blood red shoes

Brighton formed punk rock duo Blood Red Shoes released their new EP ‘The Water‘ this week on V2 which tied in nicely with their rescheduled show at Shepherd’s Bush Empire: their biggest UK headline show yet.

After being thoroughly warmed up by Yorkshire based blues / psych -rock band Wet Nuns and a dramatic set from dark hardcore / electronic band Rolo Tomassi, it was time for the band to take to the stage.

In all honesty, I cannot remember which song they kicked things off with. I want to say ‘Don’t Ask’ but this might not be quite accurate. However, they did burst onto the stage into a ridiculously insane reception from the (nearly) sold out venue. By song number two of the night a circle pit had already formed. The circle pit moment not only harked back to memories of a fourteen year old me and my friends daring each other to mosh in a seedy rock in the midlands but also made me realise how fucking crazy (in a very nice way) Blood Red Shoes fans are. Why aren’t all fans as fun as Blood Red Shoes fans? Every song was greeted with a mass singalong and plenty of bouncing, if not moshing. From the new songs of their most recent album In Time To Voices which they released last year to the material from their debut album Box of Secrets to the deep riff heavy songs of the new EP, the crowd went mad for it. This is a very great thing as BRS are a band that have worked very hard to get to this point (when they’re not writing records they’re touring solidly around the world whilst also maintaining a very DIY approach to the marketing of their music) and deserve this reception every time they play. For ‘Red River’ they were joined on stage by guitarist James Brown from Leeds punk band Pulled Apart By Horses whom they’ve toured with in the past and are set to release a split EP with later this year. They were also joined on stage at one point by the guitarist from Belgium based band Wallace Vanborn. Bonus points for the great special guests.

shepherd's bush BRS show

 

The band played a tight hour and forty minute set of songs from all three albums as well as the new EP and quite frankly I had an incredible amount of fun and it also reassures my belief that they are one of, if not the best rock band in the country.

 

Words: Katie Wilkinson