This weekend the Houston Press welcomes New York indie duo Matt & Kim to town to headline this year's edition of the Houston Press Music Awards, along with Trae tha Truth and Jonathan Tyler & The Northern Lights. Rocks Off will be giving away a bunch of HPMA wristbands today and tomorrow, so keep track of our Twitter and Facebook pages for more details.
Brooklyn kids Matt Johnson and Kim Schifino just got back from Japan, where they played a line of summer festivals. Right before they hit Houston Saturday night, they will be part of the Lollapalooza festivities in Chicago Friday afternoon.
Rocks Off talked to Johnson, who handles vocals and keys for the duo, about the band's history with Houston, upcoming new material and the naked video for "Lessons Learned," from 2009's Grand. Erykah Badu lifted the "Lessons" concept for her own controversial "Window Seat" clip, which featured her stripping on a Dallas street just as Johnson and Schifino had done a year before - only they went bare in Times Square.
Rocks Off: We're glad you guys got the chance to come down here this time. It's a little bit out of the way from Lollapalooza in Chicago.
MJ: I'm just glad it worked out. We weren't able to fit in Houston on this new fall tour. There are some restrictions with Austin City Limits about playing nearby cities or something. I don't know why it didn't work out, but now we got it to work.
RO: You guys probably played the Mink here in Houston last...
MJ: I can remember the spot and inside the spot, but not what it was called. It was a smaller place. It was a couple of years ago. We did play Walter's on Washington a while back.
RO: Is there anybody on Lollapalooza you want to see while you are there for that one day?
MJ: I kinda wanna see the Gaga. I have heard good things about that stage show. But I haven't really looked at the line-up for the show. We were running into bands who will also be heading out to Lollapalooza while we were in Japan at a festival, like the Dirty Projectors and MGMT. I hope to catch their sets if it's while I'm there.
RO: The Gaga show was here just a few weeks ago and it blew us away...
MJ: Our manager was sort of a hater and then he took his daughters to go see her and it changed him around. He was like, "Matt will love her!"
