- Andrew Jordan (Vocals, Guitar)
- Ryan "Judas" DePaolo (Guitar)
- Ryan Kienle (Bass)
- Aaron Stern (Drums)
Stories And Alibis produced by Joe Barresi
(Hole, Queens Of The Stone Age, Skunk Anansie, Melvins and Weezer)
"Third time's a charm, but would we even get that far?" - "14 Balloons"
Allow us to introduce Poughkeepsie, NY's MATCHBOOK ROMANCEæonce known as
The Getaway. These four young men rock so well that Epitaph Records had
to pluck 'em right off the Internet.
"The Internet really played and plays a major part of our success as a
band," says bassist Ryan Kienle, weeks before the band lets the leash
off West for Wishing, their debut EP. A taut, five-tune taste of an LP
to come later this year, WFW is ripe with layered emotional-hardcore
melodies and sharp, passionate, pop songcraft. Further, it's the fruit
of unmerciful self-promotion via the Internet. Here, Kienle relates "the
whole freakin' story."
The band's genesis dates back to 1997, with he and vocalist/guitarist
Andrew Jordan in various incarnations of different bands. One such band,
Fizzlewink, coughed up a DIY disc in February 2001. Midsummer of that
year, Kienle says, "is where things get interesting."
The band added a third guitarist, Ryan "Judas" DePaolo" and drummer
Aaron Stern and re-christened themselves The Getaway. Kienle credits
DePaolo as adding "amazing background vocal and guitar ideas" which
cemented the band's sound, a juxtaposition of singing and screaming
within a marriage of pop melodies and pulsing, careening rock rhythms.
"[We] bring a lot of emotion and power to the music," Kienle says.
"something we thrive on as a band. We bridge the gap, taking the best of
[pop punk and screamo] and making something of our own. We reach for
that solid hook but, at the same time, try to work in that crazy offset
that little extra kick to the song."
Armed with a modest bouquet of six tunes, the bandæall confessed
computer geeksæconstructed a website and began a relentless
word-of-mouth crusade, drumming up links and mailing list subscriptions
by networking with other unsigned U.S. bands they admired and the
several hundred fans that would frequent the band's performances.
Says Kienle, "We were promoting all our shows over punk sites and
mailing lists and other bands' guestbooks and messageboards... putting
our music up on MP3.com all of that. We really pushed it hard... told
everyone we knew and had them tell everyone they knew about our MP3s and
our website. It started drawing massive traffic and things just started
taking off. From September to December, we played almost every single
weekend, [sometimes] two shows a weekend, all throughout the northeast."
Payday came when Epitaph honcho/Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz,
trawling the 'Net for the band with that Special Something. After
reading a particularly enthusiastic post on www.punknews.org, Gurewitz
downloaded the band's track "Ex Marks The Spot." Dazzled, he emailed
Jordan to express interest. Jordan thought it a cruel, cruel joke. "Andy
emailed all of us asking who was messing with him and [said], 'it's not
funny [to] joke around about this crap.' We had no clue what he was
talking about. So, Andy emailed Brett backed saying its messed up if
this is a prank and if not, you can call me.
Of course, the phone rang. Kienle, Jordan, Stern and "Judas" flew west
and a deal was both proffered and signed with gusto. This, on the merits
of a rough, six-song demo. "That's when we knew it was for real. We were
all blown away."
Gurewitz returned the bandænow, due to legalities, called Matchbook
Romanceæto Yorktown Heights. Charged with writing the new LP, the band
tries to maintain focus as tour possibilities, including that golden
ticket of summer jaunts, the Vans Warped Tour, are bandied about.
"From the day we got home, we've been writing as much as we can, trying
new things, experimenting musically, trying different songwriting
processes," says Kienle. "[We're] just focusing on writing the best
album we possibly can."
Not that they don't indulge in a little reverie...
"It really is a dream come true. It just feels like we started something
that can't be stopped We are using an awesome producer [Joe Barresi;
Queens of the Stone Age, Pennywise, Weezer, The Jesus Lizard, Melvins]
for our full-length and a punk legend [Brett Gurewitz] produced our EP!
It's like living inside a dream and I never want to wake up. I think
that one statement kind of says it all."
