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Aug 04, 2015 By Mark Redfern Web Exclusive

My Firsts is our email interview series where we ask musicians to tell us about their first life experiences, be it early childhood ones (first word, first concert, etc.) or their first tastes of being a musician (first band, first tour, etc.).

For this My Firsts we talk to Kim Schifino of Matt and Kim. Schifino and Matt Johnson formed the band in 2004 in Brooklyn and released their self-titled debut album two years later. The duo’s fifth studio album, New Glow, was released back in April via Harvest. Matt and Kim are currently on tour, check out all their tour dates here.

Read on as Schifino discusses all her childhood stray cats, Johnson’s recent first broken bone, the boy she was forced to French kiss, the origin of her coffee obsession, how she was ill prepared for college, and Matt and Kim’s first ever show.

First best friend?

Kyeisha Butler. She was my first friend ever! She was a few years older than me and always looked out for me. We are still friends to this day.

First pet?

I don’t know what my first pet was but we did have many cats named Foofie. My mom would let my brother and I take in a stray cat and we kept naming them Foofie. We would get attached to them then she would be over it and make us find the cat another home. Man, one of our Foofie’s could fetch little bouncy balls and loved eating Lucky Charms marshmallows. Also side note—Foofie in urban dictionary means vagina!! I did not know that as a kid, but it would of been sweet if I did.

First broken bone?

Ughh I feel like by putting this in writing it means I am going to break a bone, but I have yet to break a bone. Matt had never broken a bone until this last tour. We have one song where he plays guitar and he just went too hard and fell off the riser onto both his hands. He tore some ligaments and broke a bone in his finger. He jumped up and finished the song along with the rest of the set! He also finished the tour and still has to wrap two of his fingers together to play. He is a total bad ass!!!

First person you kissed?

The first person I kissed was named Tommy. One day in the fourth grade I was eating dinner and my mom told me Kyeisha and Chantel were at the door. I went over to see what they wanted and they brought this kid Tommy to my house. They said I needed to learn how to French kiss. So Ky explained what to do and made me French kiss Tommy. It was educational but not romantic in any way!

First movie you saw in the movie theater?

Oh man I can’t remember that. I do remember taking this little girl (Chloe) who I used to nanny to a movie when she was 5 or 6. Matt and I took her to see Curious George. Half way through the movie she turned to me and said, “I think it’s past my bedtime!” I love at that age even she knew it was a shitty movie!

First TV show you were obsessed with?

Cosby Show. The weird thing is what I was most obsessed with was the intro. I loved that they danced in the intro.

First job you had?

I didn’t have a job till late in high school because I ran track and my job was to kick ass so I could get a scholarship. But the summer before my senior year, I wanted to have a job. There was this coffee shop I always hung out at on Thayer St. in Providence. I convinced them to give me a job. The guy who hired me said that they never hired any one under 18 and not to fuck up! I wonder if this working experience in a coffee shop birthed my coffee obsession. Every morning on tour we search out the best coffee shop in a town. So if you’ve seen me in your shop that means someone told me it was the best. Also another side note I still have a photo of me and my first pay check! Make your paper boo boo!

First computer?

As a kid we had a word processor at our apartment. I think it fell off the back of a truck. As I get older I realized a lot of things that fell off back of trucks ended up in our apartment. But I never really touched that word processor. I do remember my first real experience with computers was when I transferred to Pratt Institute and had my first design class. First day of class everyone is sitting behind a computer and the teacher says okay everyone turn on your computer and open Photoshop. I did not know how to even turn the computer on! It was an iMac and I didn’t realize the “on” button was on the side. I had to watch what other people were doing to figure it out. Let’s just say that was a very long first semester.

First email address?

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). After that I had schifino@hotmail.com. I actually had that until a few years ago. Matt made fun of me for it and basically made me get a different email. RIP hotmail! I miss you!

First instrument?

In 7th grade I tested into band. I picked the clarinet. It was the first time in my life that I no longer wanted to be the fucked up kid and really started trying to kick ass at things. I ended up being first chair. By 10th grade I had to quit band because oddly our school made you decide between band or sports! My second instrument was drums and I didn’t start playing them till a few months before Matt and I started the band!

First band you were in?

Matt and Kim. So far so good!

First time you performed in public?

Our first show was in the basement of an art space in Queens. Ian from Japanther forced us to play the show. We weren’t a band then. I was trying to learn how to play drums and Matt had this keyboard he was trying to figure out. Ian forced us to play the show. We only played three songs and I was so nervous I blacked out! After that more people kept asking us to play parties in Brooklyn and that is how the band started.

www.mattandkimmusic.com