3-12-07
Dear fans and friends,
Today is a sad day. Because it is on this day that we, the members of Matchbook Romance, have decided to part ways and go on an indefinite hiatus. This was not at an easy decision for us to come to, as it seems it's taken months for the words to even form on the tips of our tongues. Its a decision that we thought we would never have to make, but unfortunately, after 5 years its a decision that best suits our situations.
We're going to miss all of our adoring fans, and friends that we've made on this adventure. We thank all of you for letting this thing we started into your hearts and for holding us in such high regard. We love all of your stories of traveling across the country just to see us play one show, and we love all the amazing gifts you guys have handcrafted for us personally. You will not be forgotten, and hopefully the music of Matchbook Romance won't be either.
So yes, today is a sad day, but it is also a good one. This is our chance to leave on a good note and forge ahead in the world to see what else is out there. We hope you guys will understand, and we hope you will look forward to the next time you hear from us.
Here's to the good times,
Matchbook Romance
"VOICES" BIO
Change is unquestionably a constant in life. When Matchbook Romance began in
2001, the idea of playing music for a living felt like a dream, a romantic
fantasy that dwelled in each member of the band's imagination. And, for
years, anyway, it seemed like it would remain that way. "We never thought it
was something that could actually come true for us," says vocalist/guitarist
Andrew Jordan who, at the time, was living at home and working as a waiter
at a local restaurant. "We had seen so many other bands try and reach for
that place in the world only to fall short. We always thought, 'What are our
chances?'" Still, people believed in the band-their friends, families and
peers-and they encouraged Matchbook Romance's just-stepping-into-the-world
rank and file to drop their impending classes at various community colleges
in and around Poughkeepsie, NY that fall, in order to concentrate on the
band. Which, they did. Thankfully, for us, they did.
Matchbook Romance spent the next six months recording a group of demos that
would attract the attention of Epitaph president Brett Gurewitz-a man who
would later sign the relatively green band (literally the day before
stepping on a plane to finalize contracts with the longstanding punk label,
the band's then-18-year-old drummer Aaron Stern graduated from high school).
Gurewitz also produced their first real recording, the West For Wishing EP,
in 2003, but it was Matchbook Romance's debut, Stories And Alibis, that the
world would really take to. The album's list of successes now speaks for
itself: following its late 2003 release came the video for "My Eyes Burn," a
run on the cover of scene bible Alternative Press and a slot headlining the
first-ever Epitaph Tour.
In between, Stories And Alibis sold over 200,000 copies and the band
absolutely lived on the road in support of it.
As Matchbook Romance began writing the initial version of what would become
their second album, VOICES, they began to take their musical ideas to a
variety of new levels. The band was writing constantly. If you were to have
walked into the back lounge during one of the many tours behind Stories And
Alibis chances are the mirrored walls in their tour bus would have been
covered with ideas for lyrics and ideas for new songs. Matchbook Romance
knew their next record would have to stand apart and the material they had
begun self-recording while out on the road behind Stories And Alibis-all of
it decidedly more sparse, moody and meditative-was significantly removed
from the sound they honed on their debut. One significant factor, as Jordan
puts it poetically, is that they "declared war on power chords."
Though distorted, muscular major chords are still present on VOICES, the
songs they recorded at Longview Farms Studios (an honest-to-goodness barn in
rural Massachusetts that's rumored to be haunted and keeps horses on the
facility) contain a sort of cinematic yearning that was only hinted at on
Stories And Alibis. Which, says Jordan, was all part of the vibe that
Matchbook Romance spent so long trying to conjure. "I wanted to create new
dynamics, I wanted to mimic an orchestra," Jordan explains. "We had to
overcome Stories if we were going to get any attention, and set ourselves
apart." Getting to this point, however, wouldn't happen overnight.
Months-even years-of writing preceded the final version of VOICES that was
recorded at Longview with indie music vet John Goodmanson (Blood Brothers,
Blonde Redhead), and for a while there it seemed like Matchbook Romance's
ambitions might have gotten the best of them. "I could see a little bit of
what Andy was going for," bassist Ryan Kienle says of the material that
Jordan would occasionally bring back to the group. "But in my mind it was
like, 'I don't really know exactly where he's going."
While VOICES, an interlocking mix of complex balladry and forward-thinking
rock, is a huge change for the members of Matchbook Romance, it's also a
necessary one-and after weeks of recording the album's dozen songs with
Goodmanson it was clear that huge leaps had been made. If Gurewitz, who had
persistently tracked the album's progress, was ever worried, now he was
elated. "I don't know if Brett ever expected something like this, I think we
had him a little worried" Jordan says. "But after he heard the final version
of the record he told me, 'I can't explain how much this record means to me.
It's as if you guys put a man on the moon."
That's a pretty great approximation of how VOICES works as a whole. It's a
staggering idea at first-how could the same band of suburban kids who
started years earlier rise to the challenge of something this
unapologetically ambitious? But then the idea begins to grow with you and on
you over time. In life and in music, all things must change. But that doesn't
mean they necessarily get any better or worse-they just create new
experiences that you'll find familiar emotions in along the way. "We could've
talked about this 24 hours a day, seven days a week and we still couldn't
have fathomed it. It was such a long shot to accomplish something like this,
but we had to have reason to step aside and allow our imaginations enough
room to come out. "
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