Sleigh Bells Surprised by Newfound Attention

For all the bands that were pegged to be the breakouts of this year's CMJ Music Marathon, few people expected to be talking about Sleigh Bells when the dust had settled. A cross between M.I.A.'s rhythmic pop and Crystal Castles' glitchy beats, the duo is unsigned and has yet to officially release any material, but they continued to win rave reviews for their confident live show as the week rolled along. After CMJ, Sleigh Bells officially became a buzz band.

"We went into it not expecting too much. We only booked three shows, and one of them was an anti-CMJ show at Market Hotel," guitarist and beat-maker Derek Miller tells Spinner. "If anything, we felt like we were skirting the whole thing a little, so it's ironic that we got so much attention."

In summer 2008, Miller was working at a Brazilian restaurant in Brooklyn when Alexis Krauss stopped in for a meal with her mother. Miller had looking for a capable female vocalist for years and when he told the pair about his search, Krauss' mother enthusiastically nominated her daughter for the role. Two weeks later, Krauss and Miller were recording in her apartment, using junky beat stations, guitar overdubs and Krauss' first-rate set of pipes.

"Any music that's super-rhythmic works for me, but vocally, I've always been more attracted to female singers with those slick pop sounds," says Miller, who cites Belinda Carlisle's 'Heaven Is a Place on Earth' as one of his favorite examples.

Sleigh Bells was put on hold while Krauss taught fourth grade in the Bronx as part of the Teach for America program. The duo resumed their recording sessions last June and started releasing a handful of tracks online, including the fuzzed-out jam, 'Crown on the Ground' and the Funkadelic-sampling 'Ring Ring.'

The group has chatted with a bunch of labels and is eyeing a few touring options for the upcoming year. However, the main focus for the band is recording a full-length in early 2010. The duo will be polishing all of their previous tracks in the studio while adding a ton of new cuts to the mix.

"People like what we have now, with this blown-out harshness on all the songs, but the overdubs are just substituting for other instruments I really wanted to use," says Miller. "I'm just excited, because I think everything's going to sound a lot better soon."