UPDATE: Due to circumstances beyond our control, the deadline for entry into this giveaway has been moved to 5 PM today. Get your entries in now!
The last time Sleigh Bells played RVA was in Spring 2011, at a time when they were still riding high on the worldwide success of their debut album, Treats. Their hard-hitting combination of banging dance beats, former Poison The Well guitarist Derek Miller’s distorted metal riffs, and Alexis Krauss’s exuberant pop vocals propelled Sleigh Bells’ first album into the US and UK Top 40 charts, and landed Treats at #16 on Pitchfork’s 2010 Albums Of The Year list.
UPDATE: Due to circumstances beyond our control, the deadline for entry into this giveaway has been moved to 5 PM today. Get your entries in now!
The last time Sleigh Bells played RVA was in Spring 2011, at a time when they were still riding high on the worldwide success of their debut album, Treats. Their hard-hitting combination of banging dance beats, former Poison The Well guitarist Derek Miller’s distorted metal riffs, and Alexis Krauss’s exuberant pop vocals propelled Sleigh Bells’ first album into the US and UK Top 40 charts, and landed Treats at #16 on Pitchfork’s 2010 Albums Of The Year list. Since that performance, which wowed the energetic RVA crowds–and led to an RVA Magazine interview with Alexis Krauss–Sleigh Bells have returned with their followup album, Reign Of Terror.
Featuring a more polished production sound, singles like “Comeback Kid” and “Demons” managed to increase both the melodic, keyboard-driven pop side of Sleigh Bells sound and the crunch of their heavy metal guitars, for an even more distinctive aural trademark. The band thickened their live sound in corresponding fashion by adding touring guitarist Jason Boyer, also a former member of Poison The Well–though, interestingly enough, Boyer and Miller never played in the band at the same time; Boyer was Miller’s replacement when the latter quit PTW in 2004 (Boyer himself quit in 2006). Miller has said in interviews that he enjoys the visual symmetry of two guitarists performing live on either side of a vocalist. And now you’ll be able to see that new symmetrical Sleigh Bells lineup for yourself when they return to the stage of the National this Sunday. With a bonus opening set from AraabMUZIK, the hip hop producer known as the genius of the MPC, a drum machine that he plays live by triggering samples at lightning speed, you can certainly expect to get your money’s worth from this amazing double bill.
WHAT: Sleigh Bells Return To The National!
WHO: Sleigh Bells, AraabMUZIK
WHERE: The National, 700 E. Broad St.
WHEN: Sunday October 7, Doors at 7 PM, Show starts promptly at 8 PM
ADMISSION: $20 in advance–advance tickets available HERE; $25 at the door
And the best part of all this is that you may be able to see the entire bill for free! We’ve got a pair of tickets to give away to the show on Sunday, and you can enter very easily by feeding info into the handy-dandy widget you see below:
Finally, here’s a little preview of what you’ve got in store if you make it out to The National this Saturday. First, from the Bowery Presents Live series, we’ve got the beefed-up three-piece lineup of Sleigh Bells performing their hit single “Comeback Kid” live at Terminal 5 in NYC in February of this year. Then check out the amazing bonus performance by AraabMUZIK, filmed live in Warsaw, Poland back in early 2011, going absolutely apeshit on an MPC, cutting up a dubstep beat (pretty sure it’s the drop from Skrillex’s “Cinema” remix, in fact) and turning it into something else entirely, right before your very eyes. This show is gonna be amazing–don’t sleep on this opportunity to catch it for free!
