INTERVIEW: Matt and Kim
We sent Tony Kingston along to have a chat to NYC dance punk duo MATT AND KIM ahead of a run of Australian dates in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane
We sent our contributor Tony Kingston along to have a chat to NYC dance punk duo MATT AND KIM ahead of a run of Australian dates in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. They'll also be touring with GROOVIN THE MOO in support of their most recent full-length record Lightning, which is out now through Liberator.
Lightning debuted at #1 in iTunes Alternative Chart and follows the band’s third full-length Sidewalks, which also hit in USA at #1 on the iTunes Alternative Chart, hit #3 on their Top 200 + received huge praise from the likes of SPIN, Entertainment Weekly, and Billboard. They also brought their high-energy live show to Big Day Out audiences in 2011.
Plug into the latest music with our FREE weekly newsletter
It really is rare that you would find more people having fun at a live show than Matt, Kim, and their crowds.
You've currently on tour with PASSION PIT in America. How has this been going?
We're actually on a 15 hour bus ride at the moment from Seattle to San Francisco to play our last show with them. The tour has been incredible! I think we share a lot of fans. On iTunes it shows that a lot of the people who bought our music also bought theirs which is great!
In May you're playing at Groovin' The Moo in Australia. What are you most looking forward to about this tour?
We really love playing all the festivals because people go into them with a really open mind. The crowd want to find out about new music. They may have never heard us or seen us before but we play a simple and fun type of music which seems to grab onto a lot of people. We toured America for the whole of February and that's in the middle of our winter so we're looking forward to travelling to Australia where it'll be warmer.
Have you visted any of these smaller places before?
I do not believe so, no. We've only played the Big Day Out and the major cities so we're pretty excited about playing at this festival.
Are there any bands on the line up you can't wait to check out?
Tegan and Sara are on the bill. We only just met them recently but they're really cool. The specific names I want to see are slipping my mind right now but I remember seeing the line up and being very excited about it.
After Groovin' The Moo in Townsville you've got a few days break in your touring schedule. Do you have any plans on what you'd like to do during this time?
I don't know, I mean it's very rare for us to have days off. I know we've got a few sideshows to play in some of the bigger cities but other than that, we have no plans.
Do you and Kim fight very often on tour?
Surprisingly not, which is kind of crazy because we've been together as a couple for 10 years and we've travelled together a lot and we spend every day together. We have disagreements but one of the things I love about our relationship is that we never have any serious arguments.
The last time you were in Australia was for the Big Day Out in 2011. What do you remember most about those shows?
I remember we played at a really interesting stage and it was called The Lilypad. At one of the shows in Adelaide there was this huge bean bag. It was probably the size of a car and we got the audience to lift it up over the top of their heads. People then ended up climbing on top of it. It was really cool!
You can grab their new record Lightning now on iTunes
MATT & KIM AUSTRALIAN TOUR DATES
Wednesday 1 May
Oxford Art Factory, Sydney
Friday 3 May
Northcote Social Club, Melbourne
Thursday 9 May
The Zoo, Brisbane
Words by Tony Kingston
More From Our Network
