TESTDEPT been interested in repeating a formula, we have shown diversity in working with many different artists and with a variety of styles from classical to techno. Of course, it is all highly subjective. Like some other records, The Unacceptable face of freedom shares the name of the albumwith some events that happened at the time. Was this album created with the music played there? It was a collaboration with Malcolm Poynter, right? PJ.: It was a meeting of minds with South London sculptor Malcolm Poynter whose work emblazoned the iconic Unacceptable Face of Freedom album cover.We sawhis work and immediately saw the connection. We met up with him and he was really open to collaborate, he loved the energy and anger of the music and allowed us to create images of his work for the cover and to use as visuals for a live performance. At the time of the album, we produced the UFoF show at Paddington the first Ministry of Power collaborative event working with dancers, poets, circus performers, metal sculptors, militant miners and Malcolm with his sculptures in the space as part of the performance and projected on film. Pax Britannica was another interesting album, based on a score by John Eacott (he was also playing in the previous records, right?) and featuring the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. It’s the closest that Test Dept would go to classic music. Was the band more interested in this kind of music at the time or was it the music that fitted better the Second Coming event? PJ.:We had always been interested in classical music and our use of elements from composers such as Gorecki, Shostakovich and Prokofiev was part of our performance from the very beginning.What was to finally culminate in the album Pax Britannica started its journey as the live track “Empire” for the Unacceptable Face of Freedom event at Paddington in 1986.The track became a major feature of the shifting TD live set throughout the late eighties, evolving into a Brechtian styled theatrical piece with various adaptions and incarnations scaled up for larger events including Expo “86, Siege of Wapping and the Doulton Fountain Project. It was finally laid to rest as its themes morphed into the Second Coming in 1990, with a targeted critique of the heritage industry and the fictitious use of the past to promote right-wing ideology. A warning of the coming of the current political climate of autocratic fascistic populists. www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be - 6 - In 2014, the book Total State Machine was published with some interviews and diaries of the band. How did the idea of writing/compiling this book? PJ.: We had been exploring our archives and looking at the possibility of reworking some of our recordings, but had always had the idea of turning all the photographic images, sketches, notes, diaries of tours and amazing anecdotal writing into a publication.We met with Peter Webb who was starting up a new publishing company PC Press and he was really into the idea of backing the book project. So the idea was born and it continued to grow as we contacted people we had worked with over the years and gathered their amazing stories. These texts were placed alongside more theoretical pieces that contextualized the work and framed it in within the historic, political and cultural context of our times. Disturbance is your album from 2019. Do you think that it’s the perfect mix between the modern Test Dept and the ones from the 80? PJ.: Disturbance began as an exploration and investigation, reinterpreting our previous work and building on that foundation but we are in a completely different situation now.We thought it was timely to express how we felt about the state of the world around us, and touching on how it got to be this way.While the development of it grew organically, we always had the aim of creating a sound that was newand of the present time while at the same time referencing where we had come from. We felt it important to link the past with present in recalibrating our sound and overall aesthetic.Working with more recent collaborators, producer and sound engineer Lottie Poulet, drummer Zel Kaute,David Altweger on the visual side of the project and our newest member,Greg (Gergely) Konrady,gave us a new dynamic and fresh inspiration. What is Dept Test preparing for the future? PJ.: Things evolve and change as society changes around us and we are open to profound change rather than conforming to the status quo, as it exists. We look at disturbance on a sonic as well as physical plain,as a commentary upon and an instigator of seismic social change. A reflection on the dramatic times we live in,and a warning against catastrophe through historic repetition. François Zappa © Published by the kind permission of El Garaje de Frank www.elgarajedefrank.es Read full interview on https://elgarajedefrank.es/en/interview-test-dept/
7 Publizr Home