Derek Miller is opening up. The XY chromosome of the blitzkrieg guitar duo Sleigh Bells claims to have difficulty spilling his guts, but for the band’s sophomore release — February’s bluntly-named, arena-rocksized breakup record, Reign of Terror (which is — he’s finally letting it all out. “I hate to get into the details of it,” he explains over a recent phone call from Brooklyn, “but it was not pretty. This record was sort of my way to deal with that nightmare.”
During the conversation, he remains cagey about the nature of his crisis, so decoding Reign of Terror might be your best way into the heart of Miller’s darkness. Recorded last summer at a Manhattan studio, Miller and his bandmate, vocalist Alexis Krauss, spent more time collaborating on Terror than on their 2010 debut Treats. (Krauss and Miller hadn’t yet met when he wrote the material.) And whereas that record was built to start parties, Reign of Terror wears its heart on its tattered sleeve. Here, Miller opens up about the ingredients — emotional, but especially musical — that went into each track on the no-holds-barred album. “A lot of people are nervous about owning up to this stuff,” he laughed. “I kind of like it.”
