Matchbook Romance Biography
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."
Popular Biographies:
Jonny lang Biography: Modern blues in the '90s had a weird phenomenon of teenage blues guitarists rocketing to popularity with their first album. The entire trend culminated with Jonny Lang, a guitarist from Fargo, North...
Silk Biography: This '90s R&B vocal group should not be confused with the late-'70s Philadelphia band, which was a funk-oriented unit, or the vocal trio Silk from Los Angeles. Timothy Cameron, Jimmy Gates, Jr.,...
Mastodon Biography: The Atlanta, GA, quartet Mastodon plays an innovative, hard-to-categorize blend of metal, grindcore, and hardcore that puts them right at home on the Relapse label alongside the likes of Today Is the...
All that remains Biography: "I think it is safe to say that All That Remains is a metalcore band," says Philip Labonte, All That Remains' singer. "We try to cover lots of ground, but do stuff that is still true to ourselves: we...
Salt tank Biography: Salt Tank possesses an instinct for beautiful techno and trance akin to Orbital though their focus on hard-hitting techno and live-show performance (with guitars and drum kits as well as synthesizer...
Neutronic Biography: Neutronic has been knocking around the techno underground since the late '90s, releasing albums, such as 1999's Neutronic Vs. Planet Earth and 2001's The Mutation Engine, through independent labels....
United future organization Biography: Pioneers of the Japanese acid-jazz sound, the United Future Organization comprised Tokyo club DJs Tadashi Yabe, Toshio Matsuura and French expatriate Raphael Sebbag. Joining forces in 1990, the trio...
Skinny puppy Biography: Drawing from the pioneering work of artists like Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, and Suicide, the dark avant-industrial group Skinny Puppy formed in 1982 in Vancouver, British Columbia....