In episode 119, I catch up with Alexis Krauss and Derek Miller, the noise pop duo better known as Sleigh Bells. I have been a massive Sleigh Bells fan since their first few singles back in 2009 — brash, genre-defying bangers like “Crown on the Ground” and “Infinity Guitars” that sounded unlike anything else, combining elements of pop, metal, hardcore, hip-hop and punk. They’ve continued to blow my mind with the leaps they’ve made since then. 

The three of us are also old friends at this point, and though we’ve done shorter interviews in the past, it was great to finally get to ask them some of the classic LSQ podcast questions about all the shit they were into as kids. In this episode, Alexis talks about what she learned from her experience in a teen pop band, revelations she had at the punk and hardcore shows she frequented during her New Jersey youth, and learning to integrate the diverse parts of her musical voice.

Derek describes falling in love with the soundtrack to La Bamba as a kid growing up in Florida, and then discovering 80s pop greats like Janet Jackson and Cyndi Lauper before venturing into alternative and hard rock (Nirvana, Silverchair) and then having his mind blown by ground-breaking artists such as Radiohead and Björk, and then eventually joining metal core band Poison The Well in his later teens. They also share the story of how they came together to form Sleigh Bells, and how their current approach builds on the foundational principles they established for the band more than fifteen years ago.

Sleigh Bells’ new sixth studio album, Bunky Becky Birthday Boy, comes out this week and it’s stellar. Find out more (and get tickets for their upcoming tour) at: tornclean.com