On the road tonight to catch Blood Red Shoes. I did have a ticket for Manchester, but it clashed with another gig and I spotted the opportunity to visit Sheffield’s Leadmill, a venue that’s been on the bucket list for a while. Plus I might’ve done myself another favour after they blew the electrics at The Star and Garter last night. I’m expecting this to be loud! The Leadmill does not disappoint. There’s a reason it’s got such a great reputation. Packed with character, a bloody great sound AND a decent bar. It’s a bloody shame it’s currently fighting for its life like far too many small venues. I hope it survives, I want to visit again. I suspect Blood Red Shoes sound phenomenal pretty much everywhere, but in here, my god it was worth the drive! I’ll confess there are massive holes in my knowledge of this band. I got into the first couple of albums and then lapsed until the latest record dragged me kicking and screaming with delight back into their orbit. I’d be happy to hear that in full, but we get a little bit of everything. We’re eased in, sort of. They do the quiet loud thing brilliant, but fuck me when the bass kicks my mohawk vibrates. This gets said a lot about bands with only two members, but I always marvel at what they achieve with seemingly so little. Especially here, there’s nothing stripped back about Blood Red Shoes. They make a brutal full throated glorious racket and it’s always fun to see a drummer sharing the vocals. They make a formidable pair. ‘It’s Getting Boring By The Sea’ is a bouncy bastard that gets the limbs flailing and the diehards down the front losing their shit. But maybe it’s because I don’t know some of the records in the middle of their arsenal, that the simpler stuff loses me a little bit. Not much, but a touch. ‘Don’t Ask’ sparks a mini mosh pit, making me thankful my drink’s in a can. I’m all in favour of this behaviour, aside the one drunk prick who can’t read the room and fucks everyone off. ‘Sucker’ brings me back in. It’s thick slabs of slow industrial stomp backing Laura-Mary’s sultry vocal. It’s bloody brilliant. It’s followed by ‘Doesn’t Matter Much’ and things go off. The strobes kick. Steven is off his stool and it mercifully tires out the pisshead who fucks off. The bludgeoning blues riffs of ‘Red River’ sees Laura-Mary teasing glorious face melting joy from her fender. Before I get into a minor scrap with the returning pisshead with another pint during ‘Je me perds’. Aptly it’s ‘Murder Me’ that follows with its harmonic buzz guitar, perfect for throwing a punch to, but I keep my cool. I’m having too much fun to get kicked out. ‘My Animal’ gets a bit latter-day White Stripes, but they do it well and it sets up ‘I Wish I Was Someone Better’ that sees the pit kick off again, but it a good way this time with everyone singing along. Steven introduces ‘Morbid Fascination’ as the song that blew the power last night and the lad next to me shouts “DO IT AGAIN!”. The power holds though and that bass buzz is back, it’s another off the new album. If you’ve not heard of this band before, that record is a good place to start. We pause for the encore farce, before they’re back to close with a couple more, sadly no more new songs, but it’s a brilliant set from a band you need to hear in a venue you need to visit. There’s a decent sounding club night starting as I’m about to leave and I’m tempted to stay… if only I didn’t have a long drive home.
