Matchbook Romance, formerly known as Fizzlewink (1997 – 2001) and also The Getaway (2001 – 2002) was an emo and pop-punk band formed in 1997 in Poughkeepsie, New York, by vocalist/guitarist Andrew Jordan, backing vocalist/bassist Ryan Kienle, and drummer Jon Dunham.

During their Fizzlewink period the band music was heavily influenced by the sound of bands like NOFX, Bad Religion and Pennywise. This first formation of the band received a few changes in its line up throughout these four years which ended up helping to shape the final line up. For starters, PJ Manzo joined the band in Summer of 1999 as lead guitarist thus becoming a quartet, and in mid/late 2000, Jon was replaced by Adam Bock. Finally, they recruited Ryan “Judas” DePaolo as their third guitarist becoming a quintet, but shortly after joining them, the band decided to change their name to The Getaway and replaced Adam with Aaron Stern. During this transition, they decided to work on new material, leaving behind the punk rock sound that they were previously writing in favor of songs inspired by the new musical scene that was emerging at the time, scene that’s commonly referred to as 3rd wave emo or mall emo. Sometime in early/mid 2002, PJ Manzo decided to leave the band due to creative differences and because he wasn’t happy with the direction that the band was going, and so, a few months after his departure, the band changed their name one last time to Matchbook Romance, although, this change happened mainly due to legal issues related to Canadian’s band called The Getaway.

And so after spending some months crafting new demos (some of which were recorded with PJ Manzo before he left), the band caught the attention of Epitaph Records president Brett Gurewitz, who decided to produce their debut release, the West For Wishing EP, released in April 2003 and later that year, on September 23, they released their first full-length album, Stories and Alibis, which climbed to #26 on the Billboard Top Independent Albums chart, powered by singles like “Promise” and “My Eyes Burn.” and with multiple songs being featured in a bunch of compilations, such as Warped Tour, A Santa Cause: It’s a Punk Rock Christmas and Punk-O-Rama Compilations.

Following relentless touring, the band returned on February 14th, 2006 with their second album, Voices, this time lead by the single “Monsters,” and radio single “Surrender”. The record reached #2 on the U.S. Independent Albums chart and #43 on the Billboard 200.

Matchbook Romance went on hiatus on March 12, 2007 only reuniting briefly for an East Coast tour in May 2009 and afterward, members decided to purse separate musical projects.

The band reunited again for a couple of shows in December 2012, then a second time for a short Warped Tour in 2015 and finally for a mini tour to celebrate the 10th anniversary of “Voices” in 2016 before disbanding once more.