Once upon a time Ginger Rogers had to re-do a tap dance scene so many times that the camera man asked whether she’d changed out of her white shoes into some red ones. She hadn’t. It turned out she’d danced so hard they were covered in blood.

Blood Red Shoes is two people, Laura-Mary, who wishes she were Spanish, and Steven who wishes he were French, only they both live in Brighton England. After their previous bands ceased activity (Lady Muck and Cat On Form respectively) in late 2004 they got together for a jam for fun, Steven took up the drum kit and Laura-Mary played her guitar. It was loud for just two people.

The band cite a large swathe of US-based underground punk and rock music as their primary infl uence, drawing inspiration from Babes in Toyland, Nirvana, Q and not U, Pixies, Fugazi, Sonic Youth et al, although they also regularly highlight English artists Blur and PJ Harvey as music heroes. The band frequently distance themselves from current English guitar music and consider themselves to be a punk band, in ethos and attitude, if not in their immediate musical style.