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Striking up a Romance
By Heather Embrey
hembrey@mscd.edu

Photo courtesy of Epitaph Records They’re in it for love, not money. Matchbook Romance are, from left: Aaron Stern, Ryan Kienle, Andrew Jordan and Ryan DePaolo.

Andrew Jordan, or Andy to his friends, knew that when he started a band, he would never be in it for the money. He and the other three members of Matchbook Romance (not to be mistaken for Matchbox 20) planned to write and perform music with the intentions of working hard for a living.

“The most rewarding part of making music is not the amount of money you make,” Jordan said. “It’s reaching out to those who want to hear it and making them think about what they just heard.”

As the lead singer of Matchbook Romance, Jordan, along with Ryan “Judas” DePaolo, Ryan Kienle and Aaron Stern, created a monster from which they cannot escape.

“The music we write might go over your head, but that’s OK. We know it’s not for everyone. Just anyone who wants to hear the music for what it is,” Jordan said.

The band first took shape in upstate New York when Jordan, Kienle and DePaolo started The Getaway. They played several venues just to pay rent. It wasn’t until they recruited a new drummer from Manhattan that things began to pick up for the trio.

“He had just left his old band and was looking for a group who was serious about music. We auditioned him and we fell in love with his style,” Jordan said.

The band now had a new member and a new name. The Getaway was abandoned after they were ordered to cease and desist from a Canadian recording company that claimed it was the name of another rock band, The Getaways. For Jordan and the rest of his band, it was refreshing to start with a new name.

“I like to think we capture the essence of romance, and we wanted our name to reflect that,” Jordan said. “We have an old-school, romantic black-and-white-movie type of style where men would pick women up and write their phone numbers on old matchbooks.”

Their image is emo but their sound is darker and more passionate, Jordan said. The melodies of each song intertwine with the melancholy rhythm, creating a slower paced album than 2003 EP Stories and Alibis.

By adding more bass, lowering the pitch of the other instruments and using more major chords, Matchbook Romance found they had achieved their “orchestra-type” sound for Voices, which they released in February.

Power ballads have long been a staple of hard rock bands, but now Matchbook Romance is tackling the beast and creating their own mix of balladry and alternative rock.

Because their new style was not yet established in the music industry, Matchbook Romance found it hurt them when no one would pick them up.

“We knew that we had a different sound and it was difficult for people to hear us unless we were on the radio,” said Jordan.

They had to find a new way to advertise their style to the world without selling out. The internet became their breeding ground.

“The internet these days is allowing thousands of bands to be heard even if they don’t get play on the radio,” Jordan said. “We were signed from fans listening to our EP and by creating a new genre of music entertainment. Not only does it help get our word out, but it gives us great free exposure that we would not normally have.”

Establishing themselves as a serious rock band was harder than it seemed for Matchbook Romance. They had to prove they were serious, and that people needed and wanted to hear their message.

According to Jordan, you sometimes have to earn your place in the music industry. And Matchbook Romance likes to think they earned their place and have contributed to the evolution of rock.

“We live in a weird world and we just have to go with the flow and adapt to our surrounding,” Jordan said.

Though the band continues to write music, their newest album Voices has exceeded their standards.

“This was the hardest album to make,” Jordan said. “I always felt bad taking a day off. There was so much pressure to make this album our moment to shine that we didn’t think about anything else for along time.”

He said that Matchbook Romance didn’t want to create some new record; they simply wanted to show they grew as a band and became more mature in their lifestyles as well as their music.
Matchbook Romance is hitting the road this summer with dates scheduled in August for Denver. Performing in Colorado holds a special place in Jordan’s heart.

Jordan’s girlfriend was born and raised in Evergreen and moved to California to attend college. They met in California and he swept her away back east to be with his band during recording sessions.

“It’s great bringing her on tour with me. It’s like having your best friend with you all the time. We loved coming to Colorado because she can visit friends and take me around Denver,” he said. “I love Colorado.”