The Deviants (formerly The Social Deviants) were an English rock group originally active in the late 1960s, but still used as a vehicle for the musical work of writer Mick Farren.

Farren has stated that The Deviants were originally a community band which "did things every now and then – it was a total assault thing with a great deal of inter-relation and interdependence". Musically, Farren described their sound as "teeth-grinding, psychedelic rock" somewhere between the Stooges and The Mothers of Invention. The Deviants have been described as a transition between classic British psych and the Punk/Heavy Metal aesthetic of the 1970s. They were the first act to ever be introduced as a Punk rock band by the underground DJ Jeff Dexter at Tiles Club in London’s Oxford Street, August 15th 1967.

History

1960s

The Social Deviants were founded by singer/writer Mick Farren in 1967 out of the Ladbroke Grove UK Underground community, featuring Sid Bishop on guitar, Cord Rees on bass and Russell Hunter on drums. The band shortened their name simply to The Deviants and, with the financial backing of a 21 year old son of a millionaire Farren had befriended, independently recorded their debut album Ptooff!, selling copies through the UK Underground press before it was picked up by Decca Records.

Rees left the band to be replaced by Farren's flatmate Duncan Sanderson and the band released a second album Disposable through Stable Records.

Bishop married and left the band and, at the suggestion of Jamie Mandelkau, Farren recruited Canadian guitarist Paul Rudolph. This band recorded and released the album The Deviants 3 through Transatlantic Records and embarked upon a west coast tour of North America, during which the relationship between Farren and the musicians became personally and musically strained, with Farren quitting the band and returning to England.

On returning to England, Farren teamed up with Twink and Steve Peregrin Took to record the album Mona – The Carnivorous Circus before concentrating on music journalism. When the three remaining musicians returned to England, they also teamed up with Twink to form the Pink Fairies.

1970s onwards

In the mid-1970s, Farren was offered a one-off deal by Stiff Records to record an EP, Screwed Up, which was released under the name Mick Farren and the Deviants. The musicians on this record included Rudolph, former Pink Fairies/Motörhead guitarist Larry Wallis, former Warsaw Pakt bassist Andy Colquhoun and former Hawkwind drummer Alan Powell. This band, without Rudolph, went on to record the album Vampires Stole My Lunch Money and the non-album single "Broken Statue", both credited to Mick Farren rather than The Deviants.

At the end of the 1970s Farren again concentrated on his writing and relocated to New York. He would resurrect The Deviants name for occasional live performances, such as in February 1984 when he teamed up with Wayne Kramer and Wallis' band which featured Sanderson and drummer George Butler. This set was released as Human Garbage.

Farren sporadically performs and records under the name The Deviants using a pool of musicians which include Colquhoun and former Blodwyn Pig saxophonist Jack Lancaster. Eating Jello With A Heated Fork was released in 1996, credited to Deviants IXVI, followed by 2002's Dr Crow.

Discography

• 1967 – Ptooff!
• 1968 – Disposable
• 1969 – The Deviants 3
• 1984 – Human Garbage (live)
• 1996 – Fragments of Broken Probes (demos, outtakes and live)
• 1996 – Eating Jello With a Heated Fork
• 1999 – The Deviants Have Left The Planet (demos, outtakes and live)
• 1999 – Barbarian Princes (Live In Japan)
• 2000 – This CD Is Condemned (compilation)
• 2001 – On Your Knees, Earthlings (compilation)
• 2002 – Dr. Crow

References

Deakin, Rich (2007). Keep it Together! Cosmic Boogie with the Deviants and Pink Fairies. UK: Headpress.

External links

• Funtopia legacy Mick Farren homepage
• Deviant History UHCK
• Deviants Discography Trouser press
• Larry Wallis’s review of ‘’Dr Crow’’
• Mick Farren and the Deviants Alive Naturalsound Records profile