Beloved groups break up and subgenres split into navel-gazing niches, but one pillar of rock is eternal: The question “Do you want to start a band?”
On their first new release in three years, Sleigh Bells go back to the beginning — and sleazy rock basics — with “Wanna Start A Band?” Opening with a lightning strike of guitar, the Brooklyn duo’s new single is a raucous recollection of the moment that brought together guitarist Derek Miller and singer Alexis Krauss. The song arrived yesterday (January 28) with a North American tour announcement, which includes a June 6 show at The Paradise Rock Club in Boston.
It’s no exaggeration to say that “Wanna Start A Band?” has been a long time coming; while the titular question reaches back 17 years to the day that spawned Sleigh Bells, the tune’s guitar riff has been in the works for 10-plus years, too.
“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?'” shares Krauss. “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.”
She adds: “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!”
Stomp to the new single and check out full tour schedule for 2025 below; tickets go on sale this Friday (January 31).
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