Handheld (band)

This article is about The Canadian Punk Rock Band. For other uses, see Handheld.

Handheld
Origin	Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Genres	Punk Rock Skatepunk Melodic Hardcore
Years active	1998-2008 2022-present
Labels	Thousand Islands Records Radtone Music Year Of The Sun Records Sharpshooter Records DIY
Associated acts	Curbside Klutz Frank Dux
Website	facebook.com/handheldpunk
Members	Andy Dietrich Craig Retzler Pat Dietrich Rick Guerrero Joel Countryman
Past members	Alex Guerrero Rob Cook

Handheld is a Canadian Skatepunk band that formed in Kitchener, Ontario in 1998, and released 7 studio albums from 1998 to 2022. The band is well known for its single "World Today", as well as the fast speed or high BPM that they play the majority of their songs at. The band was active with recording and touring from 1998 to 2008 and then took a 14 year hiatus, returning in 2022 with the album A Canadian Tragedy.

History

Early years and First Two Albums (1998-2002)

Members Craig Retzler and Pat Dietrich began playing music together in elementary school before they even had amplifiers or drums. Once they began high school they joined up with friends Rob Cook on bass and then famously walked by other neighborhood friend Andy Dietrich while he was raking leaves and asked him if he would like to sing in their new band. The name Handheld was chosen as a joke name that ended up sticking around. The 4 members began playing cover songs by Screeching Weasel, Face to Face and early Blink 182. The band soon began writing their own songs, and recorded their first song "Alone" at Fanshawe Studios in London, Ontario in 1998. The song was later released on the band's 2nd album Still Tickin'. In 1999 the band recorded their first release Homebrew, which was only ever distributed by the band at shows in CD-R format only. They continued to play shows throughout 1999 and then recorded their first full length record Still Tickin' in early 2000. The band gained a sizeable following in the Canadian Punk Rock Scene and played numerous touring acts. Still Tickin' was released on Sharpshooter Records, a small Canadian independent record label.

Signature Sound Dual Guitars and Prominent Bass (2002–2005)

In early 2002 the band joined up with local Kitchener area guitarist Alex Guerrero, and began writing dual guitar lines to many of their existing songs as well as new songs. Soon the band had enough songs that they went in to record their next full length record This Dream Is Just Not For Me. After the record was complete their original bassist Rob Cook left the band and Alex's brother Rick Guerrero joined on bass. This lineup quickly became the band’s signature sound with dual guitars and prominent bass lines; Rick was known in the local punk rock scene for his playing ability. Although Rob Cook had recorded on This Dream Is Just Not For Me, the songs were only ever performed live by Rick Guerrero. The band played more and more shows with larger acts, and then in 2003 went in the studio to record their release The Mark Worner EP. This release had a heavy influence by the writing style of Alex and Rick Guerrero, and the songs have a much darker, more serious tone than previous releases. The band shot their first ever music video for the song "No Footsteps to Follow". After this release the band started on their first larger touring legs throughout Canada.

All We Could Afford and Push To Labels (2005–2006)

After almost two years of playing shows and touring, the band decided to go into a more professional studio to track 3 songs which would be known as the All We Could Afford release. This release gained the attention of several labels and the band received national radio play with their song "Imbalanced". After which they recorded a music video to the song "World Today" which received rotation on Much Music and MTV. The video won a best rock video award at the Crave Fest music video awards. The band began doing a number of showcases for record labels from the All We Could Afford release.

Back to Four Piece, Self-Titled LP (2006-2008)

As touring, shows and label interest began to pick up for the band, member Alex Guerrero decided to leave to focus on his education. The band then kept the four piece lineup together (now with a single guitar) and went on to play Warped Tour. After which they went on to record their next full length, Self Titled record. The album was released in early 2008 by Year of The Sun records in North America and Radtone Music in Japan. Later that same year singer Andy Dietrich decided to leave the band, and on 2008-11-21 a "final show" was played in their hometown of Kitchener, Ontario. At this point the remaining members decided on an indefinite hiatus, feeling that without Andy Dietrich's signature vocals it was not right to continue with Handheld.

Hiatus and Curbside (2008-2018)

The band remained on hiatus with Andy Dietrich out; there was no indication the band would ever play shows or record again. One of the founding members and primary song writer, Pat Dietrich continued to write new songs for the band in 2008 and 2009. In early 2009 Pat Dietrich took to lead vocals and guitar and joined up with two members (Rob Callaghan and Kyle Dolson) from the recently defunct Southern Ontario punk band Some Other Influence. The three members played a number of Pat Dietrich's new Handheld songs, and they began to take shape as a new project. Alex Guerrero soon joined up as second guitarist and the band Curbside was formed . Curbside released a Full Length album in 2012 and an EP in 2016. In 2016 Alex Guerrero left and Craig Retzler joined up. Curbside remains active today.

Reformation and Back to Five Piece (2018-2022)

In December of 2018, Andy Dietrich expressed interest in playing some reunion Handheld shows. The band was not able to get Alex Guerrero to rejoin the lineup, so they enlisted local southern Ontario guitarist Joel Countryman from the band Frank Dux to join. The now five piece of Andy Dietrich, Craig Retzler, Rick Guerrero, Pat Dietrich and Joel Countryman began practicing for an anticipated reunion show. Andy Dietrich and Pat Dietrich also began writing a new Handheld song together to see how new Handheld material might work with this lineup. The duo soon wrote their first song together and shortly after the COVID-19 Pandemic began. The band then stopped their focus on a reunion show and began to write an entire new full length album. Andy Dietrich and Pat Dietrich wrote 10 songs and Rick Guerrero wrote 1 song which would become the full length record A Canadian Tragedy

A Canadian Tragedy (2022-Present)

Pat Dietrich produced and engineered the 11 song full length at his home studio. John Harcus mixed and mastered the album. All songs were written by Andy Dietrich and Pat Dietrich, except “Coming Home” by Rick Guerrero. The band also performed and recorded an old Canadian folk song “The Log Driver Waltz” written by W. Hemsworth (1955). Additional vocals on the song “Bend the Iron” were performed by Émilie Plamondon. The record was released by Thousand Islands Records on June 14th, 2022 on CD and Vinyl . Handheld created three music videos: a low-budget DIY production for "Bend The Iron", an animated video for "The Log Driver's Waltz" and a professional video for "Leaving Candyland".

Band Members

Current Lineup

• Andy Dietrich - Lead Vocals (1998-Present)
• Craig Retzler - Guitar, Backing Vocals (1998-Present)
• Pat Dietrich - Drums, Backing Vocals (1998-Present)
• Rick Guerrero - Bass, Backing Vocals (2002-Present)
• Joel Countryman - Guitar, Backing Vocals (2019-Present)

Former Members

• Rob Cook - Bass (1998-2002)
• Alex Guerrero - Guitar (2001-2006)

Discography

Studio Albums

• Homebrew (1999)
• Still Tickin' (2000)
• This Dream Is Just Not For Me (2003)
• All We Could Afford (2005)
• Self Titled (2008)
• A Canadian Tragedy (2022)

External links

Website Links

• Handheld Youtube Channel
• Discogs Listing

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