Matchbook Romance

Matchbook Romance was an American emo band from Poughkeepsie, New York and was formed in 1997. They were signed to Epitaph Records. They released two full-length albums and one EP. Their EP, West for Wishing, released in 2003 was their first recorded album during their time on Epitaph; their full-length debut album, Stories and Alibis, was recorded in the same year.

Matchbook Romance formed in 1997 under the name Fizzle Wink, changing their name to Getaway shortly afterward. The band heavily promoted itself on the internet, leading to posts on PunkNews.org about their music. When Epitaph Records head Brett Gurewitz read these posts and downloaded a track, he contacted the band to sign them.^[7] They changed their name once again to Matchbook Romance to avoid a name conflict with a Canadian band named the Getaway.^[8]

The group debuted with West for Wishing, an EP released in early 2003, and later they released their first LP, Stories and Alibis, in September 2003. They also appeared on a 4-song split with Motion City Soundtrack in which an acoustic version of "Playing for Keeps" and "In Transit for You" appeared.

In 2006 on their second album, Voices, the band decided to change their sound and get away from what they had originally been producing. Their song "Monsters" appeared in Madden NFL 07,^[9] Arena Football: Road to Glory, and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.

On March 12, 2007, after a 10-year career, they announced via a MySpace bulletin that they were going on an indefinite hiatus.

In May 2009, the band played three reunion shows on the East Coast.^[10]

Matchbook Romance has not yet stated if they are still going to work together or are splitting for good. Stern went on to join God or Julie.^[11] Guitarist Ryan "Judas" DePaolo started his own band called HILLvalley^[12] and debuted their first album called "Salutations" in the summer of 2009, and followed with "Upside Down" in the summer of 2011.

After touring with You, Me, and Everyone We Know from 2008–2010, drummer Aaron Stern joined the supergroup D.R.U.G.S. (Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows) started by Craig Owens, formerly of Chiodos. A debut album was released on February 22, 2011. The band split up in 2012.

Andrew Jordan is now promoting his new project called "DriftDivision". A six-song self-titled EP was released on October 26, 2010. In a video posted he stated that he worked on some songs with bass player Ryan Kienle. In 2011 he released a new video for the song "Hush".

It was announced that Matchbook Romance would be playing select dates on the 2015 Vans Warped Tour.^[13]

• Andrew Jordan – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano, keyboard
• Ryan "Judas" DePaolo – lead guitar, vocals, programming, synthesizer
• Ryan Kienle – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Aaron Stern – drums, percussion
• Chris Vicious – touring guitar

Studio albums

• Stories and Alibis (Epitaph Records, 2003)
• Voices (Epitaph Records, 2006) U.S. No. 43^[14]

EPs

• West for Wishing (Epitaph Records, 2003)

Compilations featured on

• Nada Recording Studio 2002 Sampler (Broken English Records), 2002 Featuring an early version of "If All Else Fails" from Stories and Alibis
• Take Action! Tour Sampler Album (Sub City Records, 2005)
• Matchbook Romance/Motion City Soundtrack Split EP (Epitaph Records, 2004)
• Punk-O-Rama Vol. 8 (Epitaph Records, 2003)
• Punk-O-Rama Vol. 9 (Epitaph Records, 2004)
• Punk-O-Rama Vol. 10 (Epitaph Records, 2005)
• 2003 Warped Tour Compilation (Side One Dummy Records, 2003)
• 2004 Warped Tour Compilation (Side One Dummy Records, 2004)
• 2006 Warped Tour Compilation (Side One Dummy Records, 2006)
• Atticus: ...Dragging the Lake, Vol. 2 (Side One Dummy Records, 2003)
• A Santa Cause: It's a Punk Rock Christmas (Immortal Records, 2003)
• The Best of Taste of Chaos (Warcon Records, 2006)

• "Promise" (2003)
• "My Eyes Burn" (2003)
• "Monsters" (2006)

• AbsolutePunk. net Review of Voices
• Punknews.org Profile of Matchbook Romance (Reviews, Interviews)
• Voices Album Review at UKEvents.net