BLOOD RED SHOES
Out Now; catonform.co.uk/bloodredshoes

It's about the glamour and it's about the gore," says Laura-Mary Carter (vox, guitar, and dressing up), blinking her massive whirlpool eyes, while Steven Ansell (drums and passing out), his curling Cupid hair bouncing atop his head, looks on encouragingly. Yet while the fresh-faced pair may look angelic, they're far from sweetness and light. The Brighton-based grunge-pop duo are named after the legendary Hollywood tale that saw a put-upon Ginger Rogers reshooting a dance sequence so many times that her feet bled profusely and dyed her shoes a fetching shade of crimson - Blood Red Shoes aren't ones to shy away from a bit of gruesome activity.

"We were going to be called the Flesh Eating Mothers," says Laura, demurely, "after the classic horror film, but we decided we liked Ginger's dancing more."

You're in the middle of a massive tour - how do you pass the time?

Steven: We shoplift. We shoplift our dinner, the food, the knives, the spoons. I shoplifted a tiny little girl's vest from a petrol station recently. We walked in on the way back from a show at about 2am, and we were the only people there. I picked it up from the shelf, put it on and did a really silly walk directly past the cashier, who just stared at me and then watched me leave. I think he thought I was really dangerous. The more blatant you are, the easier it is to get away with it - the key is to not look shifty.

What happens at a usual Blood Red Shoes gig?

Laura: Steve's normally sick quite a few times.

Steven: I get overexcited and get really into it, then black out. You get this massive rush to your head and can't see. It feels like every vein in you is about to explode - you can feel it coming on. Then I have to puke into a cup during songs - but I always carry on.

Laura: I used to be given vegetables after I played. Someone was passing them to other people to give to me and it carried on for a while, but I never saw who they were from. They were wrapped in tinfoil; there was a freakishly tiny carrot, a massive carrot and a potato with a smiley face on it - that was the creepiest. Then, all of sudden, it stopped - it was quite odd, really.

What would you be doing if you weren't in Blood Red Shoes?

Laura: I was going to go to circus school, because I was a Spanish gypsy who was part of a travelling circus in a previous life. When I was younger my mum and dad told me they were in the circus and that's how they met - my dad was a lion tamer and my mum was a tightrope walker. When I found out it wasn't true I was distraught. They told my sister she was a princess who lived in a castle that they used to go to. But it was just a place my mum used to clean.

Steven: I was definitely a French duke in a previous life. That's how I try and live my life - I drink a lot of red wine, try not to talk to people who are lower class than me, and wander through life without really doing any work - you can't really live like that, though, but one day I will.

Made any rock'n'roll enemies yet?

Steven: Robots In Disguise are a bunch of cunts and I don't like them; they think they're it because they hang out with The Mighty Boosh. We played with them and they were so fucking rude to everyone and threw us out of our shared dressing room so they could do their vocal warm-ups. They were drinking vodka and apple juice, so when they were playing we pissed in their drinks because you can't tell from the colour. When we came back later they'd drunk every drop.

Laura: It was a bit of a shame because Noel Fielding drank it as well, but what can you do? Shit, we're playing with them in about two weeks.

Steven: Are we? They should watch out.