Snapped Ankles

Launching Kazimier’s newest micro-venue are London-based post-punk outfit SNAPPED ANKLES. Known for their signature electronica-meets-krautrock noise, echoey vocals and throbbing basslines, the group are equipped to make a serious mark on Liverpool’s hotly anticipated new space.

A who’s who of emerging and established DJ talent opens the show, with Melodic Distraction’s own LUPINI (Nina Franklin) starting things off alongside UpItUp / cartier4everyone favourite ISOCORE, and IWFM’s SHEA TWINS. Due to the restricted nature of the space, the DJ sets aren’t a priority for much of the audience, with a healthy overspill into the Garden – the quintessential Kazimier Friday night party scene.

Snapped Ankles were originally billed to play at the Invisible Wind Factory, but alas, there’s a last-minute venue change. The almost immediately sold-out status leaves gig goers, firstly, pondering where on earth Stockroom is and, secondly, how they’d never heard of it before. Clever PR, or a genuine case of last-minute logistics? Either way, the band fill the space with a buzz reminiscent of the much missed Kazimier.

Perhaps it is their formative years playing at warehouse parties and run-down social clubs that make them so perfect for this cosy new space, accented by an impressively ‘local’-esque bar, crowned with a sniper post sound tech booth-cum-treehouse. The clever architecture of the space promises a larger room than the cave-like contours actually offer, but it works so well.

Those fatigued by the psychedelic overkill of recent years, fear not; songs like Rechargeable, I Want My Minutes Back, Hanging With The Moon, and a few accents of pure instrumentation and improv between songs keep the pogoers in the room hopping throughout. It’s a playful atmosphere unlike your standard guitar band gig. Aided by the yeti-like stooges in the crowd (in costume as additional members of the haystack-clad group), the band bring with them a hype crew who mingle into the audience, introducing would-be friends and dance partners as they roam around.

A perfect launch with one of the most interesting and experimental bands currently touring. Stockroom might just be the intimate (and undoubtedly rowdy) venue that Liverpool has been missing.