Two Much Fun

By Pat Sherman

?For über-peppy dance-punk duo Matt & Kim, two is company, and anything more is a crowd.

“I’ve played in my share of five-member bands. It’s hard just trying to get everyone together and have them all be sober,” says keyboardist Matt Johnson, who returns to the House of Blues June 16 with band-mate and drummer, Kim Schifino.

“There’s also the problem of (having) five different opinions,” Johnson says. “You’re always compromising on something, and sometimes the songs get watered down.”

Matt & Kim’s onstage energy is anything but watered down-the two will leap atop their gear as the mood strikes.

“I’ve taken my share of wipeouts jumping on stools and falling on keyboards where everything goes to hell,” Johnson says. “We like to say, come (to our show) in clothes you don’t mind getting dirty.”

Though fans viewing the video for Cameras (in which Matt & Kim proceed to knock the living crap out of each other) may get the impression that the two don’t agree on much, the Brooklyn-based pop stars and Pratt Institute art school grads have a long history of collaboration. Before Schifino picked up sticks for the first time, the two collaborated on art installations and created album covers for other bands.

However, there is one project on which they disagreed: the video for Lessons Learned, in which Matt & Kim take a stroll through Times Square, casually disrobing as they walk.

“I was trying to convince Kim to do it for a really long time,” Johnson says. “Even the day of, she was still not wanting to do it.”

Since nabbing a 2009 MTV Video Music Award in the category of Breakthrough Video for the project, Johnson says his band-mate has changed her tune.

Though they were initially denied a permit to shoot a “music video” in Times Square, Matt & Kim finally secured a permit to shoot a “web-based promotional video,” Johnson says.

“We had written something (on the application) about how we would walk through Times Square dressed inappropriately for the weather-and they approved it,” he says, with a laugh.
mattandkimmusic.com, houseofblues.com