Blood Red Shoes

Hailing from Brighton, England, the duo Blood Red Shoes unites Laura-Mary Carter on vocals and guitar with Steven Ansell on drums and vocals, two fiercely committed performers whose sound draws from the raw energy of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Duke Spirit, and Huggy Bear. Ansell had previously played in Cat on Form while Carter had been part of Lady Muck; the pair first joined forces in late 2004 after their earlier groups disbanded. Carrying just a single song, they secured a live slot that marked the start of Blood Red Shoes, a name inspired by the story of Ginger Rogers, whose white tap shoes supposedly turned blood-red after countless retakes of a demanding dance sequence.

Around the middle of 2005 the band prepared their first 7" EP for London’s independent Jonson Family label. BBC Radio 1 and XFM gave strong support to tracks including the raucous “Victory for the Magpie” and “Don’t Always Say Yes,” helping the release sell out within weeks. Early the following year Try Harder issued the next pair of singles, “ADHD” and “Stitch Me Back.” Three further 7"s—“It’s Getting Boring by the Sea,” “I’ll Be Your Eyes,” and “I Wish I Was Someone Better”—appeared throughout 2007.

In 2008 Carter and Ansell issued their long-awaited debut album, Box of Secrets, recorded with producer Mike Crossey, whose prior credits include Razorlight and Arctic Monkeys; the record surfaced that April and earned widespread critical praise. The same producer returned for 2010’s Fire Like This, on which the duo pursued a leaner, more minimal approach. Two years later they again collaborated with Crossey on In Time to Voices, an album that broadened their palette to incorporate grunge, Americana, and shoegaze textures. Blood Red Shoes delivered their fourth studio effort in 2014, a self-titled set released through their own Jazz Life imprint. After an extensive tour the band issued a digital-only collection of rarities, Tied at the Wrist, the next year. Over the ensuing period they began shaping their fifth album, later acknowledging the sessions as especially challenging. Produced by Nick Launay—known for work with Arcade Fire, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs—Get Tragic arrived in 2018, introduced by the single “Mexican Dress.”