Blood Red Shoes

Infobox musical artist
Name = Blood Red Shoes

---

Background = group_or_band
Origin = flagicon|England Brighton, England
Genre = Alternative rock
Grunge
Punk rock
Years_active = 2005–present
Label = V2
Associated_acts =
URL =
Current_members = Steven Ansell Vocals and drums
Laura-Mary Carter Vocals and guitar
Past_members =

Blood Red Shoes are a two-piece, punk/grunge band from Brighton, England.

Overview

Consisting of Steven Ansell (originally from Horsham, West Sussex) and Laura-Mary Carter (originally from Surrey), they formed in 2005 after their previous bands (Cat On Form and Lady Muck respectively) had broken up and they decided to "have a jam" [ [http://www.bloodredshoes.co.uk/about.htm bloodredshoes.co.uk: Biography] ] . They have performed over 400 live shows and released eight singles since they began in 2005. They were signed to V2 in April 2007 with whom they released the singles "It's Getting Boring By The Sea" (June 11, 2007) and "I Wish I Was Someone Better" (October 29, 2007). However, following the sale of V2 to Universal Music Group, the band's debut album "Box of Secrets" was released on Mercury Records on 14 April 2008. It was leaked to private torrent trackers in November 2007, several months before its retail release date. The band have commented that although they have no issue with file sharing and downloading free music, having their debut album become available outside of their control and without the intended artwork and lyric booklet was a disappointment.

In an interview in Berlin, Laura-Mary explained that the band's name was taken from a Ginger Rogers/Fred Astaire musical, in which Ginger Rogers had turned a pair of white dancing shoes red with blood because she had been practising dancing so much in them.

The band featured on both days of the 2007 Camden Crawl, playing the Purple Turtle and the Earl of Camden respectively. Blood Red Shoes headlined the 2007 Red Stripe Music Awards alongside . They were also one of four bands to play the NME New Music Tour 2007, with The Little Ones, Pull Tiger Tail and The Rumble Strips. The summer of 2007 saw the band playing several festival spots, including T in the Park, the inaugural Underage Festival, Electric Gardens festival and a highly successful slot at Reading Festival. They have also supported a wide range of bands, such as Q and Not U, Panic At The Disco, The Young Knives, Lightning Bolt, !!!, Biffy Clyro, Maximo Park, Siouxie Sioux and Rage Against the Machine.

The band cite a large swathe of US-based underground punk and rock music as their primary influence, drawing inspiration from Babes in Toyland, Nirvana, Queens of the Stone Age, Q and not U, Pixies, Fugazi, Sonic Youth et al, although they also regularly highlight English artists Blur and PJ Harvey as music heroes. The band frequently distance themselves from current English guitar music and consider themselves to be a punk band, in ethos and attitude, if not in their immediate musical style. The band retain a high level of both creative control, and control over their business dealings - Laura-Mary designs all of the sleeve art, posters and merchandising (having previously studied art), and they ensure that ticket prices are kept low, merchandise is made on non-sweatshop fabrics and sold at a fair price, often much lower than their contemporaries. The band co-produced their album and are frequently the sole engineers and producers on their b-sides as well as on the early vinyl-only releases.

It must be noted that though they are most frequently compared to The White Stripes, due to the boy-girl drums and guitar setup, the band (particularly Steven) have been very vocal about their extreme dislike of this comparison, and indeed, of The White Stripes themselves.

On Friday 11th April they smashed the 'cheese board' feature record on "Gonzo with Zane Lowe" by naming twenty cheeses in 20 seconds. Making the feat even more impressive was that the duo did not even say the most common cheese; cheddar.

Discography

ingles

Albums

Compilations

*"I'll Be Your Eyes" - (V2 Records) 25 June2007

Equipment

Laura-Mary Carter

Laura-Mary uses thick 1mm plectrums, and thick "skinny top heavy bottom" Ernie Ball strings. On her telecasters she uses standard tuning, on the Springtime, an alternate tuning.

*Fender American Telecaster
*Fender Japanese '62 Reissue Telecaster
*Springtime
*Marshall DSL50 JCM2000 Head
*Marshall 1960TV Cabinet
*Boss DD-6
*Boss TU-2
*Marshall Guv'nor GV-2 Plus
*Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi
*Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man

teven Ansell

Steven likes to keep it minimal, with a 4-piece kit and only 1 crash and ride.
*Tama Drum Kit (13" rack tom, 16" floor tom, 22" bass drum)
*Zildjian Cymbals (14" hats, 18" crash, 21" ride)
*Ludwig Black Beauty Snare Drum
*Roland SPD-S sample pad

Notes and references

External links

* [http://www.bloodredshoes.co.uk/ Official Website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/bloodredshoes Official MySpace]
* [http://www.themusicmagazine.co.uk/i-482-Blood-Red-Shoes---Manchester-Academy-3.html Review of show at Manchester Academy on The Music Magazine (14th April 2008)]
* [http://www.bloodredshoes.de/ Deutsche Fanseite]