Sleigh Bells return with rollicking new single "Wanna Start A Band?"
The indie duo also announced a North American tour, kicking off May 7.
Photo: David Perez
Sleigh Bells have always been good at conjuring genuinely weird, completely captivating new pop riffs, and their latest single, “Wanna Start A Band?” is no exception. The new track—their first in three years—sounds a bit like a kid gleefully discovering Pro Tools for the first time, but if that kid was an obvious prodigy. There’s a little bit of everything here—video game sounds, electric guitar, heavy metal drums, you name it. The song is maximalist to the extreme—”controlled chaos” in the words of the band—but it works.
The single also tells one of the cutest (true!) meet cute stories in indie music. “In 2008 while eating at a restaurant in Brooklyn with my (singer Alexis Krauss’) mom, our server, Derek (Miller, producer/guitarist), wasted very little time asking me, essentially, ‘Wanna Start A Band?'” Krauss and Miller said in a statement. “Hard to believe that almost 17 years later we are still hyped and obsessively making records together.”
“Wanna Start A Band?” has already had a long life. “Derek started messing with the riff for this song around 2014—it needed a lot of work but a spark was there,” the duo continued. “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.”
It seems like there may be a new album in the works, which would be the band’s first since 2021’s Texis. Whether or not that actually happens, there is more exciting news for Sleigh Bells fans. The duo is definitely going on a North American tour, kicking off this May in Phoenix, AZ. You can buy tickets here, and check out the full schedule below.
May 7, 2025 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
May 9, 2025 – Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory – Constellation Room
May 10, 2025 – Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up
May 13, 2025 – San Francisco, CA @ August Hall – Music Hall
May 16, 2025 – Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre
May 17, 2025 – Vancouver, BC @ Hollywood Theatre
May 19, 2025 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre
May 21, 2025 – Denver, CO @ Summit
May 23, 2025 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall – Downstairs
May 24, 2025 – Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater
May 25, 2025 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk
May 28, 2025 – Tampa, FL @ The RITZ Ybor
May 29, 2025 – Orlando, FL @ Plaza Live
May 30, 2025 – Fort Lauderdale, FL @ Culture Room
June 1, 2025 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
June 2, 2025 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
June 3, 2025 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
June 5, 2025 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
June 6, 2025 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
June 7, 2025 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
June 10, 2025 – Toronto, ON @ Axis Club Theatre
June 11, 2025 – Detroit, MI @ El Club
June 12, 2025 – Chicago, IL @ The Metro
June 14, 2025 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
June 15, 2025 – Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre