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For this analysis I will be studying the alternative rock duo Blood Red Shoes (Laura-Mary Carter and Steven Ansell), the band whose song ‘Keeping It Close’ I am producing a music video for. Although the band are primarily labelled as alternative rock, they also fit into many other genres such as grunge, post-punk and indie rock, but it is alternative rock that I will be focusing on, as it has influenced the band’s ideology a great deal.
The way the band present themselves visually is very important in rock music and Blood Red Shoes present themselves as very grungy. The characteristics of grunge presentation being that they do not care how they look, wearing baggy clothes, leather jackets and sporting unkempt hair. The band Nirvana are the epitome of grunge rock and are one of Blood Red Shoes biggest influences. Blood Red Shoes unintentionally emulate this by not caring how they dress. In a ‘behind the scenes’ video for their music video ‘I Wish I Was Someone Better’ they even state that usually when they are making a music video, the director tells them exactly what to wear, sometimes making the band go through a lot of dress changes to find the look the director wants, but when shooting this video both members were allowed to pick the clothes they wanted to wear and the director allowed them that liberty.
Their musical content always features heavy guitar riffs and powerful drum beats to match the angst within the lyrics. A lot of Blood Red Shoes lyrics are quite dark, taking ‘I Wish...’ for example the lyrics are about guilt, shame and hating yourself. Within their other songs they also deal with themes of frustration, anger, alienation, boredom, doubt, psychosis, confusion, escape and ultimately the hope of freedom or change, in their lyrics, all of which are common topics for alternative rock bands to write about.
Blood Red Shoes also produce their own cover artwork, in fact Laura has designed every single release’s artwork. This is because they are conforming to the “alternative” ideology, they would rather have every aspect of their releases be under their control instead of the control of their record label. It is also very quirky artwork that will appeal to their target audience, even if only because Laura made it. It also makes each release somewhat collectible to an avid fan of the band, or simply a fan of artwork.
“Alternative rock" is an umbrella term for underground music that emerged in the mid-1980s. Alternative rock is defined by its rejection of the commercialism of mainstream culture. There is no set musical style for alternative rock as a whole, although in 1989 The New York Times asserted that the genre is "guitar music first of all, with guitars that blast out power chords, pick out chiming riffs, buzz with fuzztone and squeal in feedback." Sounds range from the dirty guitars of grunge to the gloomy soundscapes of gothic rock to the guitar pop revivalism of Britpop to the shambolic performance style of indie pop. Blood Red Shoes definitely conform to this anti-mainstream ideology, for example when their song “It’s Getting Boring By The Sea” was used in the film Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, they were especially pleased that the song was used without any commercial ulterior motive and it was because the director, Edgar Wright, was a huge fan of the band and wanted to help them become more well-known.
The way the band portray themselves to the media is always very ‘real.’ They don’t play up to the camera the way pop stars would and again, conform to the alternative rock ideology and grunge fashion sense when being interviewed or posing for promo photographs. An interesting exception to this was one of Blood Red Shoes photo shoots in which they emulated characters from the cult American television series ‘Twin Peaks.’ Although they are imitating something that was mainstream, it is no longer mainstream and therefore it once again fits into the genre conventions of alternative rock.
In conclusion, the most important genre convention of alternative rock is that the music, the look and the general attitude of the band must go against the grain, be different, be anti-mainstream. In this respect Brighton-based Blood Red Shoes, who are still not very well known across the world, are alternative rock through and through in a time when record labels will brand their bands with this genre because there is nowhere else to put them.
For this analysis I will be studying the alternative rock duo Blood Red Shoes (Laura-Mary Carter and Steven Ansell), the band whose song ‘Keeping It Close’ I am producing a music video for. Although the band are primarily labelled as alternative rock, they also fit into many other genres such as grunge, post-punk and indie rock, but it is alternative rock that I will be focusing on, as it has influenced the band’s ideology a great deal.
Their musical content always features heavy guitar riffs and powerful drum beats to match the angst within the lyrics. A lot of Blood Red Shoes lyrics are quite dark, taking ‘I Wish...’ for example the lyrics are about guilt, shame and hating yourself. Within their other songs they also deal with themes of frustration, anger, alienation, boredom, doubt, psychosis, confusion, escape and ultimately the hope of freedom or change, in their lyrics, all of which are common topics for alternative rock bands to write about.
“Alternative rock" is an umbrella term for underground music that emerged in the mid-1980s. Alternative rock is defined by its rejection of the commercialism of mainstream culture. There is no set musical style for alternative rock as a whole, although in 1989 The New York Times asserted that the genre is "guitar music first of all, with guitars that blast out power chords, pick out chiming riffs, buzz with fuzztone and squeal in feedback." Sounds range from the dirty guitars of grunge to the gloomy soundscapes of gothic rock to the guitar pop revivalism of Britpop to the shambolic performance style of indie pop. Blood Red Shoes definitely conform to this anti-mainstream ideology, for example when their song “It’s Getting Boring By The Sea” was used in the film Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, they were especially pleased that the song was used without any commercial ulterior motive and it was because the director, Edgar Wright, was a huge fan of the band and wanted to help them become more well-known.
In conclusion, the most important genre convention of alternative rock is that the music, the look and the general attitude of the band must go against the grain, be different, be anti-mainstream. In this respect Brighton-based Blood Red Shoes, who are still not very well known across the world, are alternative rock through and through in a time when record labels will brand their bands with this genre because there is nowhere else to put them.