PC-Press is an independent DIY publisher, formed in 2014 by Pete Webb with help from Alexei Monroe and initially Alex Nym; that values the art form of the book. We are interested in publishing and developing work that is about challenging music, counter culture, DIY culture, music scenes, untold cultural history, critical analysis and representations of interesting artists and their work.
Our first publication was the Test Department book Total State Machine. PC-Press worked with Test Department and three of its key members Paul Jamrozy, Graham Cunnington and Angus Farquhar on the book which charts their history, music, artwork and has essays and reflections written by the band themselves and many of their collaborators or people affected by their work.
They described themselves as being born “in the decaying docklands of South London” and that they and their music were “an urgent reaction to the materialistic drift and reactionary conservatism of the prevailing musical and political culture” of the 1980s.
I was attracted to their work partly because of the impact of going to see their performances throughout the 1980s but also by their independent spirit, their use of found objects and deeply emotional classical and electronic music to produce some of the most powerful work I have ever witnessed. Their ethical and moral compass also attracted my growing political identity during the 1980s period. Overall though, this project shows what Test Department as a group achieved in a short space of time with little economic resources but with immense creative vision and an incredible work ethic and energy. Their story and history had to be told and I am very proud of the fact that PC-Press could work with Test Department to realise this book.
Test Department in its former state may have ceased to function but a new version of the group has emerged to engage with the current cultural and political climate. They released the album Disturbance in 2019 and have been playing live shows across Europe and the U.S. They continue to present challenging work and their new collaboration with a/Political will develop new work for 2024.
Since the Test Dept book, PC-Press grew into a fully functioning DIY publishing company, publishing a work by the photographer Mont Sherar in his book about the re-united original members of Killing Joke entitled Twilight of the Mortals: A photographic portrayal of Killing Joke. This was published in 2018 and was one of the books of the Year in Vive Le Rock magazine.
We then engaged in a collaboration with great Bristol publisher Tangent, run by the wonderful Richard Jones, to translate and deliver a book on Massive Attack to an English speaking audience. The book Massive Attack: Out Of The Comfort Zone, was written and researched by Melissa Chemam; a French Algerian freelance journalist who spent time in Bristol interviewing and researching the book.
From there PC-Press has commissioned and published Richard Cabut’s post-punk beat novel Looking For A Kiss and NSK State Reserve’s book FIAT: All Money Is Ours. Both have been extensively reviewed and praised and have taken the company to the next level. The company is open to proposals and ideas for new work. We have a focus on music, subcultures, histories, biographies, philosophy, politics and now also fiction.