When Matt & Kim’s indie pop stylings exploded a few years ago, many pegged the duo to cash out after a few hits. But the couple’s DIY style paired with a hefty dose of charisma has proved these naysayers wrong.
The band will bring its brand of music to Voodoo Music + Arts Experience’s Ritual Stage at 3:30 p.m. Sunday.
In the past few years, Matt Johnson and Kim Schifino have worked tirelessly to create their brand, choreographing their own high-powered music videos and being self-proclaimed control freaks.
“We came from this place of not having any money to make music videos initially, but we started making a music video for a song called ‘Yea, Yeah’ that was our first sort of video that people responded to. It was interesting when you didn’t have much of a budget, you had to come up with an idea that had some intrigue instead of just a band playing in front of a cool looking set,” Johnson said.
Known widely for their festival appearances, Matt & Kim transfer their high-concept ideas to a high-energy performance with a high-energy crowd to match.
Matt & Kim played Bonnaroo for the second time earlier this year, and toward the end of the show, Schifino yelled that “anyone who’s outside of the tent and wants to get in should crowd surf to the front.”
“I just have these visual stills stuck in my brain of hundreds of people all trying to crowd surf. Basically the show just broke into mayhem and never came back. It was just sort of a friendly riot that seemed to have broken out,” Johnson said.
Earlier this year, the duo released “Lightning Remixes,” a record packed with remixes of the group’s own material by Salva, Bonde Do Role and more. For Matt & Kim, handing the reins to other artists wasn’t entirely easy, but they were ready to blur genre lines even further.
“We’re such control freaks and generally we self-produce, record and mix everything about it. It was interesting to take parts of it and send it to DJs we liked or knew and just say ‘Do what you want with it’ and to give away the control,” Johnson said.
Matt & Kim pride themselves on bending genre norms and like to say that they have one foot in the dance world, one foot in the indie world and a theoretical third foot in every other world. The band has toured with Blink-182 and My Chemical Romance, but also commonly plays block parties. Because Matt & Kim’s music spans genres, they enjoy playing festivals where they feel they can draw a larger crowd due to the many genres shown through their music.
As Matt & Kim make their way south for Voodoo (one of the last dates on the band’s current tour), Johnson looks forward to simple southern delicacies.
“One’s got to be boiled peanuts, gotta get my boiled or deep fried peanuts. It’s nice to go down in the fall when it’s starting to get cold here and get your last hint of summer and warmth and I think it’s a good finale for a year that I’m really excited about,” Johnson said.