TEST DEPT

Test Dept were an industrial music band formed in New Cross, London, by unemployed musicians (including Alastair Adams, Paul Jamrozy, Angus Farquhar and Graham Cunnington) from Glasgow, Scotland. Formed in 1981, they are hailed by many musicians (including Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails) as one of the most influential early industrial music acts. Their approach was marked out by a strong and forceful commitment to radical politics.



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 their extremely complicated and powerful percussion, as well as their high-energy live shows. The band played a range of venues from Waterloo and Cannon Street station, to Expo 86, Stirling Castle and the defunct St Rollox Railway Works in Glasgow.



In later years 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. For example, Angus Farquhar re-established the ancient Celtic 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.



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