"From every warehouse we played in Bushwick, to every kitchen in Clinton Hill, to Coney Island!" shouted Matt & Kim's Matt Johnson during his band's headlining set at the 10th Annual Siren Music Festival on Saturday. PAPERMAG trekked over to good ol' Coney Island for the free booze, sweaty hipster-watching, awkward tan lines and -- oh yeah! -- a slew of killer sets from over a dozen bands. In true groupie form, we found ourselves on a few air-conditioned tour buses hanging with some of our favorites. And although we can't report any rockstar substance abuse or a stack of random naked people face down in a puddle of Bud Light/puke, we remained entertained by kicking it with Apache Beat's adorable vocalist Ilirjana, playing marry, fuck, kill (Gaga! Bieber! Snookie!) with Kip and Alex of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and learning about Matt & Kim's not-so-grand life on Grand Street.  

Here's our first interview, a chit-chat with Matt & Kim:

PAPERMAG: You guys seem to be living the grand life right now -- headlining Siren and your songs are featured on Gossip Girl and Bacardi commercials!

Matt Johnson: We're trying to get our CW teen dramas... Melrose Place, Gossip Girl. Us and Amanda Blank have an ongoing battle.

PAPERMAG: Are you still living on Grand Street?

Kim Schifino: Oh ya! In our eight-foot wide apartment -- falling apart.

MJ: We've been on the search for a new place for a long time, but we'll go look at houses or whatever and leave on tour and come back and it'll be gone. Kim recently witnessed two people having sex in our hallway through our peep hole. She was like, "We need to get out of here!" We have the grossest hallway, it's sort of a disaster.

KS: But it's home.

MJ: While our business is going up, our quality of life is [makes explosion sound] tanking! We don't see our families anymore, but they understand.

KS:They come see us now. It's kinda crazy to have your parents come when you have a big show. They are just so psyched, it's just awesome.

MJ: Our parents have always been really supportive.

KS: I actually took a photo of the Siren Festival posters. I was looking to see if anyone would see me and I took a photo and I was like, "That's the stuff you send to parents."

MJ: One of the times our picture was on these buses... what was that for?

KS: That was for the Bacardi tour.

MJ: And Kim's like to our tour manager, "Go take a picture of that. I don't want people to think we're taking it."

KS: I feel like if anyone saw you, they'd be like "That's for your parents." They get it.

PAPERMAG: So if you end up leaving Grand Street, are you gonna name the album after your new street?

MJ: If you've got any ideas, let us know. We're trying to come up with a name for the new album now.

PAPERMAG: What can we expect from the new album? And when can we expect new music?

MJ: Well as far as when it's coming out, its always tough to say. We have this weird situation where our song "Good Ol' Fashion Nightmare" came out a year and a half ago, and now it's bizarrely getting picked up by radio stations. Now we're nervous to put out something new to not hurt that record -- I don't know, it's all technical stuff. We're just like, "Aw man, we're making this album we love, we wanna get it out as soon as possible."  Sound-wise, it's not like super far off from what one would expect, but we listen to a lot of hip-hop. It's stuffed with a bigger beat and things like that. There's no rapping or anything, but...

KS: I wish!

PAPERMAG: Speaking of hip-hop, Kim, you are always getting your Beyonce on during your performances...

KS: OK, I can't say, but there's someone who I absolutely love -- a rapper. And I just found out he's gonna be on a show with us. It's not announced yet, but I freaked out when I heard this. I am so excited!

MJ: Yeah, she like Beatles freaked out.

PAPERMAG: Do you guys have anything crazy on your tour rider?

KS: Yes! Well... it's not crazy. We ask for one magazine, and we say it can't be a music magazine so we're kinda really hoping for the celebrity gossip. Or Home and Garden.

MJ: But sometimes you end up with Golf Weekly and we're like "c'mon!" But someone gave us teeny magazines once with all the fold-out posters of Twilight and stuff and we hung them all over our dressing room.

KS: Or also when they gave us W and some other fashion magazines and then our sound guy slipped in a porn magazine. And I'm flipping through and I'm like "hm!" So you know which one I went for first -- the fashion! No, no.

Photos by Angela Pham