Blood Red Shoes
Blood Red Shoes are whipping up a storm at the moment on their latest UK tour and they have also released their new single Lost Kids.
I caught up with Laura-Mary Carter to discuss the new single the album and where they will be performing live this summer.
- Lost Kids is set to be your new single so what can we expect from the track?
Its hard to explain! I think you will need to listen to it. I am not sure I can tell you in words what to expect
- This is the second track off the new album In Time To Voices but for anyone who hasn't heard the rest of the record how does this track prepare us for it?
Well I am not sure it does prepare you for it! we spent a lot of time trying to make every song different and unique from each other. There are some totally different sounding tracks on there intentionally .
I guess Lost kids is more of our usual rock sound but with more guitar layers than we have done previously and the close harmony vocals is featured a lot in "in time to voices"
- Both sets of vocals are double tracked on the single so why did you decide to record it this way?
Because we think it sounds good on that song. The Beatles and The rolling stones did it...and if its good enough for them its good enough for us :)
- The song was written during the height of the London riots last year so what was it about those events that inspired you - this isn't an overtly political track?
Yes we wrote "lost Kids" during that time and i guess it was on our mind a lot...it was happening right outside my door! then at the same time this was happening Steven and i were arguing a lot.
I cant even remember what it was about....most likely just had spent too much time together. But anyway it was chaos outside and inside our studio. I think a line that i think sums it up is ''were not fighting to be heard, we just want to watch it burn" Thats what it felt like looking outward and inwards .
It wasn't about having your voice heard it was just about destruction, about the urge to just fuck stuff up for whatever reason.
- As I have mentioned In Time To Voices to your latest album and you have moved away from the punky sound that you had on your previous album for a slightly more popish/rock sound so what made you want to make the change?
It actually has our most punky tune to date on this record. But yes i guess what you mean is most of the songs are slower and have a big rock guitar/drum sound. I see it as a gradual change and there were a few factors.
One firstly just being the fact we wanted to do something slightly different and new because we didn't want to just repeat the same thing on three records...on a personal note and also not to insult the intelligence of our fans.
For us to just make the same thing would have been lazy. Secondly for the first time we had our own little rehearsal space where we have 24 hour access with some recording gear we have collected along the way.
The first and second records were written in hourly slots .....maybe thats why our songs were all fast :) we had to write them within the time frame. And then the other reasons are simply that we always wanted to make make music with more depth and experiment with sounds but we needed to learn how to do that first.
We didn't want to run before we could walk.....it was the right time to make this record and now it has opened the window for lots of possibilities in the future. We are now obsessed with classic song writing...its a real art to write a good song.
One that can stand up on its own, where you can just play it on a acoustic guitar and it is still a great song without all the embellishment. Its seriously hard...I used to think weirder stuff that I grew up listening to was the harder thing to do...but i was wrong.
Writing an amazing song that can relate to the masses is the hardest thing EVER!!! People like Tom Petty are genius.
- In an interview I read you say that this album 'beats the shit out of everything that we have done before it' so how have you seen yourself develop as musicians and artist? And have you done with this record that makes it better than the rest of the music that you have made before?
That quote was from Steven, and yes I think we both agree that its better than our previous albums...and I am as sure as hell happy we think that coz if we were thinking our older ones were better ...that would be a shit feeling.
We put so much more of ourselves into this third record because we knew the time was right for us too. We are a stronger band now, so we knew we could be more confident in what we were doing and more confident in each other to push one another even if it was painful at times.
I can imagine if you’re in a fragile place as a band it could be the make or break of you writing a record where you really have to push yourselves to the max. I think it comes down to the songs, they are more thought through and considered than our previous records and I think you can hear that.
We have been a band for nearly 8 years now, and we learnt our instruments together as band so we have improved and grown together.
It’s been a gradual thing and I think it will remain a gradual process, something we are very lucky to be able to do as so many new bands don't get the chances these days to grow as a band.
They are expected to nail there sound in there debut album. Something i believe rarely happens! Unless you’re The Stone Roses or something who's first album was amazing!! but then again they were a band for 6 years before they released an album. Case in point!
- You have penned all of the tracks on the album so what inspires you from a song-writers perspective?
Everything inspires us to write songs. This new album i think came from a deeper place than before... a more personal record I guess. And the previous was a lot of looking out at things in our lives and a lot of questioning.
It always comes from the heart and our everyday experiences good and bad find a way into them. We try not to analyze our songs too much, we let them write themselves and not question it too much. We know when it’s right or not! That’s the important bit!
- The album has been produced once again by Mike Crossey so what is it about his producing style that you seem to like?
Mike has a similar approach to recording that we are a big fan of, he likes to do things properly without the uses of studio effects that seem to just be standard these days. He like to make sure the sounds are right to start with and not fuck too much with them in the end.
It’s all about the feel and vibe...which is way more important than getting everything perfect and precise. He has a huge amount of amazing vintage gear! his studio is like a treasure chest.
He also understands our band and our control freak ways...we have a massive hand in the producing and recording so we work together and have built a relationship over the years.
We always really liked the idea of working with the same producer for 3 albums, we have learnt a lot from him and achieved what we set out too. - What does his experience bring to the new record?
For instance Steven and I have very strong ideas when it comes to recording our records and sometimes we imagine a type of sound that we think would fit or work in a song and we don’t know how to find it. Mike helps us get from A to B
-Prior to Blood Red Shoes you were both in other band Cat On Form and Lady Muck so what did you learn during you time with those bands that you have been able to bring to Blood Red Shoes?
I have never really thought about that, but I guess I learnt about the importance of everyone being a gang. It didn't really work like that in my last band...which is why when I met Steve I knew we were right to be in a band together. I knew it would be us against the world.
Steve probably learnt more from his old band, they actually released records and toured the world. His knowledge from that was a huge factor in the beginning of our band to get it off its feet.
I learnt so much from him and learnt SO MUCH from Blood Red Shoes over the years
- You are currently on tour so how is it going? And how exciting has it been playing your new material to the fans?
Tour is going very well thank you. I currently have a rubbish head cold, which i am trying to shake off as quick as possible. But apart from that i am having a great time.
It has been really exciting playing new songs, it is so cool we can choose our set from 3 albums now, it has been a real pleasure to do that actually! It means we can go between different sets throughout the tour to keep it interesting.
The reaction to the new songs have been great and that’s always a good feeling
- Finally what's next for you will we be seeing you at any festivals this summer?
Yes after this tour we will be playing lots of festivals all over the world. In the UK i am really looking forward to playing Main stage Reading and Leeds festival. It’s a personal childhood dream for me.
And then after that we are off to the USA and then back again for another UK and Europe tour in October with our biggest London headline show to date in shepherds Bush empire on the 18th of October.
Blood Red Shoes - Lost Kids is out now
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw