The Changes are Misha Hollenbach, Shauna T, Fergus Purcell and Sk8thing. They live in separate countries, with separate timezones: Australia, Britain, and Japan. They have been, respectively: Dennis Roussos/Brian Freeze/Porky Sausage/Roland Korg/Boy George Michael; Boohoo Haha/Veronique Cliché/Nutty Nutnut; Aries Overlord/Mr Stinky/Mr T. Shirt; Vertical Doorway/Johnny Clone/Robot Asimov/Mangosteen Mangosteen AKA Barry Mango. Soon, they will probably be something else entirely. Theirs is a fluid set of identities, where roles are created and destroyed, never confirmed for long, and abruptly transformed without warning.

An appropriation of everything past, they consider and conflate the influence and experience of the cultural explosions of the 80s and 90s: rave, metal, acid, punk, krautrock and freakout, rainbow, black, silver, gold, latex, leather, denim… Everything and/or anything takes shape as material to rewrite the present, a joyous comical explosion, absolutely positive and energetic. There is humour in this freedom; there is freedom in this humour.

They enjoy cult phenomena just as they enjoy cult status, plotted along the lines of an international following that comes from one essential direction – upwards from the street, from sincere engagement with the magic of the autodidactic underground.

Text by Thomas Jeppe