Sleigh Bells Rings in a New Era of Pop

by Amanda Slater

If you think you are unfamiliar with the New York indie/pop/rock duo, Sleigh Bells, you might be wrong. Lately their music has been popping up everywhere—from phone commercials to the preview for MTV’s “Skins.” Sleigh Bells is made up of Derek Miller (former guitarist of Poison the Well) and Alexis Krauss (former member of teen pop group Rubyblue), whose raw, powerful tracks are laced with bratty vocals and pumped full of attitude—an aesthetic that is acted out in the popular “Infinity Guitars” music video, which depicts Miller and Krauss as a couple of rebellious parochial school students with a penchant for destruction. However, when I had the opportunity to talk to Krauss one-on-one, she didn’t seem like a pyromaniac—or even a rock star. In fact, she was one of the nicest, most down to earth musicians I had ever met.

You guys have been getting a lot of attention lately. How does that feel?
It’s wonderful. We are a pretty new band and we only have one record, so to have so many people come out and show us so much support and praise us for our hard work is obviously very encouraging and rewarding.

You were in the teen pop group Rubyblue. Do you see your current music career as being a grown-up version of what you were doing back then?
No, not at all. Sleigh Bells and Rubyblue are both pop music, but are certainly extremely different variants of pop music. When I started doing Rubyblue, I was 13, and I stopped when I was 16, so I’ve obviously had a lot of time to grow musically and in many other different ways.

Did you always want to make music?
I did. I grew up in a musical family. My father has been a musician his entire life. It’s really all he’s ever known and all he’s ever done. I started working with him on music at a really young age. But, when I met Derek, I was actually pretty intent on pursing different paths. I was teaching and was interested in going down a more academic path. With that being said, music was still very important to me. It was really just about finding the right person to work with and sort of reigniting my love for music because I’d had some pretty uninspiring experiences in the business. The music business, at least for me, had been very manicured and put together and was the farthest thing from an organic, inspiring experience. At that point, I was feeling more passionate and engaged by things like teaching and other things I was working on in college. But, when I met Derek and we started making music together, that was the first music that I was creatively involved in that had really excited me in a long time—and I think Derek felt the same way.  He had been looking to do something different and had left his former band, Poison the Well, for similar reasons. It was becoming tired and didn’t feel fresh anymore.

What were you teaching at the time?
I taught fourth grade. I did a program called Teach for America. It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life, and I’m pretty sure that one day I’ll go back to the classroom, although I’m not sure when. I definitely miss it.

It’s interesting to talk to you and know that you were part of Teach for America because you have this sort of badass girl image from your video and live performances. How do you feel about that image? Do you identify with it at all?
For me, that image is perfectly in line with Sleigh Bells. Alexis Krauss in Sleigh Bells, the person who people see in the video, is not necessarily who I am personally, and I think that’s the key for a lot of artists. The aesthetic of their band is not always representative of their personal values or their personality. I’m totally comfortable with that because I think the art surrounding Sleigh Bells should be doing justice to the music, and the music certainly isn’t coy and polite. The music is kind of the opposite. It’s bombastic, fierce and abrasive. I think that, with what our videos and live shows convey, it would be pretty silly if I just got up there and acted sweet. I don’t think it would be nearly as exciting or make nearly as much sense as what we have going on right now.

What was the original inspiration behind Sleigh Bells’ somewhat raw sound?
A lot of it is a sound that Derek had been developing for years—actually before I met him. He wanted to take a lot of the rawness, brutality and intensity that is in hardcore music and do something different with it outside of the box of hardcore punk music. It’s taking those heavy guitar riffs and combining them with a more feminine presence. I think that was really the base, and when he and I started working together, we started exploring vocal melodies and playing with pop music that is catchy and has hooks and sort of makes you feel good, while juxtaposing it with all the fury that is captured by the guitar.

Some have compared you to the White Stripes. Is there a comparison?
The White Stripes are such a phenomenal band, and obviously is great to be compared to a band like that. I think we’re a very different band, but I think there is sort of an energy that comes across in the White Stripes’ music that I hope would feel comparable to some of the things that we’re doing. The White Stripes were able to be so incredibly and intense and so fierce with just two instruments, essentially. They did so much with just the drums and the guitar. There are so many moments when you listen to those records and think, “Oh my God, how is this just two people? How are two people making such intense, explosive music?” Our last album is a bit different than that and we don’t use a live drum kit, but hopefully the feeling that you get from listening to some of those White Stripes songs is comparable to the feeling that you get when you listen to our music.

The reviewers are split about your lyrics. Some say that they are nonsense. Some say you’ve got a lot of interesting stuff going on—for instance, paraphrasing Bob Dylan. What’s the real story behind the lyrics?
The lyrics have never been released, so obviously it’s our own fault for not releasing them. We are about to release them with our new LP that is coming out in the spring. So, I understand that we’ve brought a lot of this on ourselves, but there’s been a lot of misinterpretation of the lyrics. Derek and I have been sort of ambiguous about them because I think the lyrics for “Treats” are …I don’t want to call them secondary, but none of the songs started with a lyrical idea. The songs were built with the rhythm and guitar and melody, and lyrics sort of sat on top of those things. Just like all the elements of Sleigh Bells—the vocals, the guitars—we look at a song more as all of the parts. They’re less about any one specific thing. We’re not trying to be poetic. We’re not trying to be profound storytellers with those lyrics, but I certainly wouldn’t say they are nonsense. We would never have been able to just throw any lyric on top of our songs. They were definitely labored over and considered very carefully. We’re a lot more about the sound of the words, the diction, and the way that they sort of create the rhythm on top of the other rhythms that we have going on.

What should your Detroit audience expect from your performance in May?
This is going to be our last U.S. tour for this record, so our set is going to be brief. It’s going to be no more than 40 minutes. That is something that a lot of people give us shit for, but we’re a new band and we have one record. But we’re hoping that, within those 40 minutes, will be some of the most intense things that you’ve seen and heard. It’s going to be extremely loud and abrasive. Don’t come if you’re epileptic; there will be strobe lights. It’s kind of a sensory overload. It should be something that you go to prepared to react to and engage physically with. If you’re just going to stand there and sort of watch, then you’re probably not going to have a very good time. It’s a dancing, singing concert thing, and is a pleasurable punch in the face. Movement of all kinds is encouraged. Come out to our show expecting to have fun, and stay tuned for what we have coming with our next record.

Sleigh Bells will perform on May 18 at Saint Andrews in Detroit. Tickets can be purchased at www.livenation.com.