“Here, let me just send you a link.” That’s what I usually do when I try, and fail, to describe the band Khruangbin to someone who has not yet heard them. 

The band’s name is pronounced “crung-bin,” the Thai word for airplane, and the Houston-founded trio’s music certainly evokes a mile-high exoticism. Any given track can mix R&B, reggae, surf rock, Middle Eastern melodies, Persian phrasing, Latin rhythms, ’90s hip-hop, West African instrumentation, ethereal harmonies, psychedelic effects, and rump-shaking disco. It’s a whole thing. Here, let me just send you a link. 

Khruangbin’s three studio albums (2015’s The Universe Smiles Upon You, 2018’s Con Todo el Mundo, and 2020’s Mordechai, plus their EP collaboration Texas Sun with Leon Bridges) transport listeners to a luxe dance party, and their onstage look mirrors this fashion-forward attitude, led by the group’s aesthetic director and bassist, Laura Lee.

Though all three members of the group (including Mark Speer on guitar and Donald “DJ” Johnson on drums) qualify as having “a look,” most concertgoers are hyper-focused on the Mexican American Lee in her Cleopatra wig, high heels, and electrifying clothing. In addition to laying down complex bass licks drawn from far-flung influences, she is committed to never repeating an outfit, presenting two new looks a night, and making sure her dips, swerves, and crooked smiles hit with choreographed alacrity. 

Though listening to Khruangbin inspires fantasies of private jets, penthouses, and shimmering infinity pools, I first meet the band in person in a cinder block dump, care of the New York City parks department. It’s one of the hottest days of the summer, and Khruangbin will later perform with the Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Touré in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. (They’ve recorded an album together, Ali, named for Vieux’s late father, Ali Farka Touré, which will be released on September 23.) I figured since I was getting to chill with them hours before showtime I’d see them out of uniform. Not the case.

DJ, in a robust gaucho hat, leather vest, and enormous ankh necklace, shakes my hand, followed by Speer in a blue silk suit and black wig. Finally, there’s Lee, in heels, a pink dress, and earrings that resemble a Copernican orrery. Despite the blinding chic, they are, of course, just normal people on the road, battling boredom between gigs. “We ate at Rao’s last night,” Lee boasts. “We got hooked up.”

“They’re not reinventing the wheel,” Speer says enthusiastically about the legendary uptown Italian restaurant. “They are creating the truest wheel—and [they have] the fastest bartender in the world.”

“I would like a cheesecake—whooosh!” adds Johnson.

You can forgive them their creature comforts, as they’ve been touring North America and Europe pretty much all year. March saw a two-night sold-out run at Radio City Music Hall, their most visible gig to date. Laura’s stylist, Megan Boyes, whom I spoke with earlier via Zoom, cited those nights (with one of the looks designed by Stella McCartney) as pivotal enough that she felt the need to be there.

Boyes, who previously worked as a stylist on The X Factor and at Tatler magazine, met Lee at a small London club when the band was starting out (“We made friends in the toilets, as you do”), and from there a partnership was born. What began as a somewhat chaotic roundelay of borrowing clothing and matching looks has now become a little more streamlined, with designers eager to dress Boyes’s star client.

“Christopher Kane and Mary Katrantzou were two early on that helped out…and Virgil Abloh,” Boyes told me via Zoom, before slipping in that “Stella McCartney are now desperate to dress her, but they weren’t quite right for Glastonbury.”

Johnson gets a good view of Lee from behind the drums each night, and remains awestruck at “how seamless it looks…playing bass, walking in heels, dancing, singing, and making a spreadsheet in her head, because she’s so hyper-organized. The band would not exist as it does without all she does.” 

Speer, perhaps aware that some fans are always turning over rocks in vain to find out personal information about the band, and specifically Lee, is more tight-lipped, other than saying, “Laura’s my best friend.”

What Speer doesn’t know is that Lee and I already spoke some weeks earlier, during which time she dished a little about her life beneath the wig, a transcript of which is below, edited for clarity.

Vanity Fair: I got an early listen to the Vieux Farka Touré album. It’s tremendous. These songs are terrific.

Laura Lee: When we recorded the album, the third track, “Diaraby,” my boyfriend knew it because he is Israeli, and this was something Vieux Farka Touré recorded with the Israeli pianist Idan Raichel—

Wait, Laura, hold on, you know that the number one thing that comes up in Google about you is “is she married? Is she straight? What’s her deal?” You can’t just throw that out there.

Uh, yeah, I do keep my private life private. But there is a special someone. I’m very much in love. We met pre-COVID, one of those few good COVID love stories. I’ve even met his mom and I think I’m starting to grow on her. 

I was at both nights at Radio City Music Hall in March, and what struck me was the versatility of your audience, a good mix in ages, a lot of very stylish young people, but also a lot of jam band types, who are not exactly known for their sartorial panache.

Well, Mordechai Rubinstein would disagree with you there. He did a whole book on Grateful Dead fashion and was a consultant on Uncut Gems. He thinks the jam band scene has a lot to offer. And the jam scene was one of the first groups to accept us, so we have a lot of love for them. They keep the crowd not-too-serious, they wear their tie-dyes, their goofy glasses, maybe they’re on psychedelics, it keeps it fun. 

Okay, I feel more secure in my cargo shorts now. But what is your perception about your audience?

The goal is for our audience to look as diverse as we are as a band. We are three very different humans. What I want is for any individual to come to a show by themselves and be able to find someone else in the crowd that looks like them. And it’s happening. 

I love the range in age groups. The goal of the music is to bring people together. I very, very rarely get spotted as me when I am not on stage, because I look very different without the hair and everything else. But I got spotted in Madrid, at a restaurant, by a sweet, older couple in their mid-60s.

I was like “how did you know?” And they said “your finger tattoo.” I have a little tiger on there. So I figured, if you are looking that hard, then, “yes, it’s very nice to meet you, yes it is me.” 

I saw a video of you in Spain, on the water, then Yasiin Bey came out? 

The Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona, crazy line-up: Khruangbin, the Gorillaz, Dua Lipa, then Tyler, the Creator.

So, Yasiin has been rapping over our song “Maria También,” and he and I became friends over the internet. I saw he was in Barcelona, so we had this epic day together; a friend of his is an artist so we spent the day in his studio, a room with giant paintings, we played them the new record, we were eating cherries, and drinking Moroccan tea. Then we invited him to come play with us that day. 

Let’s talk about the nitty-gritty of the showmanship of Khruangbin. You’ve got two outfits a night, no repeats. At this point, you’ve got your system down, but it used to be a smaller operation.

It used to be a bit of a nightmare. Now we do a fitting day before each tour. Megan, my stylist, flies from the U.K. to New York, and my wardrobe person on the road will meet us to pin for alterations. Then we map out the entire tour, and see what works well together. Sometimes we’ll pick a zebra look with a leopard print for the encore—animal day! Then we pack it up and send back what doesn’t work. 

Are there times when you look at something that’s gorgeous, but you know you simply cannot play the bass well in the outfit. 

Yes, there was a dress I could barely walk in. I could only shimmy. So that’s for the encore, since it’s short. Same with giant heels, if they are dangerous they’ll go to the encore.

If the designer is okay with it, or if it’s something where I keep the outfit, I’ll have to cut off any fringe if it’s on the right hand, so I’ll be able to play. If there are, say, feathers, they’ll get in the way of the strings. The left arm can have the good stuff, but not the right. I can play with gloves, so long as I cut the fingertips. That was a whole new exciting moment, when we discovered that.

I keep anything custom, since we have to pay for it anyway. But most is on loan, and we send it back.

My understanding is there’s a deal where you tag the designer on Instagram, which is huge for someone up-and-coming. 

Most of the brands I rep are not that huge, but repping lesser known brands is maybe becoming my own brand. Much like I curate all the artwork for all of our shows, I feel like I have this privilege to showcase artists and designers.

I was so excited to do something with Wolk Morais, and I fell in love with one of their suits, so they’ve made me three custom suits now. 

A challenge, however, is that most designers want to lend for press looks rather than stage. There’s more danger to the outfits on stage. The KOIBIRD shop in London lends me stuff, but since it has to go back to the shop I can not mess anything up. The Barcelona outfit, there was a tiny rip, so I had to eat that cost. Which I was happy to do, now I have that outfit.

They are fools. The value would skyrocket if they knew it was your rip!

Yeah, yeah. But I have an incredible collection now. Unfortunately, not much of it is anything you can wear in real life. 

Hey, the matching hat, skirt, and boots with eyeballs? Wear that when you go grocery shopping; it’d work. 

I live in the Hudson Valley most of the time, and it’s hilarious to have most of this collection up there. I’ve considered doing a fashion shoot at the supermarket up there, blow everyone’s mind.

Did the spectacle aspect of Khruangbin come together as a snowball effect, or was this an early goal?

The characters on stage, that goes back to our first show. Before our first performance I went to the Sharpstown Mall in Houston and got the wig and an outfit. I came back and Mark was like “you’re wearing a wig?” I said “yeah, I don’t want anyone to know who I am.” Then he asked “can I wear a wig, too?” And I said “you can do whatever you want!’ 

We went back to a wig store, found the cheapest, bottom of the bin, $17.99 wig, which he wore up until last year, the same one. I was like “we have backup for everything else, you must get a backup wig!” Then we had to spend so much money trying to recreate his $17.99 bargain bin wig. 

The characters were part of it especially at the beginning because I was worried that our music was too slow and moody and instrumental. I wanted to be sure we grabbed people’s attention—and we did.

Did you look to other bands in this regard? Your music is in no way similar, and I’m embarrassed to even mention them, but something like Kiss?

Eh, more like David Bowie or Prince or Elton John. The two outfits thing is because of Elton. I saw him twice on this Farewell tour. The first time he had four outfit changes, so I realized one for me is not enough, I need to up my game.

Laura, is it true you used to be a math teacher?

Yes, I taught math for six years. One year at a school, where I was an assistant for third grade math, then, when I wanted to be in a band, I started tutoring, for better hours. I tutored kids who went to a private school in high school math.

Are you still up on, say, trigonometry?

I have not done any trig lately, but I think it would be like riding a bike. Trig is my favorite math, actually.

Wait, remind me what trig is. Is that the quadratic equation?

No, the quadratic formula is usually learned in algebra. Trigonometry is essentially advanced geometry. Triangles. There’s a lot about triangular relationships.

Walk me through how a Khruangbin track comes together.

I have a bank of drum loops, some are DJ’s original ones, others are classics, or, say, Apache drum brakes. I put them on a loop and play until something happens. Then Mark will listen back, pick the parts he likes, arrange a structure to play over it, then we give it back to DJ, he makes changes, and when we finally record it we're playing it for the first or second time.

But the band is spread out now. 

DJ is in Houston, Mark is in Oakland, and I’m in New York. Many time zones, but Houston is amazing. Everyone thinks we are from Austin, but Houston and Austin have a … well, maybe not a rivalry, but they have whatever their thing is. 

Houston’s a very liberal town. We have one of the biggest gay pride parades. I heard a stat that for Trojan, or maybe some lube company, that their biggest event of the year was Houston Pride. 

I see!

We had one of the first gay mayors in Houston. We’re not necessarily what people think about Texas. But with Texas, like so many other places, and also with people, it’s the annoying thing about them is also what you love. Texas is the Wild West, and that can be annoying, but that’s also got some charm.

I’m also happy to be a New Yorker now, upstate and a little place in Brooklyn. 

What are your favorite spots in Brooklyn?

Maison Premiere, the oyster bar. It’s a little hipster, with the suspenders and the mustaches, but they’ve got incredible cocktails and 16 kinds of oysters. Also Saraghina, my new pizza spot.

You guys have used social media so well—curating playlists for Spotify, and being visible on Instagram. Do you spend time snooping on the fan-driven Khruangbin subreddit?

It’s my favorite thing. Mark is active, but I lurk. But it’s hard not to respond sometimes, especially when someone says something that isn’t true. But I’m thrilled that I’ve appeared three times on the “celebs in tights” subreddit.

With the three of you in different places now, is there still a robust group chat of sharing cool musical finds?

More sharing silly GIFs. The music sharing happens on the road. And it’s mostly Mark. He’s the DJ.

Does he quiz you on stuff?

Once in a while. He’ll be like “who produced this? You know this?” And I’m like, “oh, crap.” But I usually do know. 

Can you ever stump him on anything?

Yes. And when you can, it is the best. One time I sent him something and I was like “guess the decade and the country” and he got both wrong, I was thrilled.

But he’s the sweetest. They both are. I’m very lucky to be on such a sweet team.