Blood Red Shoes will headline at Manchester Academy as part of their eight date UK tour celebrating Ghosts on Tape.
Ghosts on Tape marks Blood Red Shoes’ sixth studio album and was released earlier this year. The album marked a transformation of Blood Red Shoes‘ sound and outlook. As Steven Ansell explains, “We’ve always been outsiders right from the very beginning… We have made an entire career out of being told what we are “not”, of being rejected, of not fitting in, and this album is us deliberately pushing into all of our strangeness, emphasising all of the things that make us different.”
Obsessed by true crime and murder podcasts, many songs on the record are told in character and explore the dark psyche of those at the pinnacle of outsiderdom: serial killers. ‘Ghosts on Tape’ paints a picture of a dark and unsettling world. It is the sound of a unified and confident duo who know exactly who they are, even if the wider world doesn’t really get it. The sound of two people who have spent their entire adult lives making music together and who, more than ever, are finding new pathways for their creativity.
“Ultimately this album is an invitation”, adds Steven. “It’s us saying, this is our world, these are our darkest thoughts and feelings – our ghosts – caught on tape. You are welcome to join us. Come and embrace the strange.
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Blood Red Shoes found that as with many, interrupted travel, touring, social and lives impacted on what they have been able to do over the last two and a half years. Realising very quickly that they wouldn’t be able to release the album or tour until the world returned to some kind of normality, the band found their energies quickly spilled over into other projects. Laura-Mary started a podcast, Never Meet Your Idols, with her best friend in LA, interviewing everyone from Zack Snyder to Mark Lanegan to CHVRCHES. It is now about to start its third season. Steven started applying his love of electronic music by writing and producing other alternative artists like Circe, ARXX, Aiko and XCerts, racking up millions of streams in the process.
Having worked together on Laura–Mary’s debut solo mini-album ‘Town Called Nothing’ and restless from the lack of touring, the duo started jamming out in rehearsal rooms. The results of these sessions led to the light-speed writing, recording and release of the impossibly-titled ‘Ø’ EP in the summer of 2021, followed by their sixth full-length studio outing ‘Ghosts on Tape’ at the beginning of 2022.
When do Blood Red Shoes headline at Manchester Academy 3?
Blood Red Shoes headline at Manchester Academy 3 on 10 June 2022. The Manchester gig is one of eight UK tour dates they are playing with support from Ciel:
8 June – Bristol, The Fleece
9 June – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
10 June – Manchester, Academy 3
11 June – Newcastle, Think Tank
12 June – Glasgow, King Tuts
14 June – London, The Garage
15 June – Brighton, Chalk
16 June – Birmingham, The Rainbow
