Sleigh Bells, an electronic duo consisting of Alexis Krauss and Derek Miller, have been on a very fast-paced rise to fame. Alexis, a full-time teacher, met Derek for the first time in 2008. She saw potential in Derek’s idea for a new musical project, and decided to commit to it full-time in 2009. Derek, who had previously played guitar in legendary hardcore band Poison the Well, seemed to have met his match. The released their first self-titled EP in 2009, their first LP, Treats, in spring 2010, and by the end of 2010, they were one of the most hyped bands in the blogosphere. Last summer, I was able to catch their performance during M.I.A.’s infamous HARD NYC event. I was blown away by their unusually short set, which occurred just before that of South African rappers Die Antwoord. When they played Richmond in May with Brazilian rockers CSS (Cansei de Ser Sexy), I was anxious to see how they would hold up to my previous impression, and was far from let down. Opening with several distorted bars of Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man,” they hit harder than I remembered. Having just watched the always-awesome CSS, I knew Sleigh Bells would close this show right. I was able to chat with Alexis briefly about the early Sleigh Bells days and touring with CSS, and was surprised to learn what she had heard about Richmond before coming here!
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I read that in the early Sleigh Bells days, you were balancing being a full-time school teacher and being in the band. Did either bleed over into each other at any point?
Not really. We met over the summer and then I had to return to work in the fall. Derek and I would try and meet as much as we could--which wasn’t often, probably once a week, as my workload with school was so much. As we worked more and more over the following months, it became obvious that it was something that we wanted to be able to dedicate our complete time to. Throughout the school year, even though we weren’t working together TOO much, I began making plans to not return to school the following year and jump into the band full time. Being a teacher is a demanding job, and requires your full attention; that’s what the kids deserve.
I was just playing a scenario in my head where my already badass teacher slowly turns into a rock-star and starts bringing in early Sleigh Bells demos to play us, hah.
Hah, they were definitely aware. They found out because I told them I wasn’t returning the following year and that I was going to be going down this route. What’s funny is that the following year, I brought in some of my students to record spoken parts on some of the tracks. You can hear them on “Kids,” being those weird girl voices. I definitely keep in touch with some of them, and there are even a couple who have said they listen to the music.
What are some of the earliest memories you have playing live with Sleigh Bells?
We got offered to play a show by a few friends of ours, [who did us] a favor by letting us jump on the bill. Thanks to Youtube, you can actually watch some of the earliest shows. There’s one show I remember that someone was filming, at a place with no lights, no aesthetic really. Kind of funny to watch.
The latter part of 2009 and through 2010, Sleigh Bells was just exploding in every sense of the word. You were being booked on bigger and bigger shows with more and more promotion. How has 2011 been treating you?
2011 has been amazing. We are continuing to tour up through this summer. That’s really what our 2011 has been: show after show after show. We kicked off 2011 with a show in Australia, which was pretty amazing and symbolic for us. To think we would be playing a huge festival in Australia after such little time together was very surreal. We’re going to finish up our touring this summer and then go into the studio full time. Derek and I are both dying to record some material that we’ve been playing with over all this time.
How has touring with CSS been? They blew my mind the first time I saw them a few weeks ago. It makes sense to see you guys on the same bill, but at the same time, you both have very distinct sounds. How did that come about?
It just kind of came about naturally. We wanted to do a co-headline tour from the start. We were offered to do support tours but those don’t necessarily allow you to play to a large number of your own fans. [CSS] were looking to do a tour and Derek and I were both fans of the band, so we jumped on the bandwagon as soon as we could. Our sounds are very different, but the energy levels between both them and us are very similar. I feel the crowd gets a very fulfilling experience from seeing a show on this tour. Those guys are just great to be around.
I’ve always wondered how a co-headlining tour works. Do you flip a coin to decide who closes out the night?
It basically just means we split the ticket sales evenly. During this tour, we’ve been closing the majority of the nights. Musically, it makes the most sense for us to close. We play a much shorter set. They build up all this momentum and energy when they play and then we come on and punch everyone in the face and wrap it up!
I read in another interview with Derek that some of the electronic backing tracks on Treats were made with some very low quality equipment. He even said that you screamed into the microphone input on his computer for some vocals. For your next album, do you want to emulate the same sound you achieved on Treats, or do you want to take advantage of the superior equipment that will be at your fingertips this time around?
What was probably referenced were just the early Sleigh Bells demos. Treats was made and mastered in a fully-equipped studio. Everything was pretty much remade in the full studio. The album version of “Infinity Guitars” is essentially the demo version. Those vocals were the same vocals involving me screaming into the microphone input on his computer. I think when Derek and I begin recording our ideas for the next album, there is the chance we might do some of the same types of things, such as using an internal computer microphone. But it all just depends on how the end result sounds. We’re not married to one method or another.
As far as genres are concerned, I know you’ve seen the countless genre hybrids being used when writing about you. Do you have a favorite subgenre or genre hybrid used to describe you that sticks out as being the most entertaining?
Hah, there have been quite a few. Last year, when we played Coachella, we were written up by a pretty big Los Angeles based publication, I forget the name, but they referred to us as being rap-rock. That was a new one for us. I think people are kind of desperate to try and find a way to classify us.
Have you ever been to or played in Richmond? What comes to mind when you hear someone reference the city?
We have not. We played in Charlottesville, but never Richmond. My fiancé, who was in a touring punk/hardcore band, played Richmond a lot and from talking with him I picture all of these cool underground shows with lots of energy and everyone sweating everywhere. I hope we have some time to kill; I hear there’s a huge rope swing or bridge jump or something into a lake or river. That’d be awesome.
What has been a standout tour experience so far?
I got off stage a few weeks ago after one of the first shows and could not move my neck! I ended up in the ER until about 5AM with a neck brace on. I was in the ER, in my jersey, a neck brace, spandex leggings and all of this stage makeup. Luckily it was just a sprain. It was quite the sight and experience to kick off the tour!
Words by Alexander Rose
Images by Erik Fox/Dope On Plastic