Stories and Alibis


Stories and Alibis is the debut studio album by Matchbook Romance. The album was released in September 23, 2003 on Epitaph Records.

Background

Matchbook Romance was formed by Andrew Jordan and Ryan Kienle in 1997 under the name Fizzlewink. The initial band line up consisted of Andrew as vocalist and rhythm guitarist, Ryan on bass and backing vocals, and Jon Dunham on drums. Two years later, PJ Manzo joined on lead guitar in summer of 1999. This period of the band was heavily influenced by the sound of bands like NOFX, Bad Religion, and Pennywise. After three years of playing with Fizzlewink, Jon decided to step down in April 2000. He was replaced by Adam Bock in July 2000, and soon after Adam joined, the band began recording an independent album called "Who's Listening" that was released on February 2, 2001. A few months after this release, Ryan "Judas" DePaolo was recruited as Fizzlewink's third guitarist, and with him, they started recording new songs. However, soon afterward, Adam was replaced by Aaron Stern. This new line up prompted the band to change the name to "The Getaway", and with the new material and songs that they wrote over the prior months, the band soon began promoting itself on the internet, leading to posts on PunkNews.org about their music. When Epitaph Records president Brett Gurewitz caught on with one of these posts and decided to download "Ex Marks the Spot", one of the new songs that the band had written, he decided to contact Andrew to sign them and make a record deal with them. After being officially signed, they changed their name once again this time to Matchbook Romance in order to avoid a name conflict with The Getaway, a Canadian based pop-punk band. After resolving this legal issue, they started writing their debut LP under the direction of Brett. It is reported that Brett initially contacted the band and asked them to not release what was supposed to be The Getaway's debut EP titled "...If All Else Fails", which was scheduled to be released on May 24, 2002, so in return, he offered them guidance to record a full length album. Around this time, PJ decided to leave the band due to creative differences and because he wasn't happy with the direction that the band was going. He then went on to join melodic hardcore and punk band River's End.
Pre–production was held at Mets Studio Rehearsal in North Hollywood, California. Joe Barresi produced and engineered the album, while additional production was done on "The Greatest Fall" by Epitaph Records owner Brett Gurewitz. Pete Martinez acted as an assistant engineer and did additional editing at Sound City Studios in Los Angeles, California, while Jeff Moses was the assistant engineer at Larrabee East Studio in North Hollywood. John Naclerio recorded the vocals for "The Greatest Fall" at Nada Studios in New Windsor, New York. "Playing for Keeps", "Promise" and "She'll Never Understand" were mixed at Larrabee East by Barresi. Gene Grimaldi then mastered the album at Oasis Mastering.

Track listing

All songs written by Matchbook Romance, all lyrics written by Andrew Jordan.
  1. "Introduction " – 1:35
  2. "Your Stories, My Alibis" – 4:46
  3. "Playing for Keeps" – 3:46
  4. "Promise" – 4:17
  5. "Lovers & Liars" – 3:22
  6. "Tiger Lily" – 3:04
  7. "Shadows Like Statues" – 4:30
  8. "My Eyes Burn" – 4:20
  9. "She'll Never Understand" – 3:59
  10. "If All Else Fails" – 5:48
  11. "Stay Tonight" – 3:23
  12. "The Greatest Fall" – 4:05
  14. Untitled – 3:08
  • Tracks 13–83 each have five seconds of silence; the hidden track is played at track number 84
  • The title of track 12 differences in the liner notes: the credits page lists it as "The Greatest Fall "; the penultimate page lists it as "The Greatest Fall of All Time"; and the back of the booklet lists it as "The Greatest Fall".

Personnel

Personnel per booklet.
;Matchbook Romance
  • Andrew Jordan – vocals, guitar
  • Ryan "Judas" DePaolo – guitar, vocals
  • Ryan Kienle – bass guitar, vocals
  • Aaron Stern – drums
;Additional musicians
;Production and design
  • Joe Barresi – producer, engineer and mixing
  • Pete Martinez – assistant engineer, additional editing
  • Jeff Moses – assistant engineer
  • Brett Gurewitz – additional production
  • John Naclerio – vocal recording
  • Gene Grimaldi – mastering
  • Bob Lenz – art direction, design
  • Matt Govaere – art direction, design

Charts

Album – Billboard