30 years on from the end of the last miners’ strike Test Dept are screening a new film, DS30, set in the coalfields of County Durham.
The film was originally produced for the 2014 AV Festival, which was centred on the theme of extraction. However the band will be showing DS30 again at a one-off screening at The Ritzy, Brixton on April 23. The event will also see Test Dept launch their book Total State Machine, which trawls through the band’s archive to form a visual representation of the group. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with original members Graham Cunnington, Paul Jamrozy and Angus Farquhar.
DS30 features footage of mining communities around the River Tyne as well as Test Dept’s own performances from the time, when their ‘Fuel to Fight’ tour saw them hit the road in support of embattled mining communities. Their activities at the time also included the album Shoulder to Shoulder, where they collaborated with the South Wales Striking Miners’ Choir.
Test Dept formed in south London in 1981, becoming known for their use of unusual instruments and one-off performances in locations such as London Waterloo station and Stirling Castle.
To book tickets for the screening head to the Ritzy website.
