Sleigh Bells Are Ringing and Bringing Treats to All the Good Girls and Boys
Of all of the unique and different music that has emerged in the last 15 years, the indie rock/hipster music scene of Brooklyn, New York is amongst the most unique and has the broadest range of musical styles that yet somehow blend together in a way like nothing I have ever seen in the past. My brother Scott in his previous job was a Nurse Manager and became good friends with his administrative assistant, a very young 20 something guy working on his degree at the University of Utah. When Scott and his admin assistant would talk music he started to introduce Scott to the indie rock/hipster music scene. Through my life Scott has been one of my best sources for new music and part of what makes Scott unique is that although he is an expert in every sense on what my musical tastes are and what I am predisposed to, he is not afraid to recommend music that does not resemble anything I am into and may not initially embrace. Scott was introduced to MGMT through his admin assistant and loved their music. To be honest when Scott gave me a copy of MGMT’s Oracular Spectacular he didn’t think initially I’d like the album at all, but from the first moment “Time to Pretend” started I was completely hooked and MGMT very quickly became one of my favorite bands. A few months later Scott was introduced to Neon Indian through his admin assistant and shortly thereafter I became a huge fan as well. Something pretty cool happening in Brooklyn and thanks to Scott’s admin assistant we were in the loop on the scene.
In May 2010 my brother Scott was on the iTunes store and was looking at who the huge sellers were on for iTunes for the week. Scott notices that this band he had never heard of called Sleigh Bells had one of the fastest selling albums on iTunes. Naturally Scott’s curiosity perked and he clicked on the song samples from the album Treats and from just hearing a few seconds of “Tell ‘Em” Scott immediately bought the album on iTunes. After a few listens Scott immediately knew this would be the kind of album I just love. I still remember Scott calling and saying “Dude! There’s this band called Sleigh Bells you have to check out” and I said something like “Are they Christmas music or something?” Then Scott said “Go to YouTube right now and type in ‘Sleigh Bells Treats’, I think you’ll really dig them”. As I went to youtube.com to check Sleigh Bells out I was very hesitant. Scott had informed me that they had a hard techno kind of feel to them which was enough to get me to check them out. The very first video that pulled up on youtube was “Crown on the Ground” and from the high pitched guitar lick that starts the song the song had my attention, then come in the techno drum beats and Alexis Krauss’s amazing voice and I was completely amazed! I literally could not believe what I was hearing. The song was the perfect mix of a metal guitar lick, electronica drum beats, techno synth and an amazing singer rolled into one sweet package. I had literally never heard anything like it in my life and figuratively speaking it was like being hit by a wrecking ball. At first I thought Sleigh Bells was a horrible name for a band, but after listing to “Crown on the Ground” a few more times it all made sense. Sleigh Bells is more than a name it’s a band of music like no other. Over the next hour I would listen to the album Treats on youtube twice and I very quickly bought a copy of it. The next time Scott saw his admin assistant he brought up Sleigh Bells and his admin assistant like us was already a fan. For that matter it was kind of cool that a young hipster thought Scott and I had good taste.
The formation of Sleigh Bells is one of the most and in some respects one of the most unlikely pairings in music history. Guitarist Derek Miller was originally in a hard core metal band called Poison the Well and singer Alexis Krauss was originally in a pop girl band called Ruby Blue. At the time of their meeting Derek had composed much of the music that would become Treats and was looking for a female singer. Alexis and her mother one evening were dining at a restaurant and Derek was their waiter. As Alexis and her mother were getting to know Derek he mentioned that he was looking for a female singer for an album he was working on and Alexis’ mother immediately volunteered her. They exchanged email addresses, met in a park a few days later and the foundation of Sleigh Bells was complete. I would never have thought in a million years that straight up pop, techno, and metal could be combined into listenable music, let alone great music, and yet Sleigh Bells has pulled it off which is a very impressive feat.
And now…the album Treats! As much as I truly love having instant access to lots of great music through the iTunes store, there is still something to be said about the record shop experience. I was shopping for some music and I bought Treats by Sleigh Bells. From the first time I cranked this up on my car stereo my heart just starts to pump and I’m driving around with my car stereo was thumping like I was a low rider gansta. The song “Tell ‘Em” immediately captured me as it did my brother Scott and the album just gets better and better as it progresses. Just in all honesty it’s been a long time since I have bought an album that I just fell in love with this quickly. Part of what makes this album so great is that in my opinion it is the first pop album in an exceptionally long time that has broken some serious ground. Musically it makes huge use of intense and unique electronic drum beats, yet it’s not a rap of hip hop album, has unique, quick, and imaginative guitar licks which are not sampled but very methodically composed to perfectly add a huge amount of musical atmosphere, and loud, deep, and heavy sounds of synthesizers used by bands like Depeche Mode, New Order, Kraftwerk, and for that matter techno and electronica as a whole. Although Treats has a very electronica feel to it, I would not call this an electronica album. Then mixed in with all of the other hot rocking songs are the ballads “Rachel” and “Rill Rill” which are more traditional pop songs are still just as unique as the rest of the album and really balance the album out. Last but not least the amazing singing voice of Alexis Krauss. In the current music scene of pop star divas (Brittney Spears, Christine Aguilera, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, etc.) although I am the first to admit that I am not a fan of this kind of pop music at all, I will not deny the talent and popularity of this music. What I like about Alexis Krauss the most is that although she is very beautiful and has a great singing voice to match is that she is a 180 for the typical pop diva and she truly has a style all her own. Treats was by far one of the best albums released in 2010 and a huge breathe of fresh air musically speaking. This album became a favorite at the gym very quickly and I don’t think there is an album in the world that sounds better in my car than Treats.
It’s very rare that a concert comes to Salt Lake City that I am not aware of. However, October 22, 2010 was one of the few exceptions. My brother Scott called me about 20 minutes before I got off of work letting me know that his admin assistant was going to see Sleigh Bells and the concert was tonight at the Urban Lounge. I was completely floored and I had to be there, unfortunately Scott was not in a position to go with me and I had committed to watch my mother perform (she is a cellist) with the America West Symphony of Sandy, Utah, at the All Saints Episcopal Church. However, the doors did not open until 9:00pm at the Urban Lounge and I felt like I could pull off going to the show after the orchestra. Fortunately, I was able to land a ticket for the concert and I was way excited.
Before the show I met up with my parents and my aunt’s Sue and Alyssa at the Olive Garden in Sugarhouse and had a nice meal, enjoyed the works of Beethoven and Mozart and the sounds of Broadway at my Mom’s concert. When the concert ended at 9:30pm after saying wishing my parents and aunt’s a great evening I started up my car, floored it down Foothill Dr., and got to the Urban Lounge in record time. The downside of the Urban Lounge is that the stage only about 2 feet high (about the length from my knees to the floor) and if I’m not there early I can only see the bands from the shoulders up. Fortunately, for me when I arrived the bulk of the audience has not arrived yet and those that were there went straight to the bar so I had no problem getting right next to the stage (in fact, my knees were touching the stage) and thanks to watching some live video of Sleigh Bells on youtube.com I positioned myself on what would be Alexis’ side of the stage. I was wearing my Dream Theater shirt at the show and much to my surprise after the first opening band a young kid behind me that looked like your typical hipster tapped me on the shoulder and said “I can’t believe Mike Portnoy has quit Dream Theater! Who could ever replace him?” I did not think for a minute that there would be a quasi support group to cope with Mike Portnoy quitting Dream Theater at a Sleigh Bells concert, but people never cease to amaze me. I come to find out the kid and his friends were just as huge of fans of Dream Theater as I am and it was really fun to hang out with them during the show (side note: Mike Mangini is completely amazing and the perfect fit for Dream Theater. I’m glad Dream Theater has been able to survive after loosing one of the greatest drummers on earth and still be just as amazing with Mike Mangini. That is quite the feat). After sitting through two openers which were respectably good I really could not wait for Sleigh Bells to start. During the break Derek Miller was on the side of stage working on his laptop and getting things configured and ready. Then finally the lights went down and over the PA the song “South of Heaven” by Slayer was cranked up which made me cheer even louder. Derek came on stage with his trusty black Jackson guitar and started play along with “South of Heaven” and then Alexis came on the stage wearing torn up Levi’s, a black leather jacket, and black tank top. Sleigh Bells had already taken my breath away and then then they started their set with “Tell ‘Em” and I was completely floored. Then to take it up a level Alexis looked right at me while singing and when the song got to the lyric of “Do you really want to be in L.A.” Alexis literally put the microphone in my face and we sang a couple of the lines of the song together. I knew I was going to be close at this show, but I did not think for one second that I would share the microphone with her for even a small moment. The up close encounter did not stop there. Alexis liked to work the crowd my leaning into the audience with her microphone and she was literally putting her hand on my shoulder to balance as she worked the crowd the whole show. All of the star struck awe aside this concert was awesome! Not only were they great live, both Derek and Alexis were fun to watch and had quite a stage presence to them. The crowd was just jumping, moshing, and having an all out wild time. Because I am a bigger and muscular guy I was able to hold my own on the floor and keep my primo spot with my knees touching the stage with Alexis right in front of me. About half way through the show Sleigh Bells performed “Rill Rill” which after a very wild and intense 25 minutes was a nice break from the moshing/slam dancing leading up to it. However, once we caught our breath the intensity was immediately cranked back up with “Straight A’s” and the show ended with the one and only “Crown of the Ground”! At the end of the show Alexis gave me a hug, I put my hands on the stage and Alexis leaded on me as she was high fiving and saying goodnight to the audience. The crowd was still cheering, screaming, and demanding an encore (“Run the Heart” and “Rachel” were the only songs from Treats they did not perform, which as much I love those songs, I knew they were not encore material). Alexis came back on stage and graciously thanked everyone, but let us know that they did not have any other songs planned. It’s hard to believe that one of the greatest shows I have ever been to is one of the shortest, but quality is definitely better than quantity in this instance. This is the most up close and personal experience I have ever had at a concert and one that I will never forget.
After this show I immediately went to the Maverik on 300 South and 500 East, bought a Gatorade, and started to physically recoup from the show. However, when I got back in my car I was still in awe over this show and I had to call someone just to talk about it. My buddy Brian in Eugene, Oregon is a little bit of a night own so I decided to call him. It was about 1:00am in Utah and when Brian saw my name pull up on his cell phone he initially thought did something happened to Brent’s family? Is he in the hospital? Did a girl dump him? He felt like something had to be up. Thank when I told him about the concert and how freaking awesome it was Brian said something like “you are the only person I know that would call this late just to talk about a concert”. We had a good conversation though and it helped me get back to reality because I was so taken back and impressed by this concert I was probably not going to sleep and Brian helped to get my head out of the clouds a little bit. I have been to a lot of concerts since my first one when I was 11 years old back in 1988 so for a band to impress me like this is a rare and miraculous feat. This was quite the concert. A few months later Sleigh Bells released the music video for “Rill Rill” and Derek Miller is wearing a sweatshirt for Salt Lake City’s The Heavy Metal Shop! I’m glad we showed the Sleigh Bells a good time while they were in town.
Since then Sleigh Bells has really made a name for themselves and I’ll never forget when I saw Alexis Krauss on the front cover of Spin shortly after Reign of Terror was released. It filled me with a lot of pride. Although Reign of Terror is a small change of direction from Treats it is still very enjoyable and fun album. In fact, last night I was cruising around my neighborhood with Reign of Terror cranked up in my car and at the stoplight of 3800 South and Wasatch Blvd when “Comeback Kid” was blaring across my speakers and a couple of cute high school girls in a jeep pulled next to me and started to bang their heads and swaying around to “Comeback Kid” at the stoplight which was way freaking cool and the highlight of my day. Then I just cruised through Salt Lake City enjoying the rest of the album. I have never come across a band quite like Sleigh Bells and I have really enjoyed watching them evolve and grow as a band. Treats is one of the best albums to come out in the last five years and I look forward to where the future will take Sleigh Bells.
A picture of Alexis Krauss I took with my cell phone at the Sleigh Bells
October 22, 2010 concert at the Urban Lounge in Salt Lake City, Utah.
