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Red Blooded Women are on the rise. I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical about them when I heard their track “Colour Me Dirty” as it highlights a heavy Yazoo sample and I thought, “oh no – another band trying to steal a trademark sound for a new generation of kids”. But as the Red Blooded Women slowly released songs for preview and their catalogue of future hits grew, I quickly adjusted and re-checked my attitude towards them.

Let’s just get this straight, I’m not a huge fan of pop girlbands. I’ll admit to liking a few Girls Aloud tracks and I worshipped the Sugababes up until the point Mutya left. But in general, there aren’t many pop girlbands that float my boat – except for Electric Dolls and Electrovamp…because they are actually quite good. The quintessential pop girlbands of all time will always be Bananarama, The Bangles and The Go-Gos in my books. And how refreshing that Red Blooded Women conjur up elements of all these legendary girlbands and mix it up with a huge serving of fresh electronica. They’re not trying to be the next high street wannabees. They’re not trying score the next huge commercial hit (although it wouldn’t surprise me if they did crossover). They are however staying true to electronica music and for that, they are THE ONES to watch out for.

In this interview with Red Blooded Women, we chat about their recent gig at the rock-venue Water Rats, their upcoming EP and we find out exactly what they think about The Saturdays. Enjoy EQs!

EQ: Hello to you lovely lovely ladies – go on and introduce yourselves!

Hey, I’m Candy…

I’m the lovely Liz…

And I’m Carly, the baby of the band (laughs)

Fab – I have to say I really enjoyed your gig at Water Rats. Did you enjoy that gig?
Liz – It was so much fun! The Water Rats is known mainly for indie and rock music, so to be asked to do that venue was such a compliment. We were so nervous that the crowd would hate us so we just gave it all we had and thankfully the reception was awesome. The place was packed – our egos are slowly growing (winks).

And no one threw any bottles at you…you were a teeny bit worried about that weren’t you…
Candy – (Laughs) We were a little worried because we were breaking the mold a little when we performed there. As Liz said, it’s a typical acoustic, manly environment where they are more used to live guitars, heavy drums and rock & roll. So for us three young girls to do our thing there – well, we were a little scared at how we would go down! Everyone loved it though and it was a great way to introduce pop music to a venue that’s never embraced it before.

You kept referring to “Mr. Blue” throughout your set – Who is the mysterious Mr. Blue?
Carly – Mr Blue is one of our top fans, he comes to nearly every gig – you can’t miss him in his long black leather coat! He takes awesome pictures, so we like him very much!

Liz – It’s sooo special to us because it’s one thing for family and friends to enjoy your music – but to have such amazing fans at this stage is unbelievable. RBW love Mr Blue (winks)!

So your EP for “You Made Your Bed” is coming out soon, are you excited that your tracks are finally getting out there?
Candy – No question! Of course! It’s so scary putting yourself out there to be judged, but it’s an amazing feeling too. So much hard work has gone into this. But we knew that the material was too good not to be picked up so we kept on writing, recording, rehearsing, gigging and now it’s starting to pay off. It’s just a taster EP though – it isn’t supposed to be a massive explosion of RBW in your face (laughs)! We still wanna keep it credible, low key and underground to begin with. Really generate a bit of intrigue!

How proud are you of your debut track? Go on, boast – it’s rather brilliant so it’s allowed…
Carly – We love it (laughs)! It’s one of our favourite tracks, and it’s quite different – we wanted to debut something that wasn’t quite as “obvious” as “Colour Me Dirty” or “Synthesizer”. The production is almost kind of 90’s euphoric rave in places, with a really dark, 80’s influenced topline, so we just thought it was an interesting choice. Some of the remixes are amazing as well.

Totally – “4 2Nite” is also on your EP too – tell us about this one…
Candy – I adore this track. It’s about how we put our men on pedestals, but finally realise that, being strong Red Blooded Women, we have the upper hand all along (laughs)! It’s about how we embrace our sexuality and femininity…I’d love to do a video for this one! We really wanted to give the fans something more than just a one track single. This way, you get two of our songs and a variety of remixes too.

Let’s talk about some of your other tracks – “Colour Me Dirty” is tre cool. Whose idea was it to sample the infamous Yazoo you sneaky devils?
Liz – I really can’t remember! We’re all trying to take credit for it! It was just something that was thrown in the pot when we were writing. We’re so eighties influenced, so it made sense that we should sample something from that period. We’re big fans of tracks like “Freak Like Me” and “Beware Of The Dog” as well and thought we’d try our hand at doing something similar and just completely change the feel of the original track. We love the original and I just hope we’ve done it justice… and Yazoo fans don’t eternally hate us!

Everyone’s also talking about The Saturdays now too – do you feel any competition there…(pssst you’re better I think)…
Liz – It’s quite flattering more than anything – they have a major label behind them with loads of cash and we literally have the spare change in our back pockets and we’re doing just fine (laughs). We are quite different I think, in terms of our music and our style, but hopefully there’s room for both of us.

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Candy – I think we should start a girlband revolution together! We love The Saturdays – In fact we love all girl groups – you shouldn’t be in a girl group if you don’t love girl groups! “If This Is Love” is a great song – I always start dancing when I hear it and I have been known to throw my hair from side to side, like a woman possessed!

So in part of being locked away in recording studios putting together your sound, we see you’ve worked with Trademark…what’s it like working with them?
Candy – They are so damn talented! The three of them are like scientists working on an experiment or something! They are so thorough and precise and from day one have made us feel like part of the family. They are also three of the nicest blokes I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with.

Now – it would be foolish not talk about Bananarama with you here. Obviously you girls are fans and even emulate them somewhat. Fair statement?
Candy – Thank you very much! Bananarama are amazing – from the way that they would sing together in unison and sound so perfect, right down to their fashion sense – big crimped hair, leggings and high shoes with bright makeup! I’m chuffed that we have had so many people say we remind them of them! We have taken elements of their sound and style I guess but given it our own RBW spin. It’s such a compliment!

Rbw2Favourite Bananarama song?
Liz – Either “I Want You Back” or “Cruel Summer”…equally amazing and yet different.
Carly – I love a bit of “Venus”.
Candy – It’s so hard to pick one! “I Want You Back” reminds me of a holiday my entire family went on when I was a tiny whipper snapper! You’ve gotta love “Cruel Summer” and the cheesy top lines of “Love In The First Degree”! I had all these on my NOW 11 album! Brilliant!

Is it true you took your name from the Kylie song of the same name?
Candy – Yep, cheers Kylie – we owe you one gorgeous!

Liz – Yep we full on stole it. We loved the song and the name just jumped out at us. It’s a bit of a mouthful, but it sums up what we’re all about – we’re independent and headstrong and not afraid to work our asses off – we’re strong, powerful, confident sexy women!

And when do you think the album will be out there?
Carly – We can’t wait to get an album out there. We’re hoping for the beginning of next year, just after Christmas. We’ve written and recorded about twenty five tracks for it, but we’re going back in the studio in a couple of weeks to work on some new stuff – we want this album to be fierce! Fingers crossed, 2009 is going to be our year!

Who’s the most famous person you met now that you’re on your road to pop stardom?
Liz – Darren Hayes! We were rehearsing in the same studios as him and he actually made me a cup of tea! I was so star struck cos we’re huge fans, but he was so lovely!

That’s it ladies – you’ve been wonderful. Any parting words for our EQ readers?
Candy – RBW love you all, thank you for your support and we’ll keep on rocking as long as I dye my hair blonde! And that will be forever!

Carly – We love Electroqueer and all its readers!

Liz – We will love you eternally if you download our EP (blows air kisses).

M_7660f72caa056e71cd60de13d2f1602_2Make sure to pick up your copy of the “You Made Your Bed” EP when it drops 24th August and check out some of the other fab electronic tunes by the lovely ladies over on their MySpace – you can even download a megamix for now to tide you over until then!

If you want to read more about their flawless gig at Water Rats, visit the August 8th entry on Electronically Yours. It’s the best summary of the night that was written. And check out their video to “You Made Your Bed” in YouTubage below.