Kane able to leave past behind
MILES Kane has admitted he had “come to the end of his tether” after his stint in Los Angeles.
The 35-year-old, from Merseyside, moved to the US in 2013 with best pal Alex Turner, from the Arctic Monkeys, who he teamed up with for his two Last Shadow Puppets albums.
But Miles is now living in London again and happy as he gets ready to release his fourth solo album, Change the Show.
He said: “LA is OK if you’re famous or filthy rich but I always half felt I was on holiday over there.
“I write songs for a living – I can do that anywhere. The moment the penny dropped, I was itching to come home.”
He returned to London just before the release of 2018’s Coup De Grace, which went to No8 in the charts. Change the Show includes a great duet with Corinne Bailey Rae on Nothing’s Ever Gonna Be Good Enough and also features comedian Paul O’Grady as Lily Savage.
Miles, who begins a tour at the end of the month with Scots singer Brooke Combe supporting, had sampled Savage but the BBC, who owned the rights, music wanted “a ton of money for it”. He said: “Someone contacted Paul. It turns out he’s a fan and he made a new version.
“I’d never met him but we spent an hour on the phone like two old Scouse nans and he nailed it first time.” ● Change the Show is out on January 21. Miles plays Glasgow’s O2 Academy on February 4.
RICK FULTON
BLOOD RED SHOES say they have been “outsiders right from the very beginning”.
In 2007, the duo – singer/guitarist Laura-Mary Carter and singer/drummer Steven Ansell – brought out one of the great indie anthems of the past 20 years, It’s Getting Boring By The Sea, as a two fingers up to the DIY punk scene in Brighton who rejected them for being too melodic.
Since then they’ve ploughed a furrow of brash indie and now electro goth in sixth album Ghost on Tape. It’s a follow-up to their last release, Get Tragic, in 2019 and their surprise June EP Ø.
Steven said: “This album is about us asserting ourselves as our own little island. We’ve made a career out of being told what we are ‘not’, being rejected, not fitting in. This album is us deliberately pushing into all of our strangeness, emphasising all the things that make us different.”
They both love true crime and murder podcasts, and many of the songs are told in character and explore the dark psyche of serial killers.
Laura-Mary said: “We’re obsessed with true crime podcasts, stalkers, serial killers and murderers – the intrigue and mystery, fascination of the humans on the outskirts of society and the harm people can do. Also the weird romance and darkness of outsiders. The threat and fear it could happen anytime. That obsession has spilled over into many of the songs on this album.”
The album, which has the grit and punch of early Garbage, follows what was meant to be a sabbatical for the band.
Laura-Mary moved to the US and launched a podcast, Never Meet Your Idols, while Steven produced new acts including Circe and Arcc.
Alone in the States, Laura-Mary began writing songs which became her debut solo album, Town Called Nothing, which was released in December. She asked Steven for help and they began writing a new Blood Red Shoes album in a borrowed rehearsal room with just a piano, a guitar with four strings and a laptop.
Laura-Mary said: “We never seem to take the easy road and never seem to fit in. We’re never in step with what’s going on, we’re always the weird kids with our own weird ideas, following our own weird path.” ● Ghosts on Tape is out on January 14. Blood Red Shoes play Glasgow King Tut’s on January 24. Go to www.bloodredshoes.co.uk
RICK FULTON