They're back, baby! Grab all the crowns and throw them on the ground because Sleigh Bells have returned. It's been about 15 years since the great New York noise-pop duo released their classic debut Treats -- long enough that they could be considered a cool influence now -- and they dropped their most recent LP Texis in 2021. Today, Sleigh Bells announce a tour and unleash their first new single in more than three years, and that single goes hard.
Sleigh Bells' new song "Wanna Start A Band?" does all the things that you want a Sleigh Bells song to do. It's got the titanic but homespun pop hooks, the laser-guided synth-bleeps, the overdriven guitar riffs, and the punishing programmed drums. Alexis Krauss and Derek Miller co-wrote and co-produced the track without any help, and they know what they're doing. Maybe I was missing this kind of thing more than I realized, but this song is really working for me this morning. In a press release, Krauss explains that the song tells their origin story:
In 2008 while eating at a restaurant in Brooklyn with my mom, our server, Derek, wasted very little time asking me, essentially, "Wanna start a band?" Hard to believe that almost 17 years later we are still hyped and obsessively making records together. Derek started messing with the riff for this song around 2014 -- it needed a lot of work, but a spark was there. We had a band by then but didn't know how long it would last. For us, this song is a reminder of how we started, but it's also the first part of a new story we want to tell -- more on that very soon! We hope you will come along for the ride.
Below, listen to "Wanna Start A Band?" and check out the band's tour dates.
TOUR DATES:
5/07 - Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
5/09 - Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory, Constellation Room
5/10 - Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up
5/13 - San Francisco, CA @ August Hall - Music Hall
5/16 - Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre
5/17 - Vancouver, BC @ Hollywood Theatre
5/19 - Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre
5/21 - Denver, CO @ Summit
5/23 - Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall - Downstairs
5/24 - Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater
5/25 - Austin, TX @ Mohawk
5/28 - Tampa, FL @ The RITZ Ybor
5/29 - Orlando, FL @ Plaza Live
5/30 - Fort Lauderdale, FL @ Culture Room
6/01 - Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
6/02 - Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
6/03 - Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
6/05 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
6/06 - Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
6/07 - New York, NY @ Webster Hall
6/10 - Toronto, ON @ Axis Club Theatre
6/11 - Detroit, MI @ El Club
6/12 - Chicago, IL @ The Metro
6/14 - Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
6/15 - Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre
