Derek Miller has a very different origin story to most working within the realm of electronically oriented indie rock and pop music.

While many of his peers were trying to get into the cool clubs or chase hype on the blogosphere, Miller was attending matinee punk shows and packing into sweaty rooms full of psyched-up hardcore kids. As a key early member of heavy Miami band Poison The Well, Miller spent his teens and early 20s as a purveyor of down-tuned riffs and persistent brutality – a world away from what he would be doing with Sleigh Bells upon their formation in 2008.

“There are definitely parts of hardcore that I miss,” reflects Miller. “Those were extremely formative years – we were just young kids from Florida trying to make something of ourselves. It was a difficult task, but we were able to make a lot of memories. I still love those guys, and I still think even some of the material holds up. That whole time in my life is still something I carry with me – Ryan [Primack], who was in Poison The Well with me, is our production manager and our touring guitar player. Even with all that said, I was glad to get out of it.

“Your fans can turn your first record or your demo into a cage for you. If you expand outside of that sonically, you get called a bomb and a sell-out. You get your tyres slashed. I’m in this for the music, and with hardcore there’s a lot of baggage. With Sleigh Bells, there’s no fist fights at our shows – and they’re actually excited when we try something new.”

Miller and singer Alexis Krauss are days away from the release of their fourth studio album as Sleigh Bells, entitled Jessica Rabbit. It arrives just over three years removed from their previous LP, Bitter Rivals, and marks a considerable change of pace for a band that more or less hit the ground running following its debut, 2010’s Treats. As Miller testifies, letting the ideas build up and marinate in their own time ended up working wonders – despite the urgency of the music itself, it doesn’t always have to be delivered on a rapid-fire basis.

“As soon as we got on the bus for Bitter Rivals, I was writing and coming up with ideas,” he says. “I didn’t stop writing and working until June this year, so we had a lot of material to draw from. Up until that point, we’d had a pretty rapid rate of production – we put out three albums over four years. Initially, we thought that the momentum would reflect in the music itself. Reflecting on Bitter Rivals, however, I really feel as though I should have spent more time on it. I feel like I should have worked harder on my craft of production and songwriting.

“With Jessica Rabbit, I really busted my arse. I learned my way around the technical side of things a lot more. That’s not always a good thing – you can definitely find yourself in a position where you overthink these things. In the case of this record, however, I really feel as though spending more time on it proved to be a lot better for it.”

The dynamic between Krauss’ multi-faceted vocals – from sweetly serene coos to authoritative shouts – and Miller’s buzzsaw guitar fuzz has always been instrumental to what makes Sleigh Bells a unique force within contemporary pop music. For Miller, it’s never been about fitting into a certain sound or aesthetic. If it feels right as a Sleigh Bells song, then that’s what it’s going to be.

“Without wanting to oversimplify it to an obnoxious degree, I work until I’m psyched on the sound I’m pursuing,” he says. “That goes for everything that I have a hand in – the guitars, the synths, the beats I’m incorporating. When the blend of those three starts to become recognisable as Sleigh Bells, I know that I have something. That’s when I’m on the phone to Alexis, or on the phone to my friends that I share this sort of thing with. That’s all I’ve ever pursued as a songwriter – I’ve been doing this since I was 13 years old, and I’m now 35.”

Touring in support of Jessica Rabbit is already under way, with hopes for the band to return to Australia in 2017. However, don’t expect Miller to be getting too crazy at the afterparty – these days, he’s trying to stay on the straight and narrow as best as he can.

“When we came off the road for [2012 album] Reign Of Terror, I was treating myself pretty terribly,” he says. “My life was not without joy – I had some great memories from that tour – but I was drinking heavily and doing a lot of hard drugs. I really wasn’t taking care of myself. This was well beyond any chasing of the party lifestyle, too – I was straight-up seeking oblivion. I made a lot of changes in my life, and I feel like I’m maintaining it to the best of my abilities. Truthfully, I’ll always be a self-destructive person. Still, I have a better handle on myself. It’s nice to have a bit more clarity in my life.”

Jessica Rabbit is out Friday November 11 through Sinderlyn/Remote Control.

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