By: Emily Zemler
Remember last year when Queens of the Stone Age released “Little Sister,” a song packed heavily with a familiar kind of bovine bell, and Will Ferrell’s infamous Saturday Night Live skit immediately popped into your head? There’s no SNL skit about excessive hand-claps in a song, but if there were, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.’s Matchbook Romance would almost certainly have starring roles. While “Monsters” — the band’s first single off their latest, Voices — isn’t necessarily going to herald a new trend in handheld instrumentation, you’ve got to give them a little credit for thinking outside the box.
Voices exudes even more unexpected behavior from a one-time screamo band first discovered by Epitaph owner and Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz on an punk website. Echoing guitars and Brit-tinged vocals are decidedly unexpected for a band that only recently howled its way through the Warped Tour and tours with fellow pop-punk bands. “My Mannequin Can Dance” and “Portrait,” in particular, reverberate with hollow, layered melodies in a way that makes you wonder if Matchbook is actually Muse’s long-lost American cousin. Taken at face value, Voices sounds like the product of an entirely different band than the one that howled about their broken-hearts on 2003’s Stories and Alibis. But ultimately Voices is reinvention done right, and, at the very least, fodder for some new SNL material.
Matchbook Romance tour dates:
2/15, Toronto, ONT (HMV in-store) 2/16, Newburgh, NY (VFW Post 973)2/17, Philadelphia, PA (FYE Franklin Mills)
Take Action! tour dates (Matchbook Romance headlining):
3/1, Washington, DC (9:30 Club)3/2, Baltimore, MD (Sonar)3/3, Norfolk, VA (The Norva)3/4, Richmond, VA (The Canal Club)3/5, Charlotte, NC (Tremont Music Hall)3/7, N. Myrtle Beach, SC (House of Blues)3/8, Orlando, FL (House of Blues)3/9, Fort Lauderdale, FL (Revolution)3/10, Tampa, FL (Masquerade)3/11, Atlanta, GA (Masquerade)3/13, Austin, TX (Emo’s)3/14, Houston, TX (Warehouse Live)3/15, Dallas, TX (Granada Theatre)3/16, San Antonio, TX (The White Rabbit)3/17, McAllen, TX (LaVilla Real Event Center)3/19, Albuquerque, NM (Sunshine Theatre)3/20, Tucson, AZ (Rialto Theater)3/22, Anaheim, CA (House of Blues)3/23, Los Angeles, CA (House of Blues)3/24, San Diego, CA (SOMA)3/26, Tempe, AZ (Marquee)3/27, Las Vegas, NV (House of Blues)3/28, Bakersfield, CA (Montgomery World Plaza)3/29, San Francisco, CA (Fillmore)3/31, Portland, OR (Roseland Theater)4/1, Seattle, WA (Showbox)4/2, Spokane, WA (The Big Easy)4/4, Salt Lake City, UT (The Venue)4/5, Denver, CO (Ogden Theater)4/6, Lawrence, KS (Granada Theater)4/7, St. Louis, MO (Mississippi Nights)4/8, Milwaukee, WI (The Rave)4/9, Minneapolis, MN (The Quest)4/11, Chicago, IL (House of Blues)4/12, Cincinnati, OH (Bogarts)4/13, Pontiac, MI (Clutch Cargo)4/14, Columbus, OH (Newport Music Hall)4/15, Cleveland, OH (House of Blues) 4/17, Pittsburgh, PA (Club Zoo)4/18, Poughkeepsie, NY (The Chance)4/20, New York, NY (Nokia Theater)4/21, Philadelphia, PA (Electric Factory)4/22, Sayreville, NJ (Starland Ballroom)4/23, Hartford, CT (Webster Theater)4/25, Worcester, MA (The Palladium) 4/26, Providence, RI (Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel) 4/27, Allentown, PA (Crocodile Rock Cafe) 4/28, Buffalo, NY (The Icon)
Matchbook Romance official site
