The Deviant Thoughts of Mick Farren.

This article was first published in Record Mirror , March 21, 1970, p.7.

ONCE UPON A TIME, Mick Farren was a social deviant. Then he became a Deviant. Not satisfied, young Mick decided to deviate and dispensed with his position as a Deviant. To be more precise, he left the group while they were in the States and began to think for himself.
   Aside from being one of the most bizarre individuals on any street, he also has a nonexistent waist and the lowest belt ever worn. That, however, has nothing to do with anything, but will be of interest to active lovers of the baroque. On first glance, he may appear to be a shocking reconstruction of Peter Wyngarde or a fuzzy fence post, but he is in reality Mick Farren peeping out from behind Mick Farren. Last week he wafted into the RM offices in search of the Morbid Module for top level conferences on recent events.
   "What I'm trying to do is explain to people that they are part of a much larger thing and that they no longer need to express themselves through violence", he explained from behind his all-systems-go moustache.
"People will relate to others if they relate back and music can be a great help in stirring this. Too many bands depend on their technical standard and people go to see them just to watch some fast fingerwork so, I'm getting a thing together with Steve Took and we hope to carry a really good rock and roll show to the stage. We won't be up above the kids, we'll be wanting them to join in any way they can. I want them to get drunk, pull birds and make noise. After five days in a factory, nobody really wants to sit and gape, they want to have a good time and get layed. There won't be any vacuum in this band; no decisions on what we're doing right and what we're doing wrong, we'll explode everything and turn a gig into party time. It's a basic communication and the only difference between us and audience will be that we are making just a little more noise. Nobody should have to be embarrassed to yell because they don't know the person next to them - they will all relate to one another and these rock concerts won't be like an hour on the tube."
   Mick discovered a gap too big to be ignored when he was in the States. Kids were reacting with violence instead of taking time to think. On the outside was a whole adult business world in a killing mood.
   "The American situation is paranoic. It's full of executives with peptic ulcers and bent on removing those who wish to disagree. The police are an armed gang.
   The whole clash between forces is allowed to survive because some people see the profit in it and make money out of it. It's different here, because we haven't got that history, we haven't got that war and we aren't geared to tension that results from the super-patriot machine. We both shared a period of violence in the 50's, but we grew away from it and they grew into it. I struck up a friendship with the Hell's Angels while I was there, because we had the same kind of upbringing - the rocker thing where you had to give off an air of menace when you walked. The great John Wayne masculinity brigade. The Angels seem to be the only thing that is virtually unchanged despite the awareness that came in with Dylan and that age, but the whole population is prone to react the same way we did in the 50's.
   "Most kids have now realised that trying to be tough is not the way to act all the time and that by being shrewd they can avoid mind-killing factory jobs and get ahead. At the same time, another generation is trying to stop them. This gap has existed ever since survival ceased to be the main problem in life. All they really need is a way to let off steam and a little psychological security. Steve and I are going to try and fix the steam side of it by providing a scene that will be so good people will be exhausted afterwards.
   Social deviants, ecstatic music fans, orgy enthusiasts and recluses will be pleased to hear that both Mick and Steve Took will 'continue to produce solo LPs and will often be seen alone on the streets. Mick has just released his first LP and it is not called 'Inconspicuous In Piccadilly', but is instead titled 'Mona, The Carnivorous Circus' and is on Transatlantic. The album is full of ferocious rock and roll in the form of the electric 'Mona' and various chats, discussions and wrangling that reeks of paranoia -which is what was intended. So if you feel like screaming, put this record on. if you see a frizzy bewhiskered fellow chain smoking and glaring at passing police vehicles, go up and ask him what his name is. It could be Peter Wyngarde!