Ring Them Bells

In the dimly-lit alcove of a heaving downtown bar, Derek Miller worries he’s gone to far. “I shouldn’t say Maya walked into a trap,” says the Sleigh Bells guitarist, with a self-conscious wince. “But... she walked into a trap.”

He’s talking about the career-wrecking interview Maya Arulpragasam – aka Tamil-London rapper MIA – gave to the New York Times last summer. A good friend of Maya – she was an early cheerleader of Sleigh Bells, helping them score a major label deal – Miller was horrified by the piece, which portrayed her as a glib, bratty hypocrite, mouthing off about the world’s downtrodden whilst stuffing herself with truffle fries.
“She’s a really inspiring person, someone who has a million ideas. She’s a lot of fun to work with. That was an assassination piece. That’s what [former NYT magazine writer] Lynne Hirschberg does. It was really kind of odd and surprising. I shouldn’t talk about it – the whole thing was unfortunate. The way I see it, anything that distracts from the music is negative. Look, I understand there’s a game you have to play to promote your band. A game in which, in order for people to be interested, it has to be about something other than music – an aesthetic, a dress sense... something like that. Which is fine – but I’m not comfortable with it.”
He may not want to goose-step to the industry’s drumbeat, but such reluctance hasn’t prevented Miller and Sleigh Bell vocalist Alexis Krauss materialising, essentially from nowhere, to become one of the year’s hottest newcomers. With a sound best described as melodic hardcore, the pair come on like a White Stripes as made over by Atari Teenage Riot: Miller cranks out sheet-metal slabs of treated guitar, whilst Krauss contributes schoolgirl coos and crazy-lady shrieks. On paper, it sounds like a hipster-baiting mess – in reality, it’s a racket that frequently reaches towards the divine.
Following the release of debut LP Treats late last year, Sleigh Bells’ unlikely conflation of the sweet and the apocalyptic has won admirers in some dizzying places. Stumbling upon an early demo on MySpace, the aforementioned MIA booked herself on the next flight to New York and demanded Miller produce a track for her. There was only one problem... He was still holding down a day-job at the time.
“With one day’s notice, I basically had to ring up my boss at the restaurant where I worked and tell him I needed to take a week off. Not surprisingly he fired me on the spot. That was cool. The chance to work with MIA? Tell me that isn’t worth getting fired for.”
Actually it was at the very same eaterie – a Brazilian joint in Brooklyn – that Miller met Krauss. A Florida native who was at the time teaching fifth grade, she and her mother had been enjoying lunch when they got talking to their waiter.
“Her mother asked, what was I doing in New York? I told I was looking for someone to form a band with. She suggested Alexis. We met the week after, seemed to get on and, there you had it, Sleigh Bells was formed.”
With big hazel eyes and hair that is remarkably glossy after a month on the road, Krauss doesn’t look much like anybody’s idea of a scuzzed-up indie outlaw. Actually her background is in bubblegum pop. As a teenager, she was signed to a girl group upon which millions of record company dollars had been lavished. When things didn’t pan out as expected, the band was dropped, and Krauss received her first lesson in how the music industry does business.
“I must have been all of 16,” she says. “We had a production deal with Sony. It wasn’t a direction I was especially interested in going in but it was a formative experience for sure. It was definitely a record company ‘project’. They had creative producers and business producers. What you take away from it is that you should be working with the right people, not the wrong people. And you need to have control over what you do. Otherwise, it can be a very shitty industry.”
When it comes to working with the ‘right’ people, Sleigh Bells have certainly outdone themselves. In addition to sharing the studio with MIA, several weeks ago they hooked up with, of all people, Beyoncé, to work on demos for her next LP. Or at least that’s what has been reported. Krauss and Miller seem reluctant to say ‘yea or nay’.
“There’s not much we can add to what’s out there,” says Miller, who seems ready to sink beneath the table. “Really, the whole thing is out of our hands. That’s how it is with a machine that huge I suppose. From my perspective, the whole thing is just so incredibly flattering. I don’t have any hesitation in saying that Beyoncé is simply incredible. She is world class – a real grade A talent. She’s got it.”
As to the hype... well, having passed through a share of bands (in his teens Miller traversed the globe with a hardcore quartet), it’s fair to say there is little danger the fuss might go to their heads. They’re glad people are paying them attention. But they certainly aren’t getting carried away just because the Twittersphere thinks they’re the shit.
“If all of this gets people to come to our shows, fantastic,” Krauss concludes. “But when all is said and done, you have to count on your music. If you want to survive long-term you have to write great songs. Nothing else matters.”

Treats is out now. You can listen to 'Riot Rhythm' on hotpress.com.