Sleigh Bells @ Instant Point, 2010 (© Anh Phi )
At the concert in Paris Sleigh Bells , Instant Point, I saw the power of the noise pop of the band live. A show made of sweat, screams, strobe, where the guitar riffs contrasted beautifully with the sweet voice of Alexis Krauss, the singer. This stage animal turns out to be of infinite sweetness to the city.
How a server, a former member of a hardcore band (Poison The Well) encounters a former member of a group of teen pop (Rubyblue) become a teacher?
We met in Brooklyn , Derek had just arrived from Florida to work on his music and find the voice that would work on his project. At the time, I taught full time, I continued to sing professionally for the fans, to sessions with songwriters, do demos but nothing more. One day, my mother, we went to dinner at the restaurant where Derek worked. He was our server, my mother being very talkative, she asked him many questions. It turned out he was from Florida, just like her. So she wanted to know what had brought him here. He explained that he worked in the music, she immediately told him that I was a singer, I was so embarrassed, I prayed for it to be silent, looking up to heaven, but this interested Derek. I then explained to him that I was singing since he always asked me to give him my email so we meet again and make me listen to what he composed. I felt like it was dragging me and we would not really talk about music, I gave him. We only lived only three blocks discrepancies, the coup was quickly reviewed, he made me listen to his compositions on his guitar and loved it. I was very excited about his project I had never heard anything like this before . We started recording and we really liked what we did, it sounded right, so we persevered in this direction. Then I went back to teaching, I finished the school year and I decided to work full time with him. We started playing shows in September 2009. We got very lucky, we played on a lot of lines-up is great and people seemed to appreciate very quickly, which allowed us to continue and here we are today!
As you do not know long this has not been difficult to work together? There he had mistaken identities, misunderstandings?
was surprisingly simple and I think that's why we continued. Derek had a very clear idea of what he wanted, we talked, I understood what he wanted, he loved what I could do, creatively we were on the same wavelength from the beginning , we never had to fight about anything. I think that's why everything was possible, because as I said before I taught, I loved that thing, and he had to abandon that I really believe in the potential of our project. No scolding from stress, just fun!
You have completely opposite musical backgrounds, how did you manage to reconcile them?
It's fun, everybody Derek catalog in the box because of his hardcore band, when in reality he listened to much pop. Unlike me who would rather listen to stronger stuff. So even if we played music in genres quite opposite, we had the same influences. We're big fans of the Motown, soul, women's groups of the 60s like The Supremes after it is also a fan punk rock classic that is the Ramones or Clash . In fact, we're fans of pop sound but also heavier, which meant that it worked between us, we knew where we came from and where we wanted to go. Finally, Derek and I are not talking that much music, but we talk in the abstract sensations it brings us. For example, when entering, if you want to talk about what we want to voice it will say " it needs more sparkle or shine, either softer or more rough " is ultimately rather vague . We will never say "I want it looks like this or that group "But" I want people to feel that . "As a singer, I see it as an actress, I put voice in the skin of various characters in order to have a different mindset each song. A song like Rill Rill is completely different from Infinity Guitars and that's what I love: to become a different person on each song.
How did you record the album?
We began recording demos in September 2009. The recordings were made on things that Derek had worked for years and as I was still working full time, he is also doing much of the writing. Then we spent two months with Treefort Studio Shane Stoneback for sound engineer. It is truly a labor of love, which belongs only three of us. Derek is who wrote and composed most of the music together were more worked on the melodies and harmonies on songs like Rhythm Riot , Tell Them or Run the Heart . But certainly our next album will be much more collaborative . It's funny, because before, I had never worked in the music. I mean I was singing but I never wrote any of my texts so when we started working together (with Derek) it seemed natural not participate in writing. Now it's different, I feel much more invested, this is my music now.
The story has it that Spike Jonze that you have discovered and brought to MIA, tell us a little. A friend
us wrote for the blog Spike Jonze for the film Where The Wild Things Are and is the first to write about us. It was only a few songs on Myspace at the time. Then Spike read his blog (laughs) and he enjoyed our music and played it to MIA, who loved us and also with the spontaneity that we know it we immediately contacted, has flew to New York Derek worked on the production of his latest album and was signed to his label (NEET Recordings, ed) in partnership with our other label, Mom + Pop Records , it was a surreal chain of events!
How did your collaboration with MIA, she is known for her extravagance, she is also well professionally?
MIA like many pop icons is seen as much more impressive than it actually is. Personally I find it very sweet and down to earth but his ideas and ambition are enormous.
In France, you are often described as a mixture of the Ting Tings and Crystal Castles what do you think? How do you make this comparison?
Derek and I are big fans of Crystal Castles , if you compare us to them is surely from some form of brutality that we all share, though the voice of Alice Glass and mine are completely different. Moreover, their production work is beautiful. In terms of Ting Tings is probably the more pop side that are sweet and some songs, so yes it makes sense. Even if it's still strange for us to be compared with other groups.
Can you we talk a bit about the artwork of Treats, where you can see the pompom girls with faces distorted, melted, so to speak?
Sleigh Bells - Treats
The photos of the album are from high school yearbook the mother of Derek dating from the '60s. It is an American imagery could not be more conventional, but the sweetness of cheerleaders mingled the disturbing side of their lack of faces. This reflects our music, we made the pop as I said above, but with something very dark inside. We love play between light and heavy, hard and soft. Our album is merely trying to illustrate that chemistry.
A fan music video was made with the song "Rhythm Riot", have you seen? What did you think? This initiative did she like?
Sleigh Bells "Rhythm Riot" from Bo Mirosseni we Vimeo.
You seem very sweet, almost shy, whereas on stage you are bestial limit, what is the secret of this split personality?
I always thought that if the music really takes you in the guts, it is powerful and catchy, I'd look ridiculous if I was there to sing quietly in my corner, I would be of boring! If I was really me, I surely would lower his eyes too, but it makes no sense, so I had force me to lose my inhibitions and let myself be carried away by the music . This allows you to stop thinking about what people will think of you and be probably more interesting than if you were really aware of what you do. When I go to a concert, I want to see something other than the album that I have at home, I want to experience something, I want to dance, have fun and that's what we want people to feel our concerts. We want them to have hot, they sweat, they really feel something, not just that they are contemplative, they are to be active.
You feel a real difference between the French and American public?
Our last concert in France was amazing, very funny, young people were all naked torsos dancing. It has an advantage in the U.S., is that people know us better, then they come over here to test us, they are not necessarily fans in advance. So our concerts in the U.S. may be more dynamic even if you have nothing to complain about both sides of the Atlantic. It has not done a lot of shows in Europe, it has yet to gain credibility, fingers crossed!
You've met with Derek in Brooklyn, the neighborhood of the hyped musical par excellence, do you agree? You see yourself as hype or do you think is considered as such?
Brooklyn has become one of the places where there is a multitude of creative and talented people in a very concentrated area, so it's easy to meet musicians, which facilitates the creation of groups. In our case, it is not really a group of Brooklyn it was our meeting point but it never had a major influence on our music. The same way there is very little played, but it is true that many people we associate with this place. In terms of hype, we had a lot of attention very quickly so that many people are very skeptical our ability to endure, they see us as a "one hit band " those who make the buzz but now we no longer talk in six months. I think we're trying to prove them wrong. Before the release of the album, people kept saying "the album will be Eur bad" while in the end we only had good feedback. This is not because we have been presented or known as a buzz band that is not here to stay and make albums that will appeal to many people, or at least that's what I want!
What are your future plans?
We are on tour until the end of next summer, we still have plenty of places to discover. We're going to Australia, Japan and again in Europe before going to conquer many cities in the U.S. in the spring. So finally, it will be presenting our album many people as possible before going back and record a new . One has the impression that it has always been that we play, our album is short, 32 minutes, get bored quickly, so we look forward to re-enter the studio to record new things.
BONUS:
SLEIGH BELLS
Infinity Guitars Live in Paris / Point Instant
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