Matt and Kim Vow to Make Time for 'Cameras' on Tour

Before camera phones, people went to rock shows to experience the communal joys of live music. Now, they go to shoot dark, blurry photos that might as well have been taken from outer space. Matt Johnson, the singing, synth-playing half of Matt and Kim, seems to address this phenomenon on his group's latest single, 'Cameras,' declaring, "No time for cameras, we'll use our eyes instead."

"To an extent, that was an inspiration," Johnson tells Spinner, commenting on those rock fans that insist on watching shows through 2-inch viewfinders. "But our shows are really active anyway. We always have a crowd getting wild."

He's not bragging -- "wild" is an accurate description of the ecstatic dance parties he and drummer Kim Schifino have been throwing for the last five years. The Brooklyn-based hip-hopping, electro-popping duo has shaken booties all across the globe and while the partners in both music and romance often have the urge to reach for their own cameras, they seldom do.

"When we're on tour, we don't document a lot of it, because then you're taking one step way from the actual experience," Johnson says. "Even though we've been trying to do it more, something about me wants to be in the experience of it and thinks I'll remember it."

Earlier this month, Matt and Kim released their third album, 'Sidewalks,' and this winter, they'll promote the record with shows in Australia, China, Japan and other far-flung locations. Additional world tours are sure to follow, and as Johnson looks ahead to a time when his memory isn't as sharp as it is today, he says he and Schifino should do a bit more pointing and shooting.

"Even these shows we played four years ago, I still can remember them somewhat, but that was [only] four years ago," he says, thinking back to the warehouse parties Matt and Kim played in their early days. "What about bands that have been going 30 years? Down the line, I should document it. I'll probably want to remember this time in my life."