For an up and coming band, there may be no better way of attracting new fans than playing as many shows as possible, nearly every day for about four years. Landing gigs at Lollapalooza and The Siren Music Festival will certainly get your music in front of a lot of people. The story behind dance punk duo Matt and Kim falls into this category of almost forcing yourself into the limelight, and persevering through countless shows at random clubs and bars. Since the band started to garner attention and success, it has branched out to new avenues for finding new listeners. Like many other modern groups, one new place to attract fans is through video games, and for Matt and Kim, this came in the form of EA Sport’s NBA Live 10.
This year’s installment features everything we enjoyed about years past, but the gameplay has definitely been improved compared to recent versions. Still, basketball is predominantly an American sport (sure, it’s popular in other countries, but not like in the States) and games based on the sport are traditionally hit and miss in terms of quality. Fortunately, NBA Live 10 is a sturdy beast, throwing in the obligatory new game modes and features, but more importantly, upping the ante considerably in the gameplay department. Beyond the basics of the game lies a killer soundtrack, featuring none other than Matt and Kim, our new favorite dance punk duo. The band’s song, “Daylight,” works so well as an interlude between actions, that we sometimes wish it played through tipoff.
Like other bands featured on EA Sports games, Matt and Kim were hooked up with EA’s Artwork Music through the band’s manager. Matt Johnson, 27 explains that the music industry has changed drastically, and modern bands have to find new ways to attract fans.
“Things aren’t the same as they were,” he says. “There’s a couple people he (the band’s manager) knows at EA, and they are big music lovers. We love the idea of working with new forms of things. It’s been cool to get connected with different video games. And, video games being such a culture itself, and the thing has evolved with music and the music culture.”
The band has been featured in other games like FIFA 10 and the new Sims. As an example of how video games helped the band try new things, Johnson stated they recorded their song “Daylight” in Simlish – the Sims language. Furthermore, it was recorded at the Capitol Records Recording Studio, the same studio where Frank Sinatra recorded many of his hits.
When the band was approached about contributing a song to NBA Live 10, the best song seemed to be their latest hit Daylight. The song was already featured in FIFA 10, remixed and featuring De La Soul, but its upbeat rhythm and catchy piano hook seemed perfect for NBA Live. (Check out the video below to hear the song)
All of this work was commissioned for a video game, making it possible for the duo to play with De La Soul or re-record a song in Simlish. “These are all pretty much original pieces of music created for the games. We had that remix done for NBA Live, then we had a different remix created for FIFA, then we re-recorded lyrics for the Sims. There was a song there as a body, then making it turn into something that’s new, instead of just slapping in the original song, that brings something new and fresh.”
The duo is currently based in Brooklyn, though Johnson grew up in a small town in Southern Vermont, and met Kim Schifino, 28, while they were attending Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. Johnson played guitar when he was younger and Schifino played clarinet while in high school. When they met, Schifino was just starting to learn the drums and Johnson stumbled upon a “super cool looking keyboard.” They had no intention of forming a band (especially playing instruments they had little to no training on), but sure enough, the pair created some songs that appealed to them, and after time they built up a collection of songs to play shows with.
“We never made a conscious decision that we want to sound like this or we want to sound like this, it’s just kind of what came out of the two of us making noise together,” Johnson explains. “I think we are lucky in the sense that it’s unique and we don’t get pinned into one category or type of show we can play. We toured with punk and dance bands, hip hop and DJs – really, we play with anyone who wants to go out and have fun.”
For now, the band is headed to Europe to finish out the year. Afterwards, the duo will take some time off to write some new music and record a new album. There are plenty of ways to hear Matt and Kim in action. You can, of course, hit up their website, or play NBA Live 10.
Don’t forget, as with every feature in our Beyond the Game series, we have some games and CDs to giveaway. Lastly, we’d like to thank Matt and Kim for speaking with us, and extend our gratitude to Artwerk Music for allowing us to offer two lucky readers a copy of NBA Live 10 and Matt and Kim’s newest album, Grand. Look for our giveaway soon.