Matchbook Romance | Main

In 2002, the punk world met and fell for Poughkeepsie, NY's Matchbook Romance. The band's foundation dates back to 1997, when bassist Ryan Kienle, vocalist/guitarist Andrew Jordan, and drummer Aaron Stern's band, Fizzlewink, added guitarist Ryan "Judas" DePaolo and became known as The Getaway. Self proclaimed "computer geeks," the band hit the Internet hard, putting their geekdom to good use by designing their own website and using it for shameless promotion of their wildly emotional take on crashing, mid-tempo melodic hardcore. The band gained exposure through listings on unsigned band sites, and eventually began playing to a growing audience throughout the Northeast. In fact, they even gained the attention of Epitaph Records via the internet. Epitaph honcho Brad Gurewitz heard a track from The Getaway's demo on punknews.org, immediately got in touch with Jordan, and flew the band to California to sign a deal with the famous punk rock label. Legal issues encouraged The Getaway to change their name, and so Matchbook Romance was born. Gurewitz voluntarily produced their debut EP, West For Wishing, sending the band on many tours to promote it. With a summer stint on the Vans Warped Tour under their belts, the band went back to the studio, working with Joe Barresi (Queens of the Stone Age, Weezer, Pennywise) as producer of their first full length album, Stories and Alibis Where West for Wishing was a calling card, meant to introduce fans to Matchbook Romance, it was also a bit of a red herring. Stories and Alibis finds a band that was holding back, saving their best material for a sucker punch. A listen to these songs: the surging "Promise," the striking "If All Else Fails," the excellent sing-along "Stay Tonight," the acoustic left-turn "Tiger Lily," and album closer "The Greatest Fall (Of All Time)," and it's easy to see how this album will wow their already established fans, as well as open them up to a whole new crowd. Furthermore, Stories and Alibis reflects a band that has grown both as a group and as individuals. On the band's success, singer Ryan Kienle says, "It's like living inside a dream and I never want to wake up. I think that one statement kind of says it all."