Industrial scavengers Test Dept have just announced June and July screenings of their commissioned DS30 film in the North of England and Scotland. Debuting at last year’s AV Festival, the piece commemorates the 30-year anniversary of the 1984–85 miners’ strike through footage of mining communities culled from national and local archives set to music from Test Dept’s own strike-related backlog. You can read our thoughts on last year’s screening here.
The screenings follow in the footsteps of Test Dept’s 1984-1985 Fuel to Fight Tour, visiting the ex-coalfield areas of Yorkshire, Lancashire, Durham, Tyneside and Scotland. In addition to the film, each viewing features additional footage from the Test Dept archive as well as Q&A sessions with founding members Graham Cunnington, Angus Farquhar, Paul Jamrozy and special guests unique to each venue.
The UK tour coincides with the release of Total State Machine, a 385-page PC-Press publication out July 16 that draws from the Test Dept’s considerable archive of original artwork, photography and film stills to document the group’s musical, cultural and political legacy. The launch event for the book, held at Rough Trade East, will feature a Q&A with Paul Jamrozy, Gray Cunnington, Robin Rimbaud, Peter Webb, Alexei Monroe and the Quietus’ own Luke Turner. Read more about the release here and look for the group’s Shoulder to Shoulder reissue, set for release that same day.
