Blood Red Shoes - Get Tragic (LP)

Get Tragic
£19.99
Not Currently Available
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 thew 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 "€œanother 10 songs"€ to release as their next record, before ploughing straight back into touring. The pair exhausted themselves to the point of collapse. "€œWe didn'€™t, at any point, have a breather,"€ says Steven Ansel (drums and vocals), "€œWe probably didn'€™t see each other for about 10 days a year, tops, for six or seven years."€ Understandably, such incessant close proximity led to implosion. "€œWe got the to the end of the fourth record and were like, '€˜F**k you, I never want to see you again,'"€ Steven adds, half-laughing, half-sighing.

Vocalist and guitarist Laura Mary-Carter packed her bags and bought a one-way flight to Los Angeles, a complete radio-silence between the two bandmates stretching on for months. She fell in with a songwriter'€™s crowd, penning tracks and collaborations with big-time pop producers and pitching songs for the likes of Rihanna. It provided her with "€œa lot of time to reassess,"€ she says. Steven, conversely, "€œwent out and took drugs and went clubbing for about half a year," he laughs. "€œI don'€™t remember a lot about it. Classic break-up move, right?"

"€œThat'€™s the whole running theme of this record,"€ says Steven. "The reason we called it Get Tragic is because we realised that everything we'€™ve been doing over the last three years is kinda tragic!"€ he says, prompting laughter from the pair. "€œJust like, '€˜Ooh, I hate you, I'm going to America to find myself,' and like '€˜Ooh, I'€™m gonna party for the rest of the year!'€™ Everything about it is such a cliché -€“ we were like, '€˜We'€™ve turned into a f**kin tragedy!'"

Get Tragic, then, fully embraces the absurdity of Blood Red Shoes' situation. As a result, the pair come out the other side sounding fresher and more assured than ever. Recording in the States, working with a new producer, ditching the two-piece rock rulebook they arguably helped write - everything that went into Get Tragic was a leap into the unknown.

- LP
Tracklist:

1. Eye to Eye
2. Mexican Dress
3. Bangs
4. Nearer
5. Beverly
6. Find My Own Remorse
7. Howl
8. (Interlude)
9. Anxiety
10. Vertigo
11. Elijah