The Monday Mornings started as the solo Project of Michael Mearns in 2008. After gathering friends and fellow musicians Katie Mosehauer (The Thoughts, Lucy Bland, Carrie Biell), Thomas Erak (The Fall of Troy), and Evan Robertson (Catapults), Mearns and the future Monday Mornings headed into the studio to record his first full length record Swallow Down the Days. The band headed back into the studio in 2009 to begin their second full-length, pulling in Jay Beaman (School yard Heroes, Just Like Vinyl) to fill in on drums. During the recording process Mearns halted all live performances due to an overwhelming battle with stage-fright and crippling social anxiety. Mearns abruptly left Seattle, leaving fellow band members to finish the album. After months in the mountains of New Hampshire writing and posting songs as the Birch Bark Beggar, the singer\u002Fsongwriter returned to the Seattle area and began picking up the pieces of the band.In April 2010, tragedy struck and Monday Mornings bassist Evan Robertson l