I heard that you and the other half of Sleigh Bells, Derek, met under quite unusual circumstances, would you mind explaining how you guys met?

It was a pretty serendipitous meeting. I had just finished up my first year of teaching and was out to dinner with my mum in Brooklyn on a summer night. It was actually two years ago. Derek was our friendly waiter. My mum was equally as friendly and very talkative. The two of them struck up a conversation and as it turns out, they were both from Florida so Mum goes, “Well Derek if you’re from Florida, what are you doing here in Brooklyn?” It turned out that Derek had come to Brooklyn looking for someone to work on music with and specifically to find a female vocalist. So even though I wasn’t working on music full-time, I was a singer and I guess, once a singer, always a singer and my mum, doing what mums do, was proud and was like, “Oh you know my daughter’s a musician, she’s a singer.” So Derek and I started talking about the music that was going on and, on a whim, exchanged email addresses and later on that evening, I sent him an email. Shortly thereafter we got together and he played some of the demos he'd been working on. A week after that and started recording.

So who do you think listens to your music? Who would be your main audience?

Well I don’t think we have a main audience, at least we don’t really want to have a main audience in the sense that we’re not one of those bands that market ourselves very carefully to a certain demographic. I think one of the advantages of the record is that it’s a lot of fun and it’s the type of music that you can listen to with a bunch of friends in the car. It’s very social music, so our goal is to have as many people as possible listen and enjoy it. I guess we’re not too concerned about our image in that sense, it’s really just about people hearing it and enjoying it and spreading the word. The more people that hear it, the better.

Yeah totally. Are there any specific musical influences that you guys draw upon?

Yeah, well Derek and I both listen to a wide variety of music, but me personally, I’m a big fan of a lot of old soul and ‘60s girl groups and mo town, but in terms of Sleigh Bells, the vocal performances are pretty pop - melody and harmony are very integral components. I love a good pop song with a great hook, great melodies and great harmonies.  For Derek’s obviously the metal and hardcore are huge. There’s a tonne of different music styles and genres coming together.

So like you said, a lot of different music influences you. Would you say that it’s important for us to salute the past when we’re creating new things today?

Absolutely, I mean I think it's incredibly important for any artist who’s creating music to be hyper-aware of all the music that has existed before them. That's definitely informed the music that Derek and I've created. You know, we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for all of the records that we spent so many years listening to.

Can you tell me a little bit about South by Southwest festival and how that was for you guys?

South by Southwest was overall really amazing for us. It was a little bit tough because we'd just spent two months in the studio so we hadn’t really rehearsed or practiced much. Our first few shows there were a little shaky and we had some technical difficulties. But we got everything together and played a really fun Pitchfork party which ended the experience on a really high note. Also Austin went from being really really warm to practically freezing on the last day, but this almost added to the environment because we played this outdoor show really late at night and it was like twenty degrees fahrenheit (6 degrees celcuis) and everybody had to stay warm by moshing.

In terms of playing live, would you be able to describe your most memorable experience?

I feel like most memorable experiences are kind of changing because, fortunately, we’ve been having really good shows, so it’s like every show just ups the other one. Last night was actually my most favourite show. This is our first head-lining tour of the US so we’re playing in front of crowds who have actually purchased a ticket for Sleigh Bells. The dynamic is much different and there’s more enthusiasm. We came out for an encore and I brought like three people up on stage, which ended up multiplying into forty people! I’m sure the people at the venue were not incredibly thrilled with us. But it ended up being a lot of fun because people were just dancing and then afterwards everyone was just kind of hanging out on stage, so yeah, that was really memorable.

Ok, so tell us why we should buy your record, Treats? How would you describe it in a couple of words?

Oh, that’s a tough question. Well, I think you should buy Treats because it's the type of record that you’re going to listen to and you’re going to feel something, it’s an experience. It’s something that will, hopefully, make you want to move and sing along and have fun. It’s a social record, it’s not the kind of record that you want to listen to by yourself in your room, it will make you want to go out and have fun and dance and forget about all the other crap that you normally worry about. Or at least that is our goal, that's what we want people to feel when they listen to Treats.

Definitely, well you’ve sold me on it.

Great!

So because a lot of our readers are Aussie we need some advice from you. What do you reckon we should do when we first visit Brooklyn?

Oh wow, that’s really tough. Well personally, I’m a fan of seeing Brooklyn on a bike or skateboard, so I would say ride your bike into Greenpoint and there’s a really great ice cream truck called Van Leeuwen’s Ice Cream so you should stop and get some ice cream. Then go to this bar, Turkey’s Nest where you can get margaritas to-go, then you can just hang out in the park and just be outside in the sun.  I would definitely get on a bike and explore, go down to the Brooklyn Bridge. There’s so many things to do and see, it’s just so hard to pin down one.

What have you got planned after this interview?

Right after this interview? Well I actually just got a bottle of wine and we’re sitting by a pool in Florida. We have the night off, so we’re just gonna drink some wine and hang out.

Well that sounds excellent, I’m a little bit jealous.

I know, I know, tonight’s a good night.

You can check out Sleigh Bells' music over here.