Interview: Blood Red Shoes’ drummer and vocalist Steven Ansel

Brighton duo Blood Red Shoes make their long awaited full return with their brand new album ‘Get Tragic’, which is set for release in ten days time on January 25 2019 coincided with a set of launch shows in the UK and Europe in early 2019, including London Borderline on Sat 26th January.

The story of ‘Get Tragic’ can be traced way back to the relentless gigging off the back of their 2014 self-produced and self-titled record, when the heels finally fell off of Blood Red Shoes at the end of that same year. A near-decade of incessant road time and a non-stop pace of life finally took its toll, with the band stopping only to quickly hammer out “another ten songs” to release as their next record, before ploughing straight back into touring. The pair exhausted themselves to the point of collapse.

Catch Blood Red Shoes Live:

Jan 2019

Sat, 26 UK, London, Borderline
Fri, 30, UK, Manchester, Soup Kitchen 
Thu, 31 UK, Glasgow, Stereo Cafe Bar


Feb 2019

Sat, 2 Belgium, Brussels, Rotonde @ Botanique 
Sun, 3 Netherlands, Groningen, Vera
Mon, 4 Germany, Hamburg, Molotow
Tue, 5 Germany, Berlin, Privatclub
Wed, 6 Netherlands, Amsterdam, Sugar Factory
Fri, 8 France, Paris, Point Ephemere

Check out single ‘Mexican Dress’ below!

We managed to catch up with drummer and vocalist Steven Ansel as he talked about the upcoming album and more!

How pumped are you for the release of Get Tragic?

Fully pumped up. Maximum pump. All the way. It’s been almost 4 years since our last album so right now it’s like a giant version of that feeling just before you’re about to sneeze and you think your face is gonna pop off in anticipation. 

What is your favourite song of this album?

Well it changes all the time but right now it’s “find my own remorse” because lyrically it’s very personal to me and was a hard thing to sing because i really let my guard down on it, and as the 1975 said, sincerity is scary. 

So you have a pop shop on 25th January at Mary Wyatt, how much are you looking forward to this?

We wanted to create a kind of other world, like in a wes anderson movie, where everything fits our own theme. Having a shop was part of that, everything will fit our aesthetic and be like a charlie and the chocolate factory experience for our fans. 

You also have a tour coming up straight after this, what venue are you most looking forward to playing?

Moscow is the one i’m most excited about because we’ve been there the least and it’s just so different to most places we’ve been. The fans are off the hook there as well. 

If could work with any band in the world on a new song, who would it be and why?

I’d love to work with the band Europe. seems like they’ve been having a hard time following up on The Final Countdown and I reckon we could help them write that much needed banger to take their career up a notch. 

So you had a couple of Single Nights last month, how did they go and how did you come up with this idea?

Like all of the best decisions, we came up with it in a pub. we wanted to come back and play a couple of shows which weren’t just “regular” blood red shoes gigs. Playing all the singles seemed like a cool way to emphasise the difference from our old material to our newest style, and it gave us a fun concept to play with and make it sound like it was a date night. Which it kinda was coz’ one couple got engaged at the show.