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“I am obsessed with Jack The Ripper, I even tried to work in the pub below the brothel he murdered all the prostitutes in.” When asking someone about their hobbies this is not the kind of answer you generally expect, but then Laura Mary Carter is no ordinary girl. Comprising one half of the hottest 2 piece around, Laura Mary is currently breaking hearts and amps all around the country with her band mate Steven Ansell - collectively known as the gloriously trashy Blood Red Shoes. They’re a band, who, despite being 50% female, owe about as much to Blondie as Jack The Ripper does to the East London tourism board.
As the duo have only released two limited edition singles and are about to unleash their first single ‘proper’ on November 27, you may not know too much about them. How would Laura Mary describe Blood Red Shoes to the non converted then? “A girl boy duo, we’re a bit heavy but disco and a bit grungey. We don’t sound like a two piece. It’s hard to describe because I don’t think we are in any real scene. We fit in in all sorts of places, we play a lot of indie clubs but I wouldn’t say we are an indie band ‘cos we are a bit too heavy” comes the clear as muck answer.
In fairness to Laura Mary Blood Red Shoes are a nightmare to describe, poppy yet not pop - heavy but not metal, a real juxtaposition of sounds and amalgamation of attitudes and beliefs. We get to the roots of exactly how Steve and Laura Mary got together to eventually make this heady brew. “We were both in different bands and I really liked his band and one day we go to play together. We swapped email addresses and talked about maybe having a jam one-day. Nothing came from that for a while but then Steve’s band split up and I went down to Brighton for the day and we played together and actually got a song written. Then when I was on the train home back to London and Steve rang me and said how do you fancy doing a gig? Somebody heard us rehearsing and wants us to play. I went to Brighton for that week and we found a name to put on the flyers and now we’re here.”
Named after a dancing scene in a film which Bette Davis did so many times her white shoes became red from blood, BRS have one of the best names going but did they ever consider alternatives? “Yeah one of the runners up was Flesh Eating Mothers, I am kinda glad we didn’t pick that one”. Er, right.
Those of you fortunate enough to have heard Blood Red Shoes songs like ‘ADHD’ and newie ‘You Bring Me Down’ will be aware of the band’s colourful dynamic of raw and powerful sonics with harmonious vocals from both of them. Laura Mary talks us through their inspiration to write? “We both write our own parts, everything that Steve sings he has written and everything that I sing I write as well. A lot of the songs are about situations we find ourselves in and giving things up for this.”
When moving on to musical influences, Laura Mary cites “Blur, Sonic Youth, 50’s rock ‘n’ roll, 60’s garage music and we like the band Battles - NOT Battle- who are a dance band but play instruments. We might not sound like any of those bands but that’s what we listen to". And what was the last song Steve and Laura Mary wrote? “The last song we wrote is actually going to be our next single, we haven’t played it live yet but we will be doing in a few weeks. We are just practising it and stripping it back a bit. It’s quite dancey, not in an obvious way but it’s quite upbeat.
2006 has really seen Blood Red Shoes go from being an idea to a fully formed being, a proverbial caterpillar to a butterfly if you like. So what have the highlights been? The answer is easy. “Doing Radio 1’s Maida Vale. We did it for Huw Stephens and we didn’t have managers or anyone, we just turned up on our own and did that. Playing at Brixton Academy with Panic! At The Disco, not that we like that band but getting to play there was pretty amazing.” Surprisingly, such is their appeal, they went down well with the screaming emo masses. She continues: “It was really fantastic actually, we have been getting loads of messages ever since from people at that gig saying how much they enjoyed us. We are really chuffed about that.”
Next year should hopefully herald the release of Blood Red Shoes’ debut album, but with the band essentially in its infancy is the LP even written or a mere glint in a major labels eye? “We’ve got some of the songs but we have got about another 5 songs to write. We are playing all the time, so time to write is scarce but when we get into the studio we bash them out really quick. For the new single I wrote the vocals when I was at my parents looking after their dogs for two weeks and Steve wrote the drum part in Brighton and then we came together and played our new stuff and they fitted perfectly. That was pretty cool. We have had major label interest, quite a lot actually and we probably will sign with someone after Christmas but it’s just a case of finding the right deal. We didn’t form the band solely to get signed, we come from a pretty D.I.Y punk background so we want the right deal for us.”
As a member of one of a host of amazing British bands to emerge this year what does Laura Mary make of the state of British music in the current climate? “I think it’s turned around a bit this year. If you look at the charts it’s not all boybands and cheesy stuff now it’s proper bands, even if it stuff like The Kooks and Razorlight. There are lots of underground bands I like such as The Sticks, The Chaps are very underrated and Foals, I think a lot of people will hear about them next year.” As a fellow 60’s garage fan what does Laura Mary make of Tim Burton and Russell Brand’s bastard children The Horrors? “A lot of people really hate them but I think they are really good. We played a gig with them earlier this year and they are just living for the moment, their music is nothing to write home about but are doing it for the right reasons plus they have a song about Jack The Ripper who I am obsessed with.”
Ah yes Jack The Ripper- you thought we had forgotten didn’t you? “I have been reading books about him ever since I can remember and I think I know pretty much every analysis there is to know about him. I am from South London but when I was 16 I moved to East London purely because I wanted to be nearer the crime scenes. I always wanted to work in this pub called The Ten Bells which is apparently where he used to drink, I never got a job there though, not many people leave that job.
So to end our chat we ask what is the best and worst thing anyone has ever said about Blood Red Shoes? “Ooh, there is a guy that comes to a lot of our gigs called Steve and last night at our gig he just said to me “You are such a good band” and that was really nice. As for the worst- somebody once said we sound like The Subways and someone said I sound like Lulu. We get really bad comparisons”.
Even though the thought of Lulu fronting The Subways makes Gigwise giddy with excitement we can see why this might not be seen as a compliment. Our superlatives might not stretch to that of superfan Steve, but we think Blood Red Shoes are one of the best things we have heard all year and urge and stress you to check them out. Either that or hang around East London and you are bound to bump into Laura Mary tracing the footsteps of her favourite mass murderer.
