Baggage

After over a decade in touring punk band, The Swellers, drummer Jonathan Diener moves from the back of the stage to the front. The songs being written at the time were for nothing more than self-medicating and moving on from the band’s breakup, but eventually the project was all about leaving your comfort zone and doing what you’ve always wanted to do with no expectations.

As a freelance writer for several music publications, seeing things from the business side as well as creative side just fed more fuel to the flames. The idea was to embrace feelings of self-awareness and distance one's self from the toxic feelings of romanticizing nostalgia. Letting the past finally be the past. The formation of Baggage was inevitable.

Jonathan asked his friends to start jamming and close to a year later the project evolved into something special. The band entered the studio with Marc Hudson (Taking Back Sunday, Saves The Day, Against Me!) and tracked five songs, released as Cheaper Than Therapy, an EP which helped raise money for their friend's burned down house renovations.

The second and most recent EP, The Good That Never Comes, helped raise close to $1,000 to get toiletries for Flint, Michigan families affected by the Flint Water Crisis. The band continues to raise money and awareness for important causes and is currently writing a full length album.