Stories and Alibis

Studio album by

Released

September 23, 2003

Genre

Emo, post-hardcore

Length

49:51

Matchbook Romance chronology

West for Wishing
(2003)

Stories and Alibis
(2003)

Voices
(2006)

Singles from Stories and Alibis

"Promise"
Released: June 28, 2003
"My Eyes Burn"
Released: 2003

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[1]
Drowned in Sound	8/10^[2]
Ox-Fanzine	6/10^[3]
Punknews.org	^[4]
Rock Hard	7/10^[5]

Stories and Alibis is the debut studio album by Matchbook Romance in 2003 on Epitaph Records.

Background

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.^[6]

Track listing

All songs written by Matchbook Romance, all lyrics written by Andrew Jordan.^[6]

"Introduction" – 1:34
"Your Stories, My Alibis" – 4:46
"Playing for Keeps" – 3:45
"Promise" – 4:16
"Lovers & Liars" – 3:21
"Tiger Lily" – 3:03
"Shadows Like Statues" – 4:29
"My Eyes Burn" – 4:19
"She'll Never Understand" – 3:58
"If All Else Fails" – 5:47
"Stay Tonight" – 3:22
"The Greatest Fall" – 4:04
Untitled (hidden track) – 3:07

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 (Of All Time)"; the penultimate page lists it as "The Greatest Fall of All Time"; and the back of the booklet lists it as "The Greatest Fall".

Charts

Album - Billboard (United States)

Year	Chart	Position
2005	Heatseekers	18
2004	Top Independent Albums	26

Personnel

Personnel per booklet.^[6]

Matchbook Romance

Andrew Jordan – vocals, guitar
Ryan "Judas" DePaolo – guitar, vocals
Ryan Kienle – bass guitar, vocals
Aaron Stern – drums

Additional musicians

David Palmer – keyboards

Production and design

Joe Barresi – producer, engineer and mixing
Pete Martinez – assistant engineer, additional editing
Jeff Moses – assistant engineer
Brett Gurewitz – additional production (track 12)
John Naclerio – vocal recording (track 12)
Gene Grimaldi – mastering
Bob Lenz – art direction, design
Matt Govaere – art direction, design

References

^ Stories and Alibis at AllMusic
^ Diver, Mike (August 31, 2003). "Matchbook Romance Stories and Alibis". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on October 30, 2022. Retrieved October 30, 2022.
^ Schwarzkamp, Jan (September–November 2003). "Matchbook Romance Stories And Alibis CD". Ox-Fanzine (in German). Retrieved October 30, 2022.
^ Schwarzkamp, Jan (September 23, 2003). "Matchbook Romance Stories and Alibis (2003)". Punknews.org. Retrieved October 30, 2022.
^ Weber, Volkmar (September 17, 2003). "Matchbook Romance Stories And Alibis". Rock Hard (in German). Retrieved October 30, 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c Stories and Alibis (booklet). Matchbook Romance. Epitaph Records. 2003. 6660-2.((cite AV media notes)): CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)