Album Notes

In the beginning, Stolen By Serious was the moniker of singer / songwriter Matthew Delfino. Delfino, 27, was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Graduating from high school at what is now known as the Perpich Center for Arts Education where he majored in Music, then graduating from Music Tech of Minneapolis for Production & Sound Engineering, Matthew has been writing songs since the age of 16. He started playing guitar when he was 14. He has been singing his whole life.

Delfino created Marina Dee Records to outfit his music in 1998 and has since sparked the interest of several major and independent labels. Between 1999 and 2002, Delfino worked hard on collecting his best songs which he produced, arranged, recorded and mixed by himself over that time. With the exception of one track's percussion on the resulting album, "Ardor," (performed by Andy Blessing) Delfino performed all parts on all songs.

In the Fall of 2002, Delfino began building Stolen By Serious into a full ensemble. Andy Blessing was to be the Stolen By Serious drummer, but in the time waiting for Delfino to finish mastering the album and finding other performers, Blessing went on to pursue other ventures. Through a chance encounter with Delfino's sister, Dan Murphy, 18, who has been playing drums since the age of four (and playing clubs since the age of ten), became acquainted with Matthew and immediately took the opportunity to join Stolen By Serious. Within two days, the two were prepared to perform Stolen By Serious's debut show at Seventh Street Entry.

In the Winter of 2003, after many auditions with other musicians, Murphy introduced Eric Wade, also from Stillwater, into Stolen By Serious as the bass player. After four months and two shows, Eric and Stolen By Serious parted ways. Taking over bass in the Summer of 2003 was George Hadfield, also from Stillwater.

In the Fall of 2003, George and Stolen By Serious parted ways. Posting a want-ad on MusicScene.org, Delfino met both guitarist Curtis Stratton and bass player Thad Tomlinson.

Stratton, 31, has been playing guitar since the age of twelve and actually found Stolen By Serious months before ever reading Delfino's post on MusicScene.org and found himself compelled to read his online journal for a few weeks during lunch breaks. "I was listening to the music and thought it was interesting, original and full of conviction. It was obvious that it was written to mean something. It was written for people to relate to, not just to rhyme. When Matthew and I connected a few months later, it was a no-brainer on my part and even before the offer to join the band was extended, I knew we'd be playing together."

Tomlinson, 27, has been playing bass for eight years and spent four years in Seattle playing with Francis Nash.

Stolen By Serious is bonded by the vision of creating heartfelt, honest music of wide dynamic range. In Delfino's words, "We understand how important it is to make the audience feel empathy with the emotions resonating from our music. From the softest falsetto to the most enraged screams, nothing is without meaning. We hope to be a clear and powerful articulation of those feelings people find nearly impossible to communicate."