Stephen Ansell of Blood red shoes in conversation with TONY CLAYTON-LEA. Blood Red Shoes play Cork on Wednesday and Dublin on Thursday
What's on your rider?Fresh pot of coffee. Spirits, red wine, fruit, lots of cheeses and salami and chorizo. It's like walking into an alcoholic deli, basically.
What would be on your fantasy rider?A masseuse backstage every day and a ping-pong table.
What's your pre-gig ritual/ routine?Do a few shots together, then have a good scream. Laura-Mary can scream like a proper death metal singer as well.
How do you get to the gig – limo, taxi, walking?Mostly by limousine, but we have been known to get in the back of the van occasionally.
What's the best gig you've been to?That's hard. I saw an amazing show by Godspeed You Black Emperor once, it went on for hours but never got boring. Totally overwhelming.
And the worst? Ionce got stuck in the crowd at a festival when Blink-182 played; that was awful. These 35-year-old dudes kept shouting about "boobies" and stuff. Depressing.
What's your crowd-pleasing number?It changes in different places. It used to be I Wish I Was Someone Betterin most countries, but since the new album came out it's different. In France they really seem to love When We Wakeand Colours Fade.
What's the most you've ever paid for a gig ticket?Ignoring festivals, I think the most is about £17 or £18. Man, you'd better be AC/DC if you're gonna charge more than that!
How big is your entourage?Three. We ain't Kings of Leon, but we do like to have a few people about to make sure things run smoothly and fill the brandy glass with brown MMs.
Any useful stage tips?Always look up. So many stages have something that you can smash your head open on.
What's your best tour story?We once tried to play a cover of The Bangles' Walk Like An Egyptianin a lesbian bar in Brighton. Just us giving it a go sent all the ladies mental and they took their tops off and danced around like crazy. The bar manager tried to stop them because it's actually illegal to be topless in a bar. But then it basically turned into a riot with lots of topless lesbians punching each other, and the police turned up and it all got shut down.
