The group formed in the London suburb of
New Cross in 1981. The core members of the group were Graham Cunnington, Paul Jamrozy, Jonathan Toby Burdon, Paul Hines and Angus Farquhar. The band signed to Some Bizzare Records, a label connected to acts like
Depeche Mode,
Soft Cell,
The The,
Cabaret Voltaire,
PTV,
Foetus, and
Swans. The slides and film for Test Dept multi-media events were made by visual director Brett Turnbull. Their discography spans a wide variety of influences and styles, including a collaboration with the South Wales Striking Miners Choir in support of the
miners' strike of 1984. They were particularly notable for complex and powerful percussion, as well as high-energy live performances. Like the German band
Einstürzende Neubauten, another Some Bizzare label signing with whom they are often compared, Test Dept used unconventional instruments such as scrap metal and industrial machinery as sound sources; however, Test Dept's use of these objects was far more rhythmic than was Neubauten's, and was often accompanied by film and slide shows. Test Dept. were also active in the 1980s underground
tape scene with many of their earliest releases being available only on cassette. The band's album
The Unacceptable Face of Freedom was praised by a music reviewer for
The New York Times, claiming the album was notable for a "sophisticated use of
sound-collage techniques and the helter-skelter momentum of its cyclical rhythms". In the 1990s, the band's music became less industrial and took on many of the properties of
techno. The band's political stance was energised by the passing of the
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. The band split up in 1997, but its former members have continued to work in the fields of art and culture. Angus Farquhar helped re-establish the ancient
Gaelic Beltane Fire Festival, held yearly on the night before/morning of the first of May on
Edinburgh's
Calton Hill. Farquhar also formed
NVA, an innovative theatre company specialising in large-scale site-specific events. Cunnington, who suffers from chronic
rheumatoid arthritis, produced a one-man show in 1996 called
Pain, recounting his experiences as a sufferer from this condition. Jamrozy works with the performance group C.3.3. Their album,
Ballad of Reading Gaol - The Cacophonietta, was released on
Cold Spring Records. Gus Ferguson teaches music to orphans in
Kathmandu, and young Buddhist monks in Northern India. The core of the original group re-emerged in 2014 to engage with the current cultural and political climate, exploring new ways of expression in a strategic programme of actions. Their large scale film installation 'DS30' utilised Dunston Staiths, an industrial landmark on the
River Tyne in
Gateshead and was commissioned by AV Festival to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the
UK Miners' strike. The DS30 film from the event then toured former mining community areas in the UK. They subsequently released
Total State Machine, a large book documenting their history, via PC Press Publishing in 2015. The group began playing again in 2014 as
Test Dept: Redux the current line up includes Zel Kaute, David Altweger, Charles Poulet, and scales up with additional performers for large scale events these include Ashley Davies, Rob Lewis, Alex Nym and Franziska Anna Faust. Further Test Dept: Redux gigs followed in 2016, including the London gig supported by electro-punks Feral Five. In 2017, the band organized a three day festival titled Assembly of Disturbance, featuring an exhibition of TD manifestos and films
Culture is Not a Luxury, Malcom Poynter's sculpture 'Horseman of the Apocalypse', speakers, DJs and other contemporary performers, these included a new TD project - 'Prolekult', with kinetic sculpture from 'autoPneumatix' and sub sonic frequencies from 'Disinformation'. They released a new album,
Disturbance as Test Dept, along with their entire back catalogue on the
One Little Independent Records label in 2018. ==Discography==