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Biografía
Kids, you never know what can happen when you’re dining with your mother. Look at Sleigh Bells; they’re a picture perfect example of that, I mean, an evening out with your mum leading to the formation of quite possibly the least parent friendly band working today? It would be ridiculous if it was fictional but it’s not, and putting aside any notion of parent-friendliness, Sleigh Bells also happen to be one of the most badass bands working today as well. Few bands can muster the kind of aural assault of the Brooklyn duo with an entire quintet, and Sleigh Bells do it with a guy, a girl, a whole lot of Marshall amp stacks, an Ibanez guitar and a backing track. It’s a pretty astonishing sight and sound, that’s for sure.
Their sound makes a lot of sense when you know their history. Singing lead vocals is New Jersey native Alexis Krauss, who’d been trying to make a career in performing since childhood and had a background in theatre and television. From the age of twelve to sixteen she was in the teen pop group RubyBlue but once that band broke up, she put her aspiration’s to one side in order to focus on teaching and studying. So Krauss brings the pop hooks, where does the outrageous heaviness come from? That’d be guitarist Derek Miller.
The Florida native spent six years in the experimental hardcore band Poison The Well, leaving in 2004 due to creative differences. He spent four years writing songs and coming up with an idea for a band featuring him and a female singer. However, by 2008 he was working as a waiter in a Brazilian bistro in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the same bistro that Krauss took her mother to for an evening out in July of that year. Miller waited the table of Krauss and her mother and got talking with them, when he mentioned that he was thinking of putting together a band with a female singer Krauss’s mother immediately volunteered her daughter for the role. With that, Sleigh Bells were born.
The two began working together, Krauss putting a Rhodes Scholarship to one side in order to work with Miller, and by the end of 2009, they’d signed to M.I.A’s record label N.E.E.T Recordings. They released their self-titled debut E.P and were almost immediately courted by The Guardian, The New York Times, Pitchfork and many others. Since then they’ve been one of the most fascinating presences in indie rock, a truly unique sound and style with an incredible (and deafening) live show to match. With three succesful albums to their name, the only way is up for Sleigh Bells, and with no-one else around to compare, they should be with us for the long haul. And thank God for that.
Críticas en vivo
I've been going to see live music for over 20 years and, over the years, I've gotten to see a lot. As a special treat and a by-product of getting old(er) you start to compile reference points - you start to see and hear bands that sound and look like someone you saw in Luton in 1991 or Worcester in 1997. This band sounds like that band and this band sounds like this band. When I saw Sleigh Bells for the first time in 2010 they caused my internal reference computer to malfunction. They were almost uncategorisable.
I was into going to the White Heat club at Madame JoJo's, where you could normally guarantee at least one of the bands on the bill would be good. That night Sleigh Bells were the good band. They simply blew me away in a way I hadn't been blown away for a long time. They were box fresh. Their guitar sound was monster metal heavy, and their beats were incendiary. In Alexis they had a charismatic front woman. Sleigh Bells had bits of metal/hardcore urgency and heaviness, bits of Beastie Boys cool, bits of hip-hop swagger and a bit of White Stripes-style synchronicity . I was hooked. Because they were trying to break the UK they played over here every couple of months, all in tiny, pub or small club venues (my favourite being their show at The Macbeth in May 2010). I went to them all that year. They were incredible.
One of the cool things was seeing Alexis develop as a frontwoman - by the end of that first year she was bobbing onto stage wearing a boxing cape and, by the end of the show, stage-diving into the crowd. Her transformation into a super-confident and sassy frontwoman was one of the great things to witness. The Sleigh Bells live experience is different to how it used to be (they're much bigger and, consequently, play larger venues), but back then they gave me experiences akin to when I first started going to see live music.
I have been wanting to see Sleigh Bells for several years and finally got my wish at The Granada Theater in Lawrence, KS on St. Patrick's Day, as part of their Jessica Rabbit tour. They brought the massive drum beats and "noise pop" as expected. Their sound, along with light show, can be characterized, as one of their songs says, as if "two tornadoes touched down in Kansas"! Alexis Krauss is a whirlwind on stage.
I am not sure that Sleigh Bells is for everyone, they have a sound, that to me, still seems pretty unique (even after about 10 years of them recording and touring). What I mean is that not many others have really copied it (which indicates it doesn't have huge cross-sectional appeal) BUT that is why I like them!
As others have said, your ears might be ringing for a while afterward, but that is a small price to pay! My wife and I see a lot of shows and I put this one as one of my favorites from the past couple of years.(For reference on our tastes in music, we have recently seen Phantogram, Purity Ring, The Wombats, The Kills, Peter Bjorn and John, Bishop Briggs, Grouplove, The Joy Formidable)
They had the crowd pumped and dancing from the start.
They played about an hour long set.
Tunde Olaniran opened for them. An interesting artist with a nice voice, sang, rapped and performed with two female dancers.
If you like their recorded work, you will love Sleigh Bells live. Don't hesitate to go, it will be worth it.
If you want to have a good time, go see Sleigh Bells. They put on one hell of a show and i will never forget it. It was very high energy and Alexis Krauss was interacting with the crowd the entire show. If in the future you are debating whether or not to see them, you should. Sleigh Bells is that kind of band you either love or hate i would say, but seeing them live is a whole other story. They just put on a really good and entertaining show, so if you like watching a good live show Sleigh Bells is a great band to go see if you get the chance. They rocked the house and got everyone to have a good time. It seemed that everyone was a little slow to warm up but Alexis told everyone to let loose and have fun and then things really kicked up. She's very good at handling a crowd. Their live performance matched up pretty closely with their recordings but at times Alexis would add a little extra to her lyrics hyping everyone up further. During their encore, Derek continued to shred on his guitar while Alexis joined us in the crowd and was dancing and headbanging with all of us which was an amazing experience. There is nothing like being up close and personal with a musician you admire and jamming out with them. All in all Derek killed it on the guitar and Alexis tore through with her wonderful vocals so if you get the chance to see Sleigh Bells DO IT!
Show was great! The opener, Tunde Olaniran, really pumped the crowd up. The light show for Sleigh Bells was in the top 10 I've seen, and it felt Saturn's sound system had enough bass to knock the Earth off it's axis. The only negative was that Sleigh Bells didn't play an encore despite chanting by the crowd, which I've only seen happen once or twice before. Other than that, show was amazing!
Slayed bells. They totally killed it and Tundae was equally amazing. I especially loved when he came on stage and sang with Alexis during I'm Loyal. I just love this band and anytime they are in town I will gladly throw my money their way to see them perform. They played great songs from every album... Classics and new. And played for an hour straight! Their stage presence is off the chart.
Sleigh Bells was great live. VERY loud—not unusual to leave a show with my ears ringing, but this was the first time it took more than a day for it to go away. The band had great energy. I love jamming to their stuff in the car and seeing them thrash around on stage was really fun. Totally worth a little bit of permanent eardrum damage.
This is our second time seeing them live and they were just as good, if not better, this time around.
Just over an hour of loud, in your face intensity. Exactly what we were looking for and will absolutely see them whenever they come back to Charlotte (which will hopefully be very soon!!).
10/10
I was nervous with the new album out that the show would be a tamer than previous show's I've seen. I didn't need to worry. She brought it. The entire set was amazing and the energy and feel was just the same as a big venue show. I highly recommend seeing this band.
They were great, as usual, but they played a really short set, and that was disappointing. I am reserving judgment, though, since there may have been an extenuating circumstance as to why.