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All Music Guide:
Matchbook Romance is a melodic hardcore unit from Poughkeepsie, NY. The band started in 1997 when bassist Ryan Kienle, vocalist/guitarist Andrew Jordan, and drummer Aaron Stern's band, Fizzlewink, added guitarist Ryan "Judas" DePaolo and became the Getaway. All computer-savvy, the bandmembers hit the Internet hard, designing their own website and using it for shameless promotion of their wildly emotional take on crashing, midtempo hardcore. The band gained exposure through listings on unsigned band sites like MP3.com, and eventually began playing to a growing audience throughout the Northeast.
Epitaph honcho Brett Gurewitz heard the Getaway's demo via punknews.org, got in touch with Jordan, and soon the bandmembers found themselves in California, signing a deal with the famous punk rock label. Legal issues encouraged the Getaway to become Matchbook Romance, Gurewitz volunteered to produce their debut EP, tours were arranged, and Joe Barresi (Weezer, Pennywise) was lined up to produce the band's eventual full-length. Not bad for a bunch of guys who had faith in MP3.com. The West for Wishing EP appeared in April of 2003 with their debut full-length, Stories and Alibis, surfacing five months later. Lots of touring helped the latter release sell upward of 200,000 copies, and a 2004 split with Motion City Soundtrack satisfied fans until the more ambitious Voices was issued in February 2006. The guys spent much of the year on the road, including summer dates opening for Yellowcard. However, by March 2007, it all came to a sudden end as Matchbook Romance announced it was going on an indefinite hiatus for unspecified reasons.
Wikipedia:
Matchbook Romance was an American rock band from Poughkeepsie, New York and was formed in 1997. 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.
History
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, 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 spring of 2009, Matchbook Romance got back together and played 5 shows in the NY/NJ/PA area, but have not toured or made music since.
Matchbook Romance has not yet stated if they are still going to work together or are splitting for good. Guitarist Ryan DePaolo started his own band called HILLvalley and debuted their first album called "Salutations" in the summer of 2009.
After touring with You, Me, and Everyone We Know from 2008–2010, drummer Aaron Stern joined the band 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.
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(Matchbook Romance). He recently released a new video for the song "Hush".
