If you were to look through a certain prism there would surely be a line that stretches back over six decades and connects Jefferson Airplane with Snapped Ankles. Back in 1971, Paul Kantner and Grace Slick from that seminal San Francisco psychedelic rock band had released the album Sunfighter. Housed in the record’s gatefold sleeve was a 16-page booklet. And on one of those pages was a photograph of three seemingly stoned immaculate dudes dancing around a tree. The photo was captioned ‘Groovin with Nature.’
Emerging from the hippie dream of the late ‘60s into a darker, more troubled world, this image seemed to suggest that by communing with nature you could dance your way out of despair. 54 years on, the London-based masked electro-punk band Snapped Ankles appears to buy into a similar ethos. Hard Times Furious Dancing is written large on the banner at the back of the stage. This is the title of their new album which is out on the 28th of March via the Leaf Label and it offers an open invitation to the listener to escape from the turbulence of the present day.
Such is the mystery surrounding the four men of the Snapped Ankles’ apocalypse, even when setting up their equipment before the show they still fiercely guard their anonymity. Gone are the full costumes of old but the headgear – inspired by ancient pagan masked ceremonies – still remains, as does their unwavering commitment to protest, arboretums, the concepts of performance art, surrealism, and the creation of a full-blooded, riotous sound.
“People of principle…rise up,” implores lead singer Austin Ankle. And with that clarion call Snapped Ankles launch straight into the first of their many electro-punk, dance-laden grooves of the night and Austin immediately disappears into the crowd, microphone stand shaped like a log in his hand and his passage through the throng illuminated by the searchlights on his head. It’s a rather glorious spectacle of sight and sound.
Austin later suggests he is not a politician, but a businessman. “It’s time to get down,” he adds, and Snapped Ankles duly oblige by tearing into ‘Rhythm Is Our Business’ from their last album, 2021’s Forest of Your Problems. It is a joyously demented exercise in chopping up dance music before spitting it all back out, hard edges an’ all.
‘Personal Responsibilities’ from Hard Times Furious Dancing continues with the modern dance, splicing it up with dissonance and power before the record’s lead single ‘Raoul’ prompts Austin to invite the audience to imagine they are on Yorkshire’s Cayton Bay naturist beach surrounded by sea, sand, seagulls, and huge waves. It all adds to the weird and wonderful spirit of the occasion.
Earlier The Sick Man Of Europe confirmed he is still in rude health. Less than a year after their first ever live performance and a matter of weeks after their first ever recorded material was released – ‘Consumption’ followed shortly thereafter by the Moderate Air Quality EP – Snapped Ankles’ fellow London dwellers and Leaf Label mates push the parameters of post-punk even further into the ether with a barrage of groove-ridden rhythms that penetrate this former working men’s club with power and self-possession.
Photos: Simon Godley
More photos of Snapped Ankles at The Crescent in York
