Date Signed: June 2024
Label: Wiretap Records
Band Members: Echo Breen, Daniel Rancourt, Forest Walldorf, Conner Williams, Justynn Willingham
Type of Music: Emo/ Hardcore/ Punk
Booking: [email protected]
Publicity: Mike Cubillos / Earshot Media, [email protected]
When trying to get something you want from someone, the most common rule of thumb, so to speak, is “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” But, of course, there’s an exception to every rule and idiom. And in the case of an alt-rock quartet from Phoenix, it’s a literal one: The band’s moniker is, believe it or not, Bite the Hand. They recently shook hands with Los Angeles-based Wiretap Records, sealing a record deal with the esteemed punk label.
Active since 2018, the Phoenix-based group is to be confused with another band called Bite the Hand, an East Bay hardcore posse signed to Big Bite Records. The Bite the Hand at issue here “finally found our groove” recently, vocalist Echo Breen attests during a mid-August interview. Once that happened, the chips started falling in place.
A well-received outing with hardcore punk-rockers and future label mates Shiiva (also on Wiretap) spurred Bite the Hand to send Wiretap founder Rob Castellon an unmastered EP they were getting to release.
“We were looking for the right label to help us,” Breen recalls. “[Ben] asked us to jump on a Zoom call with him, and it was such an amazing fit that we were discussing the singing almost immediately. A week later, we got a contract in our email.”
Breen continues singing Castellon’s praises: “Rob saw that we could make it even if we didn't have a label. He really saw something unique and different [in us]. So yeah, getting signed helped push us [toward our potential].”
And yet, even with Castellon’s seeming hands-on approach, Breen insists that he “lets us do our own thing”—a big bonus for a band that lived by DIY credos for about 10 years.
“It's collaborative in that we’re all doing something together, but at the same time, each band member has an additional role beyond playing their instrument,” Breen adds, noting that Castellon has a Brian Epstein-like involvement with the band’s decision-making and development.
The slogan for Bite the Hand, whose new album Conned Out of Life came out four days after our interview, is “We make the music we love without compromise.” Thus far, all evidence points to the musicians doing just that.
