Snatch - Joey/Red Army EP + Snatch LP

Great no-wave related group that collaborated with Brian Eno at some point or another...The thing of interest here to NWW List collectors is the EP, as the tracks on the EP are more experimental, jumping from weird funk/blues to punk rock to proto-techno from track to track. The EP was released on Fetish records, who put out other great records by 8 Eyed Spy, z'ev, and others. Note that the versions of the tracks that appear on both the EP and LP are completely different.

Red Army is quite possibly my favorite proto-techno track released in any decade, even including Tolerance and other obscure greats.

Snatch were originally if the News of The World was to be believed going to be called Cho-Cha before the sexually ambiguous name of Snatch was settled on. Snatch was Patti Palladin and Judy Nylon, a pair of US expatriates:

Live Speakeasy 1977
"I met Judy on the phone. I was having a transatlantic conversation on the phone with a friend in London. I was in NY at the time, and Judy was in his studio. When I came to London in about '74 we became good friends. We were trying our best to get something going, we were both creative chicks... We both had ideas of sorts.

For 2 foreign chicks living in London, what is there really to do? So that's why Rock & Roll! It was the obvious thing to do out of boredom. We thought about forming a band together. We worked on basic lyrics and melodies and things. But it was hard trying to find people who understood where we were coming from. At that time all the punks were suddenly beginning to appear. Everyone was into saying, "I'm a punk. I'm cool, I'm aggressive, we're going to change it" and all this shit. " John Savage Interview. Search & Destroy #8

They certainly had a refreshingly blasé attitude to the rock'n'roll business. Sporadic gigs and sporadic singles when they felt the need spanning from 1976-80 and a collaboration on a Brian Eno single. They even reached #54 in the charts with All I Want but made no effort to cash in. Both Judy and Patti were strong willed and committed individuals who never exploited their sexuality or the music industry they found themselves in unlike most of their punk contemporaries of the time. It was all on their terms.

Snatch was never a permanent set up. In fact it was really a collaboration between Patti, Judy and whoever else. Eventually they went their separate ways. Both are still recording and in the arts to this day.

Get the LP

Get the EP