If you're a very organised Blood Red Shoes fan you might be interested to know they've just announced two gigs for October, one at Manchester's Club Academy on 6 Oct and another at the Electric Ballroom in London on 7 Oct. Get them in your diaries, people.

Sooner than all that, the Brighton rock duo have a single out on 10 May, 'Don't Ask', from their excellent new album, 'Fire Like This'.

Formed in Brighton in 2005, Blood Red Shoes are drummer Steven Ansell and guitarist Laura-Mary Carter (with the duo sharing vocals). Normally keen to distance themselves from other English guitar bands, the duo consider themselves to be a punk outfit, drawing inspiration from the likes of Babes In Toyland, Nirvana, Queens Of The Stone Age and Pixies. The band's first releases were a string of 7" records in 2005 on a number of different independent labels, while their debut album 'Box Of Secrets' was released in 2008 via Universal imprint V2. Their latest single, 'Light It Up', is out now, with album number two 'Fire Like This' released on 1 Mar.

Steven told CMU what he'd tell someone listening to his music for the first time: "Listen to it loud and open your heart to it. There is no irony or posturing or fakery in our music, it's straight and direct. Our background is in punk rock music, which is about immediacy of expression and hitting people with intensity. Regardless of the style of the music, that's the approach. So, we are just two people expressing whatever it is we feel like and playing music the way we like it. That's how you should experience it. If you connect, you connect, if you don't, you don't".

You can read the full SSQ interview with Steven here

Blood Red Shoes, aka Steven Ansell and Laura Mary-Carter, have announced that they will release their second album in February, with touring starting soon afterwards.

The duo have just made the first taste of that new album, a track called 'Colours Fade', available to download via their website for free. It's seven minutes of pure rock excellence, and requires your immediate attention. Get it here: www.bloodredshoes.co.uk.

Tour dates:

2 Mar: Birmingham, Academy 3
3 Mar: Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
4 Mar: Bristol, Thekla
5 Mar: Brighton, Komedia
6 Mar: Leeds, Cockpit
8 Mar: Edinburgh, Electric Circus
9 Mar: Dundee, Doghouse
10 Mar: Glasgow, King Tuts
11 Mar: Newcastle, Academy 2
12 Mar: Manchester, Academy 3
13 Mar: London, Garage