The Deviants' Back Catalog Reissued On Gonzo Multimedia

By: Apr. 21, 2014
Enter Your Email to Unlock This Article

Plus, get the best of BroadwayWorld delivered to your inbox, and unlimited access to our editorial content across the globe.




Existing user? Just click login.

Much to the excitement of punk rock fans around the globe, Gonzo Multimedia is reissuing the legendary Deviants back catalog. The Social Deviants were founded by singer/writer Mick Farren in 1967 out of the Ladbroke Grove UK Underground community, featuring Pete Munro on bass; Clive Muldoon on guitar, Mike Robinson on guitar and Russell Hunter on drums. The band shortened their name to The Deviants after Munro and Muldoon left and were replaced by Sid Bishop on guitar and Cord Rees on bass. With the financial backing of Nigel Samuel, the 21-year-old son of a millionaire, whom Farren had befriended, the group 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 in June 1967 to be replaced by Farren's flatmate Duncan Sanderson and the band released a second album 'Disposable' through the independent label Stable Records. When Bishop married and left the band, Farren recruited Canadian guitarist Paul Rudolph, at the suggestion of Jamie Mandelkau. This band recorded and released the album 'The Deviants 3' through Transatlantic Records.

During a tour of North America's west coast the relationship between Farren and the musicians became personally and musically strained, and the band decided to continue without Farren, who returned to England where he teamed up with ex-Pretty Things drummer Twink and Steve Peregrin Took to record the album 'Mona - The Carnivorous Circus', an album interspersed with interviews with members of the UK Hells Angels, before concentrating on music journalism. The three remaining musicians - Rudolph, Sanderson and Hunter - returned to England, and teamed up with Twink to form the Pink Fairies.

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 guitarist 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.
The Deviants - 'Barbarian Princes Live In Japan 1999':

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 these shows recorded in Japan with long-time friend and collaborator Andy Colquhoun. (To be released on April 28, 2014)

Tracks: Track Listing: 1. Aztec Calender 2. Eating Jello With A Heated Fork 3. Disgruntled Employee 4. It's Alright Ma 5. God's Worst Nightmare 6. Leader Hotel7. Lennon Song 8. Thunder On The Mountain 9. Lurid Night10. Dogpoet



Videos