Blood Red Shoes - Steven Ansell
Words: Kristy DeLaine
After seven years in the business and three albums under their belt, Blood Red Shoes are making their fist trip to Australia to welcome in the New Year. The Brighton duo is on the line up for Pyramid Rock, Peats Ridge Festival and has also announced two sideshows in the eastern states.
Steven Ansell (drums & vocals) and Laura-Mary Carter (guitar & vocals) are the members of this charismatic two-piece who are known for their loud stage presence and typical indie rock attitude. Blood Red Shoes have recently released their third album, “In Time To Voices” which has suggested a slightly different sound from their previous ventures and on their maiden voyage down under they’re excited about showing Australia how they can entertain a crowd.
Speaking to us from back stage in Cologne, Germany, Stephen Ansell discusses the upcoming tour and what we can expect from their live shows as well as the process behind their new album and the benefits of social media.
So you’re in the middle of a European tour at the moment, how’s it been going so far?
It’s been good. We really like being on the road, even though you get the ups and downs generally the road is kind of our home, touring is always good.
How is the new album being received live?
Yeah really cool actually, it took a little bit longer in a few places for people to get the hang of it. The songs are more dynamic and a bit less straightforward than “verse chorus verse”. So for live songs it took people a few listens I guess before they could get in to it as much. Today we played a selection of songs from the three records and people went nuts for all of them so that’s a good sign.
Any songs from the new album that you particularly enjoy playing live?
“Je Me Perds” is the one I enjoy playing the most. It’s just over a minute long of straight out punk rock as fast as we can play, a kinda fuck you song-its really cool. If we’re going to play it anywhere we usually end with it. I love playing that because I can completely let rip- totally dumb and totally primal. If that’s not going to make everyone go fucking ape shit then nothing is.
Can you tell me about the your album recording process?
It’s a joint effort, Laura generally comes up with the guitar parts, I come up with the drum parts and we both try out loads of vocal melodies, then we kind of just kick the shit out of the songs. We get a rough jam together and then we try it later and think “what happens if we play it on the guitar, what happens if we play it on the keyboard or what happens if we play it on acoustic guitar and what happens if we play it twice as fast or half as fast.” We just come at it from loads of angles and see what sticks and see what feels right. Once we’ve got a basis we just fuck about until we both just go “yes”. You know the moment when you both agree, you can feel it and you know that its right, it’s quite an organic thing really.
The new album sounds a little different from the previous two, was there any part of the recording process that was different this time?
Yeah, well for one thing we lifted a couple of rules that we had, we were really obsessed with the previous record. This new record we didn’t road test a single song, we actually wrote them all in our practice space in Brighton and then we recorded them. We wanted to try doing it differently and see what would happen if we used a studio and instead of going “ah we can’t put that extra part on because we’ll never be able to do it live” we were like, “ok lets put all these extra ideas on because we have them.” The Beatles didn’t fucking worry about it when they did “Sargent Peppers”, so we said lets just try because we haven’t done that. There are a lot more vocal layers, there’s a lot more guitar layers and I’ve got a tambourine and loads of other shit. We just used the studio really creatively for the first time, like as it’s own instrument and I think that’s the difference that everyone’s noticed, we didn’t try to make a live record basically.
Steven Ansell (drums & vocals) and Laura-Mary Carter (guitar & vocals) are the members of this charismatic two-piece who are known for their loud stage presence and typical indie rock attitude. Blood Red Shoes have recently released their third album, “In Time To Voices” which has suggested a slightly different sound from their previous ventures and on their maiden voyage down under they’re excited about showing Australia how they can entertain a crowd.
Speaking to us from back stage in Cologne, Germany, Stephen Ansell discusses the upcoming tour and what we can expect from their live shows as well as the process behind their new album and the benefits of social media.
So you’re in the middle of a European tour at the moment, how’s it been going so far?
It’s been good. We really like being on the road, even though you get the ups and downs generally the road is kind of our home, touring is always good.
How is the new album being received live?
Yeah really cool actually, it took a little bit longer in a few places for people to get the hang of it. The songs are more dynamic and a bit less straightforward than “verse chorus verse”. So for live songs it took people a few listens I guess before they could get in to it as much. Today we played a selection of songs from the three records and people went nuts for all of them so that’s a good sign.
Any songs from the new album that you particularly enjoy playing live?
“Je Me Perds” is the one I enjoy playing the most. It’s just over a minute long of straight out punk rock as fast as we can play, a kinda fuck you song-its really cool. If we’re going to play it anywhere we usually end with it. I love playing that because I can completely let rip- totally dumb and totally primal. If that’s not going to make everyone go fucking ape shit then nothing is.
Can you tell me about the your album recording process?
It’s a joint effort, Laura generally comes up with the guitar parts, I come up with the drum parts and we both try out loads of vocal melodies, then we kind of just kick the shit out of the songs. We get a rough jam together and then we try it later and think “what happens if we play it on the guitar, what happens if we play it on the keyboard or what happens if we play it on acoustic guitar and what happens if we play it twice as fast or half as fast.” We just come at it from loads of angles and see what sticks and see what feels right. Once we’ve got a basis we just fuck about until we both just go “yes”. You know the moment when you both agree, you can feel it and you know that its right, it’s quite an organic thing really.
The new album sounds a little different from the previous two, was there any part of the recording process that was different this time?
Yeah, well for one thing we lifted a couple of rules that we had, we were really obsessed with the previous record. This new record we didn’t road test a single song, we actually wrote them all in our practice space in Brighton and then we recorded them. We wanted to try doing it differently and see what would happen if we used a studio and instead of going “ah we can’t put that extra part on because we’ll never be able to do it live” we were like, “ok lets put all these extra ideas on because we have them.” The Beatles didn’t fucking worry about it when they did “Sargent Peppers”, so we said lets just try because we haven’t done that. There are a lot more vocal layers, there’s a lot more guitar layers and I’ve got a tambourine and loads of other shit. We just used the studio really creatively for the first time, like as it’s own instrument and I think that’s the difference that everyone’s noticed, we didn’t try to make a live record basically.
Have you been finding them easy enough to play live even though you’ve got all these extra instruments?
They took more work in rehearsals to play live. So we had to get our shit together, and once they worked it’s been really cool but it was definitely more difficult to start with.
If you could work with a guest vocalist, who would you choose?
Oh man that’s difficult, there’s a lot of singers that I love. I’d probably go PJ Harvey. She’s one of our favorite artists of all time and she’s one of the only musicians where I’ve bought every record without fail.
I love that woman as well, her last album, Let England Shake was simply awesome.
Yeah but you know what, I’m one of the people who loved the one before it as well. A lot of people didn’t really dig White Chalk but I thought it was really beautiful.
Yeah it’s beautiful but I guess it’s also really toned down and I love the rocking PJ Harvey stuff.
Yeah, I think it was kind of too creepy for some people. My favorite PJ album is Rid of Me coos it’s just balls out, big guitars and lots of rocking, that’s the one that does it for me every time.
You guys are coming to Australia for Pyramid Rock festival, so for people who haven’t seen you before what can we expect to see from your live show?
You can expect a real straight up honest rock and roll band. We don’t have any fancy tricks, we don’t have any extra people on stage or backing tracks or any of that other shit. It’s a guitar and drums and a couple of voices and we just rock as hard as we can. We just play as honest and as intensely as possible. We really like to interact with the crowd as much as possible and just really get some noise going. People are usually freaked out with how loud we are considering there’s only two of us on stage.
Will there be any difference from the festival show and your sideshows?
Well we don’t really know what to expect cos we’ve not been to Australia before. Generally at festivals people will go nuts for the hits, like songs that were singles or ones with a video on You Tube or ones that they know. And then at your own show people know every fucking track. So usually that’s the balance of it so I’m kinda expecting the same but I really don’t know because we’ve never been to Australia so I don’t know what it’s going to be like. If people don’t know us then maybe people wont know any of our songs.
They took more work in rehearsals to play live. So we had to get our shit together, and once they worked it’s been really cool but it was definitely more difficult to start with.
If you could work with a guest vocalist, who would you choose?
Oh man that’s difficult, there’s a lot of singers that I love. I’d probably go PJ Harvey. She’s one of our favorite artists of all time and she’s one of the only musicians where I’ve bought every record without fail.
I love that woman as well, her last album, Let England Shake was simply awesome.
Yeah but you know what, I’m one of the people who loved the one before it as well. A lot of people didn’t really dig White Chalk but I thought it was really beautiful.
Yeah it’s beautiful but I guess it’s also really toned down and I love the rocking PJ Harvey stuff.
Yeah, I think it was kind of too creepy for some people. My favorite PJ album is Rid of Me coos it’s just balls out, big guitars and lots of rocking, that’s the one that does it for me every time.
You guys are coming to Australia for Pyramid Rock festival, so for people who haven’t seen you before what can we expect to see from your live show?
You can expect a real straight up honest rock and roll band. We don’t have any fancy tricks, we don’t have any extra people on stage or backing tracks or any of that other shit. It’s a guitar and drums and a couple of voices and we just rock as hard as we can. We just play as honest and as intensely as possible. We really like to interact with the crowd as much as possible and just really get some noise going. People are usually freaked out with how loud we are considering there’s only two of us on stage.
Will there be any difference from the festival show and your sideshows?
Well we don’t really know what to expect cos we’ve not been to Australia before. Generally at festivals people will go nuts for the hits, like songs that were singles or ones with a video on You Tube or ones that they know. And then at your own show people know every fucking track. So usually that’s the balance of it so I’m kinda expecting the same but I really don’t know because we’ve never been to Australia so I don’t know what it’s going to be like. If people don’t know us then maybe people wont know any of our songs.
Have you had a chance to have a look at who’s on the Pyramid Rock line up with you?
I get confused because we’re doing two festivals in Australia and one in New Zealand. Is Pyramid the one with Tame Impala on it?
That’s the one... It’s a New Years Eve camping festival.
Yeah cos we’re massive Tame Impala fans and we saw that they were playing one of the festivals too. So that’s a new years eve festival? So we’re going to have a massive New Years Eve party and get to watch Tame Impala as well?
Yes. Very much so.
That’s fucking amazing! That’s pretty much our ideal New Year’s Eve.
What are your thoughts on the whole world of social media? I notice that you guys tweet quite a bit. Do you enjoy the interaction that it brings with your fans?
Yeah I'm really in to that stuff actually. I like it, but I think there’s a dangerous game to play with bringing people too close to you. Sometimes you need a bit of distance because people shouldn’t know every last fucking detail about you as a person. But I’m really in to the fact that people can interact directly and it by passes certain media who can speak for you or be between you and your audience. There’s directness there and as a band that’s come from a punk scene, we’re very much in to being honest. We’re quite a straight talking band and I like that it gives us this direct contact with people and you can see what people think and they know what we’re saying for ourselves, not how it’s represented from anyone else. I like how there’s not a middleman involved that to me is a really comfortable thing.
I find it rather fun using social media to see what bands are doing and what they’ve got to say for themselves- it’s a great way to keep up to date with news.
There are bands that have this kind of air of mystery about them and that’s quite appealing and I know that people quite like that mystery but I just think, we’re not really one of those bands. We don’t like the idea of being really distant to people who listen to our music. The Internet and social networking for us is perfect, we can present ourselves as we are to people.
If you had a choice of what band you could tour with…a dead or alive band…. what band would you choose and why?
Dead or alive… fuck I’d pick The Stooges man- the original line up, the “Funhouse” line up of The Stooges.
Are you an Iggy fan?
I’m a big Iggy fan but The Stooges especially, I’m just a really big Stooges fan!
Blood Red Shoes Australian dates:
Sat 29th December - Tue 1st January - Pyramid Rock Festival, Phillip Island - tickets from Pyramid Rock Festival
Sat 29th December - Tue 1st January - Peats Ridge Festival, Glenworth Valley - tickets from Peats Ridge Festival
Thu 3rd January - Melbourne, The HiFi - tickets from The HiFi
Fri 4th January - Sydney, The HiFi - tickets from The HiFi
I get confused because we’re doing two festivals in Australia and one in New Zealand. Is Pyramid the one with Tame Impala on it?
That’s the one... It’s a New Years Eve camping festival.
Yeah cos we’re massive Tame Impala fans and we saw that they were playing one of the festivals too. So that’s a new years eve festival? So we’re going to have a massive New Years Eve party and get to watch Tame Impala as well?
Yes. Very much so.
That’s fucking amazing! That’s pretty much our ideal New Year’s Eve.
What are your thoughts on the whole world of social media? I notice that you guys tweet quite a bit. Do you enjoy the interaction that it brings with your fans?
Yeah I'm really in to that stuff actually. I like it, but I think there’s a dangerous game to play with bringing people too close to you. Sometimes you need a bit of distance because people shouldn’t know every last fucking detail about you as a person. But I’m really in to the fact that people can interact directly and it by passes certain media who can speak for you or be between you and your audience. There’s directness there and as a band that’s come from a punk scene, we’re very much in to being honest. We’re quite a straight talking band and I like that it gives us this direct contact with people and you can see what people think and they know what we’re saying for ourselves, not how it’s represented from anyone else. I like how there’s not a middleman involved that to me is a really comfortable thing.
I find it rather fun using social media to see what bands are doing and what they’ve got to say for themselves- it’s a great way to keep up to date with news.
There are bands that have this kind of air of mystery about them and that’s quite appealing and I know that people quite like that mystery but I just think, we’re not really one of those bands. We don’t like the idea of being really distant to people who listen to our music. The Internet and social networking for us is perfect, we can present ourselves as we are to people.
If you had a choice of what band you could tour with…a dead or alive band…. what band would you choose and why?
Dead or alive… fuck I’d pick The Stooges man- the original line up, the “Funhouse” line up of The Stooges.
Are you an Iggy fan?
I’m a big Iggy fan but The Stooges especially, I’m just a really big Stooges fan!
Blood Red Shoes Australian dates:
Sat 29th December - Tue 1st January - Pyramid Rock Festival, Phillip Island - tickets from Pyramid Rock Festival
Sat 29th December - Tue 1st January - Peats Ridge Festival, Glenworth Valley - tickets from Peats Ridge Festival
Thu 3rd January - Melbourne, The HiFi - tickets from The HiFi
Fri 4th January - Sydney, The HiFi - tickets from The HiFi