Evolution of Snatch Tapes & The Storm Bugs

Evolution of Snatch Tapes & The Storm Bugs

From Cassette Culture by Cassette Culture & DIY Music

March 6, 2026 · 30 min · Season 2 · Episode 4

About this episode

Philip Sanderson discusses the rise and fall of Snatch Tapes and its impact on the electronic and experimental music scene in the late 70s.

A hard to imagine London of derelict warehouses and ruined public buildings birthed the short, intense life of Snatch Tapes, the late-70s cassette label founded by Philip Sanderson of Storm Bugs. Launched in 1979, Snatch Tapes became a focal point for electronic and experimental musicians pushing beyond conventional song structures and embracing the possibilities of electronics, tape loops and DIY distribution. Sanderson reflects on his early experiments with circuit-bent cassette recorders and transistor radios, the handmade oscillations that powered his duo Storm Bugs, and his time at Goldsmiths University’s Electronic Music Studio Central to the story is Sanderson’s playful subversion of identity. Through the invented electronic duo Claire Thomas and Susan Vesey, he provoked an overwhelmingly male scene and inadvertently attracted the attention of Cherry Red Records. When Cherry Red, via A&R figure Mike Alway, sought to develop the duo into a full vinyl release, the elaborate fiction began to unravel in a farcical chain of meetings and the eventual confessions. As Snatch Tapes gathered momentum, a loose but vibrant network formed around it. Contributors…

People in this episode

Guest: Philip Sanderson

Topics covered

  • cassette culture
  • DIY music
  • experimental music
  • electronic music
  • music history
  • identity subversion

Keywords

  • Snatch Tapes
  • Storm Bugs
  • Philip Sanderson
  • DIY distribution
  • circuit-bent
  • tape loops
  • Cherry Red Records
  • music scene
  • 1980s cassette activity

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Snatch Tapes, Storm Bugs, Cherry Red Records, Goldsmiths University’s Electronic Music Studio, Cultural Amnesia

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