Storm Bugs

A post punk DIY industrial music band formed in 1978 in Deptford, London, by Philip Sanderson and Steven Ball who had met at school in the Medway Towns, England.

Many of Storm Bugs releases were on Snatch Tapes a cassette label run by Philip Sanderson from a basement in Paddington, London. Snatch Tapes was part of the then burgeoning cassette culture and as well as Storm Bugs the label also released tracks by David Jackman (later of Organum), The Lemon Kittens, the Beach Surgeons (led by a young Graham Massey, later of 808 State), Alien Brains and Claire Thomas & Susan Vezey.

Aside from tape only releases on Snatch Tapes, Storm Bugs also released two 7-inch singles; the Table Matters EP (Loop Records, UK) and one year later a spoof industrial rockabilly track called "Tin", on the French L'invitation au Suicide label. Following this release Storm Bugs went into a 20 year hibernation though Philip Sanderson & Steven Ball continued to collaborate on projects including the 1988 film Green on the Horizon.

Rediscovery

Storm Bugs were rediscovered in 2000 when they were included on the bootleg LP I Hate the Pop Group, on Vertical Slum Records. A year later Snatch Tapes reactivated and released a compilation of some of the bands finer moments from the past, entitled Let's Go Outside And Get It Over. In 2002 the Austrian label Klanggalerie put out an EP of new material called The Bugs Are Back, whilst rare and unheard recordings were collected by the Fusetron label, and released as Up The Middle Down The Sides. In 2006 the German label Vinyl on Demand issued a Snatch Tapes compilation called Snatch Paste and this was followed in 2007 by a Storm Bugs LP entitled Supplementary benefit featuring the two 7 inch singles as well as tracks from the early cassette releases.

Critical Reception

Whilst Storm Bugs’ initial releases were obscure the re-released material has attracted far more attention including from writers such as Simon Reynolds and Ed Pinsent. Storm Bugs tracks have also received numerous plays on alternative radio stations such as WFMU and Resonance FM.

Releases

*"A Safe Substitute" – 1980 (Cassette on Snatch Tapes)
*"Table Matters" – 1980 (7 inch single on Loop records)
*"Storm Bugs" – 1980 (Cassette on Snatch Tapes)
*"Gift" – 1981 (Cassette on Snatch Tapes)
*"Metamorphose" – 1981 (7 inch single on L’Invitation au Suicide records)
*"Lets go outside and get it over" – 2001 (CD on Snatch Tapes)
*"The Bugs are Back" – 2002 (7 inch EP on Klanggalerie records)
*"Up the middle down the sides” - 2005 (LP on Fuestron records)
*"Supplementary Benefit” - 2007 (LP on Vinyl on Demand records)

External links

* [http://www.stormbugs.co.uk/ Storm Bugs web Site]
* [http://www.snatchtapes.co.uk/ Snatch Tapes web Site]