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 | Matchbook RomanceStories and Alibis2003 Epitaph 
  Review by: Aubin See others by this writer ![[staff]](/images/icons/staffsticker.gif){kind=icon}
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Published on September 23rd 2003 There has certainly been a lot of talk about this band. Discovered from an innocuous posting on a website, and quickly signed to the biggest independent label in the world, not to mention a popular EP and a stint on this summer's Warped Tour. This young band has a great deal to be proud of. Their debut release, released in April of this year was not exactly critically acclaimed, but it built them a strong audience; for me, it was far too derivative, and in spite of the bands obvious musical prowess, a wealth of melodramatic lyrics and an all too common sound left me unimpressed. So, a few short months later, the band releases their first full length, and how does it fare? Well, to be honest, it's a marked improvement over the West for Wishing. The band seems like it is closer to finding it's voice, and the songs are tighter, and the vocals more natural sounding than the forced delivery on the EP. It still conjures up the sounds of their contemporaries like the Deftones-lite of Finch, or even early Saves the Day. But while their sound is clearly derivative of those bands, they manage to do it better than most. Take the first "real" track on the CD, "Your Stories, My Alibis" which opens with an extended instrumental and hits a decent pace, though it does seem like it could benefit from releasing some of the energy the band is holding down beneath the track. Of course, on the essentially acoustic "Tiger Lily" the band awakens it's lingering modern rock sensibilities with a track tailor made for radio play, probably somewhere near a Dashboard Confessional song. The biggest flaw of the record in my mind, is probably also the potential strength of their next. Primarily, that the energy on the record seems unnaturally restrained; I'm not expecting them to turn into a hardcore band, but each track carries the promise of an explosion, but never delivers. It makes a generally catchy record quite a bit frustrating.
As a whole, it's a better record than their EP delivered, in fact, it's a more promising band
than the EP suggested, but the lack of follow through on some of the more interesting ideas, as
well as the fundamentally overplayed nature of the sound were disappointing. On the other hand,
the excellent musicianship, incredible production and growth over the past year suggest that
you keep an eye on this band.
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Every year I have one huge guilty pleasure that I completly eat up. 2006 was Roses Are Red's 'What Became of Me.' 2005 was Lovehatehero's 'Just Breathe.' This album covered 2003/2004. i got a say i like the band and the cd but they fucked it up with lovers and liars i got a say i like the band and the cd but they fucked it up with lovers and liars Really my favorite band out there. Nice forum you got here, I'm here to tell you that the end of the world is near, (or not) http://www.casino-los-angeles.com/doliyoli/casino-directory-2005. html love this cd. great lyrics. if you like blink 182, the starting line, and new found glory, check out this really awesome band Stanley. listen to them at this link: www.purevolume.com/stanley this band fuckin rocks for any matchbook romance fans who might be reading this go to www.chartattack.com and enter the contest currently running. Thanx for your feedback and good luck! Everyone can screw off if they don't like this CD- it's great and filled with emotion and different music, different then other stuff I've heard. bad try from epitaph to earn much money with the trend music emo/screamo! live are they ok I loved this CD.... a very uprising cd. I was wondering through my friends computer and I found this band under some of the stuff he had and I listened to them and became instantly in love with them. My favorite songs so far our "Promise" and :Tiger Lily" Not really Epitaph material but eh its about time epitaph gets some variety. it was a sad, sad day when epitaph released this worthless pile of shit. fuck i got it for $6 at a used store and went and returned it. yes folks, its that bad. disgustingly awful might actually be a better way to descibe it. avoid at ALL costs. This album is awesome. All the lyrics come from Andy,the lead singer, and experiences he sees and has experienced personally. I am really good friends of these guys and they r so true to the music. they play for the music. this album is just a preview of whats to come. check these guys out on tour now with fallout boy and this yrs warped tour I LOVE this album. i listen to it religiously. I saw matchbook romance in concert just last december. ive loved them ever since. the lyrics and music is original. you can really relate to what the guys are singing about. i definately recomend this album to everyone!! purchasing the cd is so worth it! Blinks old drummer, scott raynor, was pretty frickin' ugly. And dude ranch still went gold. They definitely werent a boy band. then. oh yeah, dont spend any of your money here. Go get the new michelle branch and pick up some nelly. And if you really want to be punk, go pick up some wristbands from hollister. They are the Coolest. I fart on Matchbook Romance. I've heard it and the word "amazing" doesn't come to mind, the first word that enters my mind is "boring" so how many of you actually listened to the cd? most of you haters probally havent even listened to it and are just taking other peoples review on it. this cd is amazing Lousy Cd and and an even worse live band! I bought this last week and listened to it once and returned it for a FATA CD. What would you expect from a label that spends more time & money throwing parties then seeking out & promoting good bands, hell, I've been to two Epi party's in the last week! Damn, You hate the nail on the head! You know, being in a proffesional band myself, Im sick of seeing all this lou perlman esk bullshit going on right now. The label will just pick up some pretty faces that fit the bill, and cash in. And its sincerely dissapointing to see that epitaph is buying into this method of madness. If the biggest punk label in the world is picking up "boy bands" (cause thats really what they are,) what the hell do we have to look forward to? Sure there will always be an underground, but is there nothing to put trust into anymore? I mean, fucking epitaph.... come on. That fucking label has more money than god, this is just flat out GREED, and its infested the punk scene for way too long. My passion for music is lying there bleeding on the floor and bands like Good Charolette, Blink 182, and of course Matchbook Romance are sitting in plain view holding the rifle. Its just depressing that it had to come this far. Lou Perlman, whoops i mean brett guerwitz needs to be put to fucking sleep, you greedy fuck. Wake me up when this dud is over... wow, you'd actually be pretty damn original if the exact same thing wasn't said when the review first went up! this album cover looked better when it was called "sing the sorrow" eariler this year. HA HA HA he called it "homocore! I'll have to remember that one! But, yeah, i'm not digging it! yeah they do do they thank punknews.org in the liner notes? that'd be shitty if they didn't. In response to a posting below saying that AFI started the book cover album cover, wrong! Try a punk band from a few years back called the Wynona Riders (on lookout). They started it. Although it does look cool on the Matchbook album. sounds like you eat a lot of shit lately!! the only bad i like on epitaph now is motion city....all the rest have either left or are not around anymore. My favorite one Union 13 is now on that guy from U.S. Bombs label, epitaph has signed alot of shit latelly This is some damn good HOMOCORE! Drive-thru is not an independent label. I do agree that most of epitaphs later signings have not done much for me...NOFX, Rancid, Bad Religion and Pennywise were good choices back in the day....best ones since in my mind are Raised Fist and Death By Stereo. let's see, when epitaph started, brett had a great eye for talent, then all of the sudden it left him I agree with the comment below, Epitaph signing the Weakerthans was a brilliant move and quite possibly one of the best signings to the label next to Tom Waits(Anti). sorry callinglondon, despite what anyone says labels like Epitaph have made it possible for indie labels like victory, vagrant, and drive thru to be successful. . . epitaph has a slew of classic/great bands. recently they have branched out to other types of music signing awesome acts like ikara colt, sage francis, and the black keys, but why they had to go and sign a couple of cheesy ass emo bands i don't know, money i guess. this band sucks, emo is a fad, get over it Gatsby's American Dream? Don't even mention them in this review. They SOAR over these guys. Gatsby's American Dream? Don't even mention them in this review. They SOAR over these guys. This score is for Gatsby nobody can say that epitaph has gone to shit. the weakerthans make up for this crappy band and all the other ones. and i mean, even with some really bad bands, they still have hwm, tiger army, all, the black keys, death by stereo, dkm, and raised fist. so while it's fashionable and all to rank on epitaph, i'm still a fan all i was asking is if the other getaway is a punk band Gatsby's American Dream. I saw Toronto's Getaway open for Danko Jones and Andrew WK last year in Londonm Ontario. They were nice guys and played some pretty decent music. I'd check em out again when they come to Detroit. boring....... I streamed this garbage for two songs and couldn't take it anymore. I dont think people should be fighting over who inroduced these guys to the world. They were very mediocre when they were known as the Getaway and not much has changed other then the fact they stepped up the production on this CD. Matchbook Romance used to be the Getaway, and this is the band that was supposedly discovered by Brett here, although Jason Tate seems to think he introduced them to the world. There is another Getaway in Toronto, and they already had rights to the name, thus the change from The Getaway To Matchbook Romance. ok, i thought so, but aubin said "a website", not "this website". also, i could have sworn i've seen news for The Getaway quite recently. is the other Getaway a punk band? heh...same band, CallingLondon. wasn't another band posted about on THIS website, and Brett read it and signed the band? the getaway or something, i think. pearl jam's vitalogy(sp?) too. Sickboi - I understand what you mean. The same thing happened to me, even though the bands aren't alike. I think it's cause of their close signings to Epitaph. Although I liked the introduction track better when it had lyrics and was called "Tautou" You forgot to mention that they scream a LOT less...people are still calling this screamo which couldn't be farther from the truth. Better than the EP, yes, a lot more original, but I agree, the potential needs to be completely followed through on. And even with the hidden track, 'closing' w/ that song was a really stupid decision. It's still pretty cliche and has pretty derivative liner notes, and some of the songs are damn cheesy ("She'll Never Understand")...and not many people mention that their drummer is quite talented. How often he puts it to use is another story. i think fat mike stole brett's ability to find good bands, fat mike should give it back i'm still waiting for brett to wake up and realize he signed matchbook romance to epitaph. We get the point. The album cover is unoriginal. Since we're on the topic, it looks like Dogwood's "Building A Better Me" as well. because AFI was the first to do the whole 'worn out book cover' thing with their album. "that cover is the exact same as Vaux - There Must Be Some Way to Stop Them." I always get this band band confused with the Motion City Soundtrack, don't ask me why. I LOVE THIS BAND!!!!! that cover is the exact same as Vaux - There Must Be Some Way to Stop Them. Great band and a very solid album. Has a few mediocre songs, but has at least 3 that more then make up for it. I've been listening to this band since they were still The Getaway, and I always thought they'd go far. I think this cd is a step in that direction for them It's paint by numbers screamo, very cheezy lyrics, bad band name and title I heard this a couple of weeks back, while I agree with Aubin's review in that it's an improvemnet from the EP, Cut some tiny rectangular holes in that cover, and it looks exactly like the Casket Lottery's Choose Bronze...except, well, it's red. |
