byrne on lead guitar and songwriting, Bailey on lead vocals, Taylor on bass guitar, and McMahon on drums.

2013-2013: Cool Cool Cool… and and?

That summer the band released their first demo EP. In December 2013, the band released their first EP “Cool Cool Cool…” which title is a reference to the NBC show Community. About a month after the band released their second EP “and?” The EP is hard to be found because the band later deleted it off of their Bandcamp page because they believe the quality of the album was not as good as their others because it was recorded in Byrne’s basement.

On January 18th, 2014, the band played their first house show of many they would come to be know for in McMahon’s basement they referred to as “Marshfield House.” Among some in attendance were the band’s future merchandise managers Mike Allocca and Emma Nee, and Connor Scribner who would later be known to be the band’s self-proclaimed “mascot” and the cover of their first full-length LP. The opening bands for this show were Boo Radical, The Fiends, and Outbound.

2014: Self-Titled and Opening for Tiny Moving Parts

In April of 2014, the band released their first self-titled 10” EP which was followed by critical acclaim within the Boston-based emo scene. It also featured some of the bands favorite tracks to date such as, “Stiffest Boy in America” and “Busta Rhymes.” Soon after the album was pressed on cassette tapes, which was a first for the band, through New England Basement, along with this their first two EPs were also pressed on cassettes through indie-label Ozona Records.

In May, the band played arguably their biggest show in which they opened for well-known Minnesota emo band Tiny Moving Parts at Anchors Up in Haverhill, MA. Throughout the summer the band played a series of house shows around Massachusetts. At many of these they played with and befriended Dan Colasanto, who at the time was operating under his solo project When All We Love Is Lost, but he was also a touring guitarist for the popular emo band Hotel Books. During this summer, the band played another one of their house shows at “Marshfield House” with The Worst of Us, Sustained, Of The Monarchs, and the headlining band was Sports. At the same time the band was releasing the first vinyl lathe press of their self-titled via Ronald Records.

2014-2015: You’re Mad and I’m Still Here

Around August 2014, the band started recording a 7” Split with New Hampshire-based emo bands Casper Elgin and Cest La Vie titled Triples Therapy which was released later in October. About a month later the band released their new 7” EP, You’re Mad and I’m Still Here. The EP was released on a limited vinyl pressing via Ozona Records, Ronald Records, and Waybridge Records. The EP was also streamed early via emo music blog Couch King Emo, which is run by Casper Elgin drummer, Chris Musser. This EP was the first piece of music to have Byrne join Bailey on co-lead vocals, and rhythm guitar by Taylor with Bailey taking over on bass.

Around January 2015, in support of their most recent EP, the band played the next house show at the “Marshfield House” with emo bands When All We Love Is Lost and Casper Elgin, and thrash metal band From The Makers Of headlined the show. Popular emo band Perspective, A Lovely Hand To Hold was also set to play, but in the wake of a large blizzard, the band could not make it.

2015-2016: Scooter Dudes and First Major Tour

In the first half of 2015, the band was hard at work on recording and releasing their first full-length LP, Scooter Dudes, which was later released in May. The band released a 7” vinyl pressing of two singles off the album, “Naruto” and “Wal-Mart.” After this the band played what, at the time, was known to be the final show at “Marshfield House” for McMahon’s graduation party and featured headlining acts Olde Pine and Casper Elgin, the show also featured a post-show miscellaneous cover set from McMahon and his younger brother.

In July, in support of this album the band embarked on the Summer Bummer Tour supporting Casper Elgin, Perspective, A Lovely Hand To Hold, and Sinai Vessel. Dates across the tour also featured bands such as, In Writing, Sleep In, Glassgrade, Me In Capris, Paper Skeletons, and Running Laps. The tour was across six cities in Northeast America, Boston, MA; Manchester, NH; Danbury, CT, Philadelphia, PA, TBA, NJ; and concluded in Brooklyn, NY.

2016-Future: Disbandment and Future Projects

In the fall of 2015, McMahon enrolled in the University of Vermont, which was substantially far from the other members forcing the band into indefinite hiatus until November. During this time the members focused on their various side projects, Bailey started the Experimental Hip-Hop/Rap project Running Laps; Byrne started a solo emo project Friend Edit; and both Byrne and Taylor started Hip-Hop/Vaporwave project It’s Observable, Powerful. In November, Joe Byrne addressed the hiatus and announced the disbandment of the band via the band’s Facebook page:

"hey everyone. i thought i'd give you a brief summary on why we've decided to end handwriting in a couple months. first of all, there's nothing personal between any of us. we're all good friends and plan on continuing to be good friends for years to come. most of us were 16/17 years old when this band started so as you'd expect our musical interests have changed a lot since then. our releases feel more like a messy history than a discography, not that we don't like what we've done, it's just that there's so much that we would have done differently if we had started a band now. handwriting was a big learning experience for all of us and we are so thankful to everyone who has given us the musical confidence we've gathered over the past two years. please listen to devin's project RUNNING LAPS, as well as mike and devin's new project It's Observable, Powerful. devin mike and conor are also talking about starting a new band at some point. i for one, am going to take a year or two to get my shit together and see what it's like to not be in a band for once (the first time since middle school !!) again, thanks for everything. it's been a mega blast.

- joe”

The band later announced their final show would be on January 9th, 2016 at the “Marshfield House” and would be headlined by Running Laps supported by Olde Pine and themselves.

As of now, the former members of the band are currently occupied with their new endeavors and have no intentions to reunite.

Discography

LPs

Scooter Dudes (self-released, May 2015)

EPs

Demos (self-released, 2013)
Cool Cool Cool... (self-released, Dec. 2013
and? (self-released, Jan. 2014)
handwriting! (self-released, Apr. 2014)
Triples Therapy [7" Split w/ Casper Elgin and Cest La Vie] (self-released, Oct. 2014)

You're Mad and I'm Still Here (self-released, Nov. 2014)

Singles

Walmart/Naruto 7" Single (self-released, 2015)

Members

Devin Bailey (Vocals) (2013-2016), (Bass Guitar) (2014-2016)
Joe Byrne (Lead Guitar) (2013-2016), (Vocals) (2014-2016)
Mike Taylor (Bass Guitar) (2013-2014), (Rhythm Guitar) (2014-2016)
Conor McMahon (Drums) (2013-2016)

References

Scribner, Connor. "Emo in the Boston Music Scene" Retrieved

User:Punksonparade