Snapped Ankles: Mutations Festival Interview

Snapped Ankles are a London-based post-punk band, formed in 2011, that carry a mysterious energy (helped by the woodland costumes they sport) that is further added to with the unique methods of creating sound, such as making synths out of logs. Formed out of DIY nights, the theatrics of Snapped Ankles really showcase them as more than just a band.

After a brief conversation on the importance of drinking water, we sit down with Snapped Ankles to discuss playing live, exactly what it is that makes a Snapped Ankles song and what the future holds for the band.

How did you come to be playing Mutations Festival?

They asked us actually. They came to us and we had to look into our weather portal, saw it was going to be a nice day and said yes.

How have you been preparing for your set?

We’ve been doing a few stretches, a bit of breathing exercises and drinking some water. That’s it basically, that’s how we prepare.

Have you had a chance to explore Brighton?

No not really. The weathers beautiful today, it’s just once of those days where its like, everything’s going to be okay. We’ve literally just arrived but we know Brighton quite well, I don’t know Portslade though. Have you got a Spa? In Daulston we’ve got a Spa, but its kind of like a Daulston Spa, it has bare brick and you’re almost in a café, but you’re in a supermarket, but you’re in a florist. It’s everything all in one.

How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never heard you before?

I would describe it as the sound of the forests. It’s got drums and noises and it’s a racket. We try to make you dance. That’s how I’d describe us to someone who’s never heard us before. I guess if I had to describe it to someone I bumped into down the street I would say Funky Rock. So Funky Rock in the Forest.

How do you come together to write your songs?

It’s very much an experiment. Even the whole dressing up as the forest devils and having our own instruments, in some ways they are experiments in song writing. By placing the band in a different scenario’s and being awkward, by upsetting stuff, that’s one way we use to create our songs. There’s this way that’s kind of an art performance. We don’t know what we are going to get at the start and by putting the group of people into a tight deadline, something comes together quick and no one has time to think. I think we get something really interesting in that way.

How important are your visuals?

We like to change it up. The whole dressing up as tree creatures came from an experiment where we were doing performance nights and it didn’t really fit to have a band performing amongst all these performance acts. That created this mini- theatre scenario that fitted with Rock ‘n’ Roll bands. That lead to writing new songs, with those short fifteen minute performances. We have some songs that have just been created by cutting up films. The Motion of cinema can become your instrument.

Does the whole level of experimentation make it difficult to play songs on the album live?

Yes, when performing live you have to get not only the guitars on drums onstage but we also have this whole other layer. That becomes particularly difficult in these sort of situations where you only have fifteen minutes to plug everything in. It normally takes us an hour to set up in our own studio. But that makes it more familiar, as it becomes normal in a way. So then we start putting ourselves in more difficult spots.

What can we expect from Snapped Ankles in 2019?

We are doing loads. We have a new album coming out. When people are interested, you just have to go for it, because they are not always looking at your woods and looking at your trees and their just getting on with their stuff, so I think we have to go for it. We have a tight little band and we’ve been practicing our songs and we just want to make people dance. When you are a little band no one’s dancing, so that’s what’s great about new people coming along and finding us. Hopefully 2019 will bring lots of confidence.

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