What is the Boston Typewriter Orchestra?
BTO is … first and foremost basically a rhythm section and sort of a drum circle on typewriters.
Common questions about the band, the typewriters, and booking.
BTO is … first and foremost basically a rhythm section and sort of a drum circle on typewriters.
The Boston Typewriter Orchestra was founded in 2004 in the Boston area, and gave its first performance in Somerville, Massachusetts, on October 20, 2004.
Have you ever heard a song on the radio and thought, “Wow, this is a pretty good tune, but it might sound a lot better if it was played on like six typewriters instead of guitars, bass, and drums?” So we thought, why don’t we give it a shot? It was sort of a dare, if you will.
The orchestra performs with roughly four to eight members at a time, who take the stage in matching white button-down shirts and ties.
Among their number: a librarian, an AIDS researcher, and a mortgage broker.
The Boston Typewriter Orchestra is based in the Boston, Massachusetts area, where it originated in Somerville.
Yes. The group marked its 20th anniversary in 2024 and continues to tour and draw national press coverage into 2026.
Vintage manual typewriters — brands such as Underwood, Royal, and Smith Corona — played purely as percussion instruments, with the keys, bells, platen, and carriage each contributing a different sound.
When we started, you could walk into a secondhand store and get one for a couple bucks. Now they’ve become collectibles.
Every typewriter makes a different sound. Some shift keys are louder than others, so those tend to be more of the “bass.” Each machine’s hammer hits the platen a different way.
The first thing we do with all machines is remove the ribbons, so we’re not typing anything per se.
As you can probably deduce, these things don’t have a long shelf life with us. Any repairs, assuming they can be salvaged, are done in-house.
Originals such as “Entropy Begins at the Office” and “Left Blank,” along with a typewriter rendition of the surf-rock classic “Wipe Out” that the group titles “Wite-Out.”
Usually, someone will find a new sound, and then we structure something around that. This is like a punk rock band; we vamp between parts, one part serves as a chorus.
Yes. Though it performs on manual typewriters, the orchestra plays structured, rhythmic compositions rather than random noise; GBH called the results “weirdly impressive music.”
As the group has matured it has skewed a little more mainstream, appearing at museums, libraries, and book festivals.
Yes. The orchestra has appeared on NBC’s America’s Got Talent (2011), The Kelly Clarkson Show (2020), NBC Nightly News (2023), and CBS Boston’s WBZ-TV, among other programs.
Yes. The orchestra appears in California Typewriter, the 2016 documentary about typewriter enthusiasts that also features Tom Hanks.
Booking and contact information is available on the band’s official website, bostontypewriterorchestra.com.