BLOOD RED SHOES
MARIA'S APARTMENT & THE INTERNET
INTERVIEW BY AMY WAGNER
PHOTOS BY ABBEY BRADEN
Blood Red Shoes are Laura-Mary Carter (vocals/guitar) and Steven Ansell (vocals/drums): a couple of young punks in the best sense of the word. They get into all kinds of scrapes and scraps and on top of the beauty of all that, they make us want to dance and thrash too.
We fell in love with these two UK-ers on their recent swing through NYC and decided to continue the love affair via cyberspace. Laura-Mary turned out to be a great pen pal and we thank her profusely for taking the time to email us lots of blood and booze stories because here at 'Sup, there's no such thing as TMI!
You've both been in other bands before. Why do you think Blood Red Shoes is the one that has caught on?
Laura-Mary: I think it is a mixture of a few things - one, being that we are technically a pop band compared to our old bands. I think that the fact that it's a boy and a girl interests people a bit more compared to the average four-piece band. It's also more about our ambition with this band. When you are working shit jobs and your passion is music the idea of music being your full time job is amazing.
You've been on a bunch of indie labels and now you're on V2. Do you think it's ever really possible for a label and an artist to speak the same language?
I think if you make sure you find the right label then the chances of speaking the same language is more likely. A lot of bands sign to labels really fast not knowing much about them, just because they want to be signed. There are so many things that need to be asked and checked out. Luckily, Steve is a control freak so we hounded the label on every small detail. Also, you have to remember the golden word which is "no". You can use it. People forget that.
All of the Canadian bands are just so damn nice and they swear they all love each other so what's the story with the U.K. bands? Is there any sort of rivalry, friendly or otherwise, when you all get together at festivals or elsewhere?
Well, the UK bands are different I guess! We are not shy about saying we dislike bands. I mean what's the point in hiding the fact that we hate someone like Snow Patrol? I mean they aren't gonna give a shit, they're millionaires. We laugh a lot about things bands do, but the worst thing that we have done is piss in a bands drink - and they drank it! Apart from that, we are lovely people and would never be mean unless you deserve it.
You got the name Blood Red Shoes from Ginger Rogers bleeding through her white shoes while she was dancing. Have you suffered any on-the-job injuries we could name a band after?
Yes, I have sustained a large amount of rock n roll injuries. Either that or I am just really accident-prone. The first one was a couple of years ago. I went to this club in London without any money, just a half bottle of whisky. Before we went in, me and my boyfriend at the time downed the whisky and when we got in, we somehow managed to steal a very large bottle of Jack Daniels from behind the bar. So we wouldn't get caught we transferred it into pint glasses. At this point I was a little drunk anyway so instead of passing it around, I drunk the whole pint of whisky straight and collapsed in a heap. When my friends went to pick me up, they realized I was covered in blood. They quickly carried me out of the venue and chucked me in a cab to the nearest hospital. I had cut my little finger real bad - you could see the bone coming through. They couldn't stitch me until I sobered up, which took hours. Eventually they did it without any painkillers and said I could go home. I have a really horrible scar from it and that second single funnily enough was called "Stitch Me Back" so I put a picture of my hand on the front. The second rock and roll thing was recently on the NME tour we did around the UK. I got beaten up by a big horrid bouncer for carrying a bottle of wine into the crowd. He rugby tackled me up some stairs and I cut my arm really bad, hit my head and had a concussion for three days. I called him many names and a member of one of the other bands pulled the guy off me and put him against the wall by his neck. That was pretty intense. Steve cuts the hell out of his hands at every gig! He once nearly fell of a glass roof whilst being naked on top of a hotel. That could have been less rock ‘n’ roll if he actually fell off and I had no bandmate. You could call a band Stitch My Finger Back or Stitch My Arm Back or the Drunken Stitches or Steal Booze Get Bruised - I think that's my fave one!
What was your first impression of Blood Red Shoes bandmate? Was it correct?
I thought Steve was a straight edger, didn't drink, was vegan and had long-term girlfriends. Turns out he can drink his own body weight every night and is a meat eating womanizer. He probably thought I was real shy and didn't get up to much bad stuff. Boy was he wrong!
When there's a decision to be made about the band and you disagree, who usually gives in first?
Steve!
What is it really like being in a band? If you could go back in time and visit you're younger self would you say "It's glorious kid!" or would you have a sit down and spill all of the gory details?
Being in a band full time is a great job. I always wanted to do this. I mean it's not exactly how you dream it. You forget all the traveling and tiredness and all the things that go with being in a band. You think it's all fun when really, it can be mega hard work but I would go back in time and tell myself to definitely do this - at the end of the day it is amazing.
