Midi Matilda
The Tambo Rays
This event is 21 and over
$14.00 – General Admission (Advanced)
$16.00 – General Admission (Door)
*plus applicable service fees
Tickets available at The Independent box office (628 Divisadero, SF) with no service charge.
When Logan Grime’s great, great, great grandmother, Mini Matilda, migrated from France to Virginia City, Nevada, to open a gold mine many moons ago, she never could have guessed that her future progeny would take her name and take the stage – pumping out jewel-like tunes to packed venues across the country with bandmate Skyler Kilborn. But – and we’re just guessing here – she’d be damn proud.
“When I was a kid, my dad did a drawing of a robot that played music and named it ‘Midi Matilda,’ after Mini,” Grime says. “It’s framed and up on my wall. I’ve had it for about 20 years now.” And, just a few years ago, it inspired the name of Grime and Kilborn’s newly formed band – an apt moniker, as the music they create has an electronic framework brimming with soul, making Midi Matilda a name you need to know… right now.
The indie electro-pop duo released its first single (and video) in December 2011, and it didn’t take long for the critics to take note. Within a few weeks, “Day Dreams” was featured on tastemaker music blog, Neon Gold Records, and San Francisco commercial radio titan, Live 105, crowned Midi Matilda their “Favorite New Band of 2012”. A few months later, a HuffPo feature placed them in “the ranks of the Bay Area’s indie pop guard.” Not bad for a pair of DIY dreamers.
Singer Skyler Kilborn and drummer Logan Grimé met while studying sound engineering at Ex’pression College for Digital Arts in 2008. Drawn to each other’s obsessive work ethic and shared pop sensibilities, they started playing music together. Their campus was a cradle of sorts. It’s where they practiced, recorded demos, and where Logan perfected the production skills behind the band’s videos.
Marked by Skyler’s soaring falsetto, Logan’s driving rhythms, and a fresh mix of guitars, bass and synthesizers, the band sounds like Tears for Fears meets Frank Sinatra and Calvin Harris. They craft the kind of catchy indie-flavoured pop gems that worm their way into your brain and stay there for days on end. And lucky for anyone who has ever seen them play, it’s a sound that translates into superlative live performances.
The result is a mix between electro and old-school rock ‘n’ roll, with Grime on drums and Kilborn on guitar and an instrument called a “Misa Tri Bass;” an experimental digital music interface that looks like an iPad made love to a guitar. “It’s a fairly new instrument that only a few people are currently using,” Kilborn says. “I wanted to be one of the very first people to use the Tri Bass and by doing so make it a part of a consistent image for the band.” The company even created a custom model for Kilborn.
The best part of the Midi Matilda story: despite their sudden success and swift critical acclaim, Logan and Skyler are the kinds of artists who treat fans like friends. They’re accessible. They’re down to earth. They want the same thing you want… for everyone to have a great time. And in a time when pop music tends to feel so impersonal and hermetically sealed, Midi Matilda is a blast of fresh air.