Blood Red Shoes biography
Blood Red Shoes are an alternative rock duo from Brighton, England. They have released three full-length albums, Box of Secrets (2008), Fire Like This (2010), and In Time to Voices (2012) as well as numerous early singles on limited 7" vinyl pressings.
Overview
Formation
Blood Red Shoes formed in late 2004, after Steven Ansell and Laura-Mary Carter's previous bands (Cat On Form and Lady Muck respectively) broke up and they decided to "have a jam". 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 due to the amount of dancing she had done practising for the role.
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 and Sonic Youth, 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. Blood Red Shoes deal with themes of frustration, anger, alienation, boredom, doubt, psychosis, confusion, escape and ultimately the hope of freedom or change, in their lyrics.
The band openly support anti-fascist campaigns such as Love Music Hate Racism, contributing on the second CD of the 2007 LMHR compilation album with the track "Can't Find the Door", and have also played the feminist festival Ladyfest in the past.
Early singles
They released their début single "Victory for the Magpie" on 18 July 2005, followed by the double A-side "Stitch Me Back / Meet Me at Eight", "A.D.H.D", and "You Bring Me Down" in 2006. After playing over 300 live shows around the UK, they were signed to V2 in April 2007 with whom they released the singles "It's Getting Boring By The Sea" (11 June 2007) and "I Wish I Was Someone Better" (29 October 2007), as well as the singles compilation album
I'll Be Your Eyes on 25 June 2007.
The band featured on both days of the 2007 Camden Crawl, playing the Purple Turtle and the Earl of Camden respectively, and also headlined the inaugural 2007 Red Stripe Music Awards alongside Yourcodenameis:Milo. They were 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, and the Electric Gardens festival. They also supported a wide range of bands, such as Biffy Clyro, Maxí¯mo Park, Panic At The Disco, Lightning Bolt, The Gossip, Siouxsie Sioux and Rage Against the Machine.
Box of Secrets
Following the sale of V2 to Universal Music Group, the band's début album
Box of Secrets was released on Mercury Records on April 14, 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. Laura-Mary from the band has designed the record sleeve for every release by the band.
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