Q&A with Matt & Kim’s
Matt Johnson

Next month marks Matt & Kim’s return to Madison when they stop at the Orpheum Theater on February 23 during their highly anticipated tour with Passion Pit. We recently spoke with Matt Johnson over the phone, and he kicked off the interview by telling us how much he’s looking forward to coming back and seeing how wild it gets here in Madison. We talked about his film background, what it was like producing Lightning in their home Brooklyn studio, and the unlikely but amazing story of how Matt and Kim came to be Matt & Kim. 

I don’t know if you’ve been asked this a lot, but when did you and Kim (Schifino) realize that your names sound really good together and that this should be the name of your band?
“It was totally an accident. I mean, we weren’t essentially trying to be a band but we were… well, Kim was trying to play drums and I was trying to learn how to play keyboard and we were messing around with that, and our friend who played in a band at that time convinced us to be in a show. So, we wrote three songs and we could not think of a name for the life of it. We went through everything. Picking a name is so hard.” (laughs) “I don’t know how parents pick a child’s name. I mean, that must be really hard — you’re stuck with it your whole life.” (laughs) “We were just listed as our names because we didn’t have a name and our friend put it on and we were like, ‘Yeah, that makes sense. That works for us’. And in the end it really did make sense, the idea of being on a first-name basis with our audience and what-not. I think it’s very close.”

Yeah, especially because I feel like your whole thing is being on such a personal level with your audience.
“Yeah. Except sometimes it’ll be confusing. I’ll be walking down the street and someone will be like, ‘Hey Matt and Kim!’ and I’m kind of like, at first like, I don’t know if it’s someone I’ve met that I’ve forgotten or someone that knows the band.”  

You guys have produced a great deal of amazing music since your debut in 2004, and your newest album, Lightning, has been a huge success. I mean, each track is so different, and it was all produced in your Brooklyn home studio, right?
“Yeah, oh yeah, that was a conscious decision. After we did Grand at my parents’ house in the bedroom I grew up, and then we did the Sidewalks album at a studio, then we were like, hey, we want to be with ourselves again.”

That’s awesome. So was Brooklyn a major inspiration for this album? Is there anywhere else where you’re hoping to one day record?
“Well, it’s interesting because this is actually the first album we ever recorded in New York. We did our first album in L.A., our second album in Vermont, and our third album in Atlanta. It’s the first one in New York, and I really don’t foresee going anywhere to do it again. Sometimes people think, ‘Oh it’s a destination place, it’ll keep you focused, I’ll be away’, but in the end you kind of want to be able to work on music in the day and then go back to your life and your friends. So, the exchange of that perspective of who you are and what’s happening with you, and then we can bring that back to the album, rather than this, you know, deserted island.”

You guys also made videos for each track, and they’re all so funny and really well-made. Now, when you and Kim met each other at Pratt back in 2004, you were studying film. What made you realize you wanted to become a musician, and can you ever see yourself working primarily in film?
“I’ve always wanted to play music. I first got a guitar when I was like 14 years old. I never thought I’d ever make a living playing music, nevermind that it’d be like the most steady, comfortableness I’ve ever had in terms of working, but now it’s something which I feel very lucky for. But film was something that, I was like, ‘this is something I could go to school for, I could bank on’. I really love the format, and with almost all of our music videos we came up with ideas for them. I still really apply that stuff and what-not and we stay very involved.

“I think just being creative is something we both enjoy. You know, Kim does all of our album covers; she was in school for illustration. I think if the band ever, for whatever reason, could not continue, I would go and work in film stuff, things like that. Make other people’s music videos. We’ve been lucky that our music has been featured in a lot of films and commercials.”

You’re touring with Passion Pit. Are you excited to be on the road with them? Any particular venue you’re excited to perform at?
“The tour starts on the third of February. I know those guys — we’ve all met before but we haven’t spent any time together, so I’m really looking forward to getting to know all and the trip. Of course, I mean, I must say playing Madison Square Garden in New York City is really something I would’ve never expected to do. Of all the times I’ve played, since we started, in lofts, warehouses and art spaces, you know, great shows and so much fun, but I never expected (Madison Square Garden) to be in the cards. You know, we named this album Grand; we have a song named ‘Grand’. We refer to Grand Street a lot. We used to live on Grand Street in Williamsburg, at Grand and Marcy and uh, to use the Jay-Z line, ‘Marcy to Madison Square’ — I feel like we’re Grand and Marcy to Madison Square.”