Music has always been a form of self-expression. Most artists enjoy creating music and sharing it with the world anyways they can – through shows, CDs, blogs, MP3s, Myspace, Twitter and any other new media the Internet spits out. As an extension to all the ways we can enjoy their music, Matt & Kim, can also be found on various video games published by EA. If you have heard of this Brooklyn-based dance/punk/electric/make you feel good music band – you know why they are a great fit to the EA TRAX catalog.

Matt & Kim broke into the ever so experimental New York music scene in 2006 with their first self-titled EP. Since then, they have been making everyone dance with non-stop tours all around the United States and Canada. The release of their full-length album, Grand, has brought Matt & Kim some mainstream exposure via commercials and now – video games.

We talked it up with Matt while on his way to a show in Florida. We talked about the band, games, the music scene and how they party—Isn’t that what it’s all about, anyways?

You guys have been touring all over – Tell us a little more about the tour?
Well, we started a while ago. We did a little over a week of shows in Austin where we met with Cut Copy, who we have been on tour with for the last month. We were in Austin and fly up to Chicago and fly back to Austin during South by Southwest. Then we headed up to Toronto and New York.

Driving, flying —you guys are doing it all! Which city has been your favorite during this tour?
It’s tough to say – there are different types of crowds. We have to love the crowd from our hometown of Brooklyn, but you know there are also all these cool cities all over the place that are small and you don’t know what to except.  You go in being unsure and then you’re in Kalamazoo, Michigan and have a crazy crowd.

Are you guys originally from Brooklyn?
No. Kim is originally from Rhode Island and I’m originally from Vermont, but the band started in Brooklyn. We both have been there around 10 years now.

Ten years is enough to make it your hometown. How did you two meet?
The short story is that we met at college. We both went to PRATT, which is an art school in Brooklyn. Kim went to school for Illustration and I for Film & Video. Kim had been given a drum set and had wanted to learn and I found this cool keyboard, which I had wanted to learn as well. By accident we both were trying to learn these things and a friend had convinced us to do a show with his band. We didn’t even have a name or songs! But we worked out three songs and they ended up listening to us as our names and it just stuck.

How did you guys discover your style?
I don’t know, I guess we didn’t even think about it so much. It was a sound that kind of came out when we were trying to learn those instruments.  We listened to a lot of Hip-Hop stuff and Pop-Punk stuff at the time. If you listen through it all it sort of has that simple back beat from Hip-Hop and melodic front from Pop-Punk. We were trying to figure out what genre we fit in for a long time and we figured it was somewhere in the Dance-Punk category.

Do you guys have any influences from Brooklyn? Brooklyn has been the hub for a lot of great bands in the experimental dance realm.
I remember when we started out about four years ago; there was a certain height of the unstructured noise movement in New York.  I think people just got tired of thinking about it too much and just wanted to have fun and create some music.

What kind of music do you guys listen when not working on your own?
We listen to stuff that we think is fun. It’s hard to say specifically and I don’t have any guilty pleasures when it comes to music – I like what I like. When I was younger I was really into Punk Rock and was very close-minded. But now I’m completely open to any kind of music.

I’m the same way! If it’s good music, it doesn’t matter what genre is it. I’ll even listen to country – something I get a lot of lip about!
That’s good! My brother is in a country band.

With extensive touring, I’m sure you have a band that you have had fun performing with – any favorites?
Aw man, that’s another really hard question.  We had a lot of fun with Girtalk. It’s always a wild dance party with him! Also, there is another Brooklyn band called Japanther, who we played our first show with and then probably another 30 shows after that.

So, we all get a little crazy when we party at shows and other type of social gatherings. What’s the craziest party or where have you had the most fun?
Well, umm. *Laughs* It’s so hard to just think of one thing. But to be honest, I love sleep so much and I try to get as much sleep in as much as possible. People always come up to me saying, “Oh yeah! Come out to the after-party!” Kim & I say, “Oh, I’ll see you there! We’ll be right up front dancing it out!”  The second they turn away, I’m like, “Kim, I need to go to bed right now.” But two nights ago, we managed to stay up until like 5 in the morning dancing it out – it was fun.

Aside from sleeping, what are some of your other hobbies?
There is almost no extra time in the day. It’s amazing to think about how much time we are able to spend on all aspects of this band.  Music was my one hobby before I did it for a living.  I guess I can’t call it my hobby anymore, but it still feels like it is. When I go through immigration and have to write my occupation as musician, I feel like a total sham.  I really want to take more pictures, since I’m really into photography—but I never do it!

Kim did fine arts before we started the band. Now she’s been asked to be in more art shows then ever, but she doesn’t have time to make art unless it’s for the band. She did all the cover art for our albums.

When you guys are at home and are ready to write, what is your process? Since you are always working on the band, is it something that just comes up or do you have sessions where you sit down and work specifically for a song?
Unfortunately, it’s really hard to work on music on the road. So we have sessions were we sit down and decide, “Ok, it’s time to work out a beat now.” We always start off all of our songs with a beat and then we start working something out. I keep little melodies on my computer that just come up on the road and try to fit in some of those in. Very last is doing the lyrics – they are so hard to write! I hate when lyrics are too literal, too figurative, too deliberate – I don’t know it’s so easy to have lyrics that will bug someone.  It’s one of these things you are supposed to let it all out and then go back and edit it. But my problem is I get so hung up on one line and if it doesn’t seem right I get stuck on it for hours.  Kim is more “get it done, don’t worry about it”.

Either way, the combo has worked out great for you guys and everyone really digs the music. How did you get hooked up with EA?
A lot of it came through with our manager.  Kevin is really into doing things outside the traditional.  So when EA came up, he was really excited about all the people that work there and the forward thinking of the whole company. We visited their offices in L.A. and it was like Disneyworld – video games everywhere!

It really is a very cool place. Are you guys into video games at all?
I’m just really into Tetris, but that’s it. *Laughs*

Do any of you posses any hidden talents or skills?
Kim was a runner in high school – that was her entire life. Her dad used to show me videos of her running and she was always ahead of the pack.  She got a scholarship and went to Penn State for running. She thought her life was laid out to just keep working and shooting for the Olympics. What ended up happening was that she hated her coach so much. Kim is super small—she weights like 100 pounds. Her coach told her if she didn’t lose 10 pounds over winter break, she would never do anything in the off-season. This was a coach whose teeth were all rotted out from bulimia and pushed them to be so thin for distance running.  She basically said screw that over-ate and ended up gaining 10 pounds.

For me, it was snowboarding. I grew up in Vermont and that was all I did.  I really feel I could have gone somewhere with it, but I left anywhere that had that available.  Now, I don’t have healthy insurance and I’m scared to get hurt. Both Kim and I used to skateboard, but we don’t even do that now. We have given up all things athletic pretty much because if we get hurt we would not be able to work. It’s funny for two people that were so active; we now sit in a van all day and the most activity we get in 45 minutes of sweating on stage.

I’m sure will all this new success, you will be able to get some insurance and get out there! Thank you very much for your time and good luck on all your future shows!
Thank you and have a great day!

For more information, tour dates, photos and blogs check out Matt & Kim’s website at mattandkimmusic.com.