The Social Deviants

The Deviants  (formerly The Social Deviants) were an English rock group originally active in the late 1960’s, but until his death in 2013, 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 1970’s.   (More from Wikipedia)

From my first exposure to his remarkable body of work back in the late 1970’s, Mick Farren became one of my very favorite rock musicians.  He has released solo albums, and he has been in a number of amazing rock bands also:  the Social Deviants, the Deviants, the Pink Fairies, and others.  Early on, Farren wrote lyrics for another of my long-time favorite bands, Hawkwind.  One of Farren’s long-time collaborators, Andy Colquhoun is a past UARA.  Mick Farren was also a prolific writer on a host of subjects and published numerous science-fiction novels.  The Allmusic entry on him by Chris True begins:  “To say that Mick Farren was a ‘jack of all trades’ is putting it mildly.”