ALKALINE TRIO
Alkaline Trio is a punk rock band from Chicago, consisting of Matt Skiba on guitar/Vocals, Dan Andriano on bass/Vocals, and Derek Grant on drums/back-up vocals. Their music is characterized by dark lyrics, catchy choruses, fast tempos and recurring subjects of love, alcoholism, depression, fire, drugs, and death.

In February 2008, Asian Man Records released a 10th Anniversary reissue of the band's 1998 full length, Goddamnit. The disc was remixed and remastered, with 4 bonus tracks from their 1996 demo tape added, and the album was repackaged with new artwork and a feature length DVD documentary about the band's early days. Predictably, the release caused quite a bit of excitement for long-time followers of the group.

On Saturday, February 9, 2008, the band posted a message on their MySpace page explaining that they had been in the studio for three weeks working on the new album without revealing a release date or title. The band later announced via their fan club, the Blood Pact, that their upcoming album, titled Agony & Irony, would be released on July 1st, 2008. As a gift for members, they made a new song titled "In Vein" available as an exclusive. On April 4, they posted the song on their MySpace for 24 hours.

An episode of the MTV show The Hills featuring the band aired on May 5, 2008.

A contest ("Settle The Score"), was announced May 6, 2008, that encouraged fans to download sheet music of "Love Love Kiss Kiss" from the official website and send Alkaline Trio footage of their interpretation of the song before it was released by the band.

As expected, the band released Agony & Irony on July 1, 2008. First week sales for the album placed Alkaline Trio at number 13 on the Billboard album charts, making it the highest the band has ever charted to date.