Deleted Records & The Instant Automatons
From Cassette Culture by Cassette Culture & DIY Music
November 27, 2025 · 28 min · Season 2 · Episode 1
About this episode
The episode explores the origins of the UK cassette underground and the impact of the Instant Automatons and Deleted Records on DIY music culture.
Underneath the safety pins, television expletives and bondage trousers that came with Punk in 1977, there was a coded message for those ready to hear it. Resolutely independent, the Instant Automatons and their label Deleted Records tuned in from the North of England and got that message of DIY independence, creativity and confidence that followed "Here's Three Chords, Now Form A Band". We trace the birth of the UK cassette underground - from isolated bedrooms to West London squats, from hand-dubbed tapes to Rough Trade shelves. It’s the story of how a handful of young people, with almost no resources, built a national community through shared idealism, cheap technology, and an unstoppable desire to create. Finding their tribe with the Labroke Grove hippie-punks circulating around the Here & Now/Frestonia/free festival scene and building their community under the Westway. Here & Now drummer, Kif Kif Le Batteur made his sentiment about the established record industry clear when he named his cassette label F.O. Records. Recognising that the Instant Automatons and their label Deleted Records got it too, they connected to collaborate on cassette and vinyl…
People in this episode
Host: Martin Franklin
Topics covered
- DIY music
- cassette culture
- punk history
- independent music
- community building
- music technology
Keywords
- DIY independence
- Instant Automatons
- Deleted Records
- cassette tapes
- punk
- music community
- West London
- F.O. Records
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Deleted Records, Instant Automatons, F.O. Records, Here & Now, Rough Trade
Places: North of England, West London, Labrroke Grove, Frestonia
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