OFTEN considered one of the pioneers of British post-punk, The Pop Group formed in Bristol in 1977. Inspired by the punk movement but also funk and dub music, frontman Mark Stewart’s idiosyncratic approach to his art has earned him cult status. Having initially split up in 1981, the band reformed in 2010. They recently released new album Honeymoon on Mars. Stewart talks to EDWIN GILSON

Can you elaborate on how your comeback came about?

The guy from The Simpsons [Matt Groening, the show’s creator] was curating a festival and he wanted me to reform The Pop Group and Iggy Pop to reform The Stooges. That put the idea into motion.

Hank Shocklee, known for his production work with Public Enemy, helped out on your new record. How did this unlikely partnership happen?

Public Enemy completely changed music, in my view. There’s a festival in Texas called South By South West and an old mate of my mine – the old bass player from Gang Of Four – called me up. He works for iTunes now, bizarrely. There are punks in the weirdest places now. Anyway, he phoned me up and asked if he could bring Hank Shocklee to one of our gigs. Suddenly Hank has jumped on stage and is pogoing to the songs like some drunk bloke at Komedia in Brighton.

I thought he would be brilliant to work with on this album. You can get deep into the textures on this album. I like it and I’m a quite strict judge of music.

You said that your background in art, and specifically montaging, freed you to merge different styles of music. Is it quite liberating, this “throw it at the wall” approach?

Yes. For me, that idea of juxtaposition creates sparks. Supposedly when I was a kid I invented industrial and trip-hop in the same track. It’s just because I’ve got this nonchalance. I’m not really a trained musician. If I want to put this Japanese noise thing over a backwards hip-hop beat, I’ll give it a go.

Can that approach ever backfire?

[Laughs] You should read some of the reviews. It might backfire, but then five or 10 years later musicians pick up on it and suddenly you’ve created a genre.

Sometimes people don’t understand it at the time but neither I do.

We have to keep ourselves happy and if people like it, great.

When you say the record is a stand against “manufactured hate and a hypersonic journey into a dystopian future”, it doesn’t take a massive leap to assume you’re reflecting against the current political climate. Is it as direct as that?

The whole point of saying these things is to get people to think. If you nail things down, and say, “This song is about... Dave,” then there’s nothing to interpret. It’s open to people to put their own ideas into it.

Where do the sci-fi and dystopian themes of the album come from?

For me, 2016 is a sci-fi year. We’re still living in 1950s houses but behind the screens a whole different world is growing.

There are a group of scientists, artists and dreamers trying to get this movement called “Occupy the Future” off the ground.

The future has to be dreamt. Nobody owns the future yet.

Komedia, Gardner Street, Brighton. This show was supposed to take place on Tuesday, November 15, but has been postponed until Thursday, February 16, 2017. Ticket prices will be the same.