Mick Farren
Encyclopedia
Michael Anthony 'Mick' Farren (born 3 September 1943, Cheltenham
Cheltenham
Cheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...

, Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....

) is an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 journalist, author and singer associated with counterculture
Counterculture
Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...

 and the UK Underground.

Music

Farren was the singer with the proto-punk band The Deviants between 1967 and 1969, releasing three albums.
During 1970 he released the solo album Mona – The Carnivorous Circus
Mona – The Carnivorous Circus
Mona—The Carnivorous Circus is a 1970 album by the UK underground artist Mick Farren.The album was recorded to fulfill contractual obligations. Farren had recently returned from a tour of the west coast of North America with his band The Deviants, who had relieved the singer of his duties.Farren...

which also featured Steve Peregrin Took
Steve Peregrin Took
Steve Peregrin Took was an English musician. He is best known for his membership of the duo Tyrannosaurus Rex with Marc Bolan...

, John Gustafson
John Gustafson (musician)
John "Gus" Gustafson also known as Johnny Gustafson is an influential bass player who has had a thirty eight year recording and live performance career...

 and Paul Buckmaster
Paul Buckmaster
Paul John Buckmaster is a Grammy Award-winning English artist, arranger and composer.He began learning the cello at the age of 4 and graduated from the Royal College of Music at age 16....

, before ending his music business to concentrate on writing.

During the mid-1970s, he briefly revived his musical career, releasing the EP Screwed Up, album Vampires Stole My Lunch Money
Vampires Stole My Lunch Money
Vampires Stole My Lunch Money is a 1978 album by the UK underground artist Mick Farren.Farren had left music performance after his 1970 album Mona – The Carnivorous Circus to concentrate on journalism and writing. However, in 1976 he had the opportunity whilst in New York to record the single "Play...

and single "Broken Statue". The album featured fellow NME journalist Chrissie Hynde
Chrissie Hynde
Christine Ellen "Chrissie" Hynde is an US musician best known as the leader of the rock/new wave band the Pretenders. She is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist, and has been the only constant member of the band throughout its history.-Early life and career:Hynde is the daughter of a part-time...

 and Dr. Feelgood
Dr. Feelgood (band)
Dr. Feelgood are a British pub rock band formed in 1971. The band's name derives from a slang term for heroin or for a doctor who is willing to overprescribe drugs. It is also a reference to a 1962 record by the American blues pianist and singer Willie Perryman called "Dr Feel-Good", which...

 guitarist Wilko Johnson.

He has sporadically done musical work since then, collaborating with Wayne Kramer
Wayne Kramer (guitarist)
Wayne Kramer is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and film and television scorer....

 on Who Shot You Dutch? and Death Tongue, Jack Lancaster on The Deathray Tapes and Andy Colquhoun on The Deviants albums Eating Jello With a Heated Fork
Eating Jello With a Heated Fork
Eating Jello with a Heated Fork is 1996 studio album recorded by Mick Farren and friends released under the name Deviants IXVI.The album was recorded with long time friends and collaborators Andy Colquhoun and Jack Lancaster and featured Wayne Kramer and his band.-Track listing:#"Eating Jello with...

and Dr. Crow
Dr. Crow
Dr. Crow is a studio album by Mick Farren and friends released in 2002 under the name The Deviants.The album was recorded with long time friends and collaborators Andy Colquhoun and Jack Lancaster and featured Wayne Kramer's backing band...

.

Aside from his own work, he has provided lyrics for various musician friends over the years. He has collaborated with Lemmy, co-writing "Lost Johnny" for Hawkwind
Hawkwind
Hawkwind are an English rock band, one of the earliest space rock groups. Their lyrics favour urban and science fiction themes. They are also a noted precursor to punk rock and now are considered a link between the hippie and punk cultures....

, and "Keep Us on the Road" and "Damage Case" for Motörhead. With Larry Wallis, he co-wrote "When's the Fun Begin?" for the Pink Fairies
Pink Fairies
Pink Fairies were an English rock band active in the London underground and psychedelic scene of the early 1970s. They promoted free music, drug taking and anarchy and often performed impromptu gigs and other agitprop stunts, such as playing for free outside the gates at the Bath and Isle of Wight...

 and several tracks on Wallis' solo album Death in a Guitar Afternoon. He provided lyrics for the Wayne Kramer single "Get Some" during the mid-1970s, and continued to work with and for him during the 1990s.

Singles

  • 1976 – Mick Farren – "Play With Fire" / "Lost Johnny" (Ork records)
  • 1977 – Mick Farren and The Deviants – Screwed Up EP (Stiff Records
    Stiff Records
    Stiff Records is a record label created in London in 1976, by entrepreneurs Dave Robinson and Andrew Jakeman , and active until 1985. It was reactivated in 2007....

    )
  • 1978 – Mick Farren – "Half Price Drinks" (Logo Records)
  • 1978 – Mick Farren – "Broken Statue" / "It's All In The Picture" (Logo records)
  • 199? – Lunar Malice – "Gunfire In The Night" / "Touched By The Fire"

Albums

  • 1967 – The Deviants – Ptooff!
    Ptooff!
    Ptooff!—self-described on the inside cover as the deviants underground l.p.—is the 1967 debut album by the UK underground group The Deviants ....

    (Impressario/Decca Records
    Decca Records
    Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....

    )
  • 1968 – The Deviants – Disposable
    Disposable (album)
    Disposable is a 1968 album by the UK underground group The Deviants.-Track listing:#"Somewhere to Go" #"Sparrows and Wires" #"Jamie's Song"...

    (Stable Records)
  • 1969 – The Deviants – The Deviants 3
    The Deviants 3
    The Deviants 3 is the third and final album by the UK underground group The Deviants, recorded and released in 1969.Lead vocalist Mick Farren regards the album as the beginning of a divergence between himself and his fellow musicians, stating "I had one idea and the rest of them wanted to be a kind...

    (Transatlantic Records
    Transatlantic Records
    Transatlantic Records was a British independent record label. It was established in 1961. It started began primarily as an importer of American folk, blues and jazz records - by many of the artists who influenced the burgeoning British folk and blues boom. Within a couple of years, the company had...

    )
  • 1970 – Mick Farren – Mona – The Carnivorous Circus
    Mona – The Carnivorous Circus
    Mona—The Carnivorous Circus is a 1970 album by the UK underground artist Mick Farren.The album was recorded to fulfill contractual obligations. Farren had recently returned from a tour of the west coast of North America with his band The Deviants, who had relieved the singer of his duties.Farren...

    (Transatlantic Records)
  • 1978 – Mick Farren – Vampires Stole My Lunch Money
    Vampires Stole My Lunch Money
    Vampires Stole My Lunch Money is a 1978 album by the UK underground artist Mick Farren.Farren had left music performance after his 1970 album Mona – The Carnivorous Circus to concentrate on journalism and writing. However, in 1976 he had the opportunity whilst in New York to record the single "Play...

    (Logo Records)
  • 1984 – The Deviants – Human Garbage
    Human Garbage
    Human Garbage is a 1984 live album by the UK underground artist Mick Farren and friends, released under the name The Deviants.Farren had relocated to New York but a return visit to London gave him the opportunity for this one-off performance with Larry Wallis' Previously Unreleased group at...

    – live (Psycho Records)
  • 1987 – Wayne Kramer
    Wayne Kramer (guitarist)
    Wayne Kramer is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and film and television scorer....

     & Mick Farren – Who Shot You Dutch?
  • 1991 – Wayne Kramer – Death Tongue (Progressive Records)
  • 1993 – Tijuana Bible – Gringo Madness
  • 1995 – Mick Farren and Jack Lancaster – The Deathray Tapes (Alive Records
    Alive Records
    Alive Naturalsound Records – also known simply as Alive Records – started in 1994 in Los Angeles, California, by Patrick Boissel, is an independent record label specializing in garage rock, punk blues, garage punk, psychedelic rock, power pop and blues-rock music. It grew out of Boissel's...

    )
  • 1996 – Deviants IXVI – Eating Jello With a Heated Fork
    Eating Jello With a Heated Fork
    Eating Jello with a Heated Fork is 1996 studio album recorded by Mick Farren and friends released under the name Deviants IXVI.The album was recorded with long time friends and collaborators Andy Colquhoun and Jack Lancaster and featured Wayne Kramer and his band.-Track listing:#"Eating Jello with...

    (Alive Records
    Alive Records
    Alive Naturalsound Records – also known simply as Alive Records – started in 1994 in Los Angeles, California, by Patrick Boissel, is an independent record label specializing in garage rock, punk blues, garage punk, psychedelic rock, power pop and blues-rock music. It grew out of Boissel's...

    )
  • 1999 – The Deviants – Barbarian Princes
    Barbarian Princes
    Barbarian Princes is 1999 live album recorded in Japan recorded by Mick Farren and friends released under the name The Deviants.The album was recorded with long time friend and collaborator Andy Colquhoun and featured Wayne Kramer's backing band....

    – Live In Japan
  • 2002 – The Deviants – Dr. Crow
    Dr. Crow
    Dr. Crow is a studio album by Mick Farren and friends released in 2002 under the name The Deviants.The album was recorded with long time friends and collaborators Andy Colquhoun and Jack Lancaster and featured Wayne Kramer's backing band...

    (Track Records)
  • 2004 – Mick Farren and The Deviants – Taste The Blue – live (Captain Trip Records, Japan)
  • 2005 – Mick Farren – To The Masterlock – live (Captain Trip Records, Japan)

Compilations

  • 1996 – Mick Farren and The Deviants – Fragments of Broken Probes
  • 1996 – The Social Deviants – Garbage (Alive Records
    Alive Records
    Alive Naturalsound Records – also known simply as Alive Records – started in 1994 in Los Angeles, California, by Patrick Boissel, is an independent record label specializing in garage rock, punk blues, garage punk, psychedelic rock, power pop and blues-rock music. It grew out of Boissel's...

    )
  • 1999 – The Deviants – The Deviants Have Left The Planet
  • 2000 – Mick Farren and The Deviants – This CD Is Condemned (Alive Records
    Alive Records
    Alive Naturalsound Records – also known simply as Alive Records – started in 1994 in Los Angeles, California, by Patrick Boissel, is an independent record label specializing in garage rock, punk blues, garage punk, psychedelic rock, power pop and blues-rock music. It grew out of Boissel's...

    )
  • 2001 – Mick Farren and The Deviants – On Your Knees, Earthlings (Alive Records
    Alive Records
    Alive Naturalsound Records – also known simply as Alive Records – started in 1994 in Los Angeles, California, by Patrick Boissel, is an independent record label specializing in garage rock, punk blues, garage punk, psychedelic rock, power pop and blues-rock music. It grew out of Boissel's...

    )

Writing

During the early 1970s he contributed to the UK Underground press
Underground press
The underground press were the independently published and distributed underground papers associated with the counterculture of the late 1960s and early 1970s in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and other western nations....

 such as the International Times
International Times
International Times was an underground newspaper founded in London in 1966. Editors included Hoppy, David Mairowitz, Pete Stansill, Barry Miles, Jim Haynes and playwright Tom McGrath...

, also establishing Nasty Tales which he successfully defended from an obscenity charge. He later wrote for the mainstream New Musical Express, for which he wrote the article The Titanic Sails At Dawn, an analysis of what he considered the malaise afflicting then-contemporary rock music and which described the conditions that subsequently resulted in punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

.

To date he has written 23 novels, including the Victor Renquist
Victor Renquist
Victor Renquist is a fictional vampire created by Mick Farren. He has appeared in a series of books known as 'the Renquist Quartet'.-Profile:...

novels and the DNA Cowboys sequence. His 1989 novel The Armageddon Crazy deals with a post-2000 United States which is dominated by fundamentalists
Fundamentalism
Fundamentalism is strict adherence to specific theological doctrines usually understood as a reaction against Modernist theology. The term "fundamentalism" was originally coined by its supporters to describe a specific package of theological beliefs that developed into a movement within the...

 who subvert the Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...

.

Farren has written 11 works of non-fiction, a number of biographical (including four on Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

), autobiographical and culture books (such as The Black Leather Jacket
The Black Leather Jacket
The Black Leather Jacket is a book written by English journalist and author Mick Farren published in 1985.-The Book:The book chronicles the history of the black leather jacket over a seventy year span up to the mid-1980s, taking in all aspects of its social, cultural and political impact. In the...

) and much poetry.

From 2003 to 2008, he was a columnist for the weekly newspaper Los Angeles CityBeat
Los Angeles CityBeat
Los Angeles CityBeat was an alternative weekly newspaper in Los Angeles, California, debuting June 12, 2003. The publication ceased production with the March 26, 2009 issue. LA CityBeat was available every Thursday at more than 1,500 distribution locations throughout the Los Angeles area, with an...

.

In his 3 May 2010 Doc40 blog, Farren announced that he is writing another Victor Renquist novel, with the working title of Renquist V.

Fiction

  • 1973 – The Texts of Festival
  • 1974 – The Tale of Willy's Rats
  • 1976 – The DNA Cowboys Trilogy: The Quest of The DNA Cowboys
  • 1976 – The DNA Cowboys Trilogy: Synaptic Manhunt
  • 1977 – The DNA Cowboys Trilogy: The Neural Atrocity
  • 1978 – The Feelies
  • 1981 – The Song of Phaid the Gambler
    • part 1: Phaid the Gambler
    • part 2: Citizen Phaid
  • 1985 – Protectorate
  • 1986 – CORP*S*E (aka Vickers)
  • 1987 – Their Masters' War
  • 1988 – Exit Funtopia (aka The Long Orbit)
  • 1989 – The Armageddon Crazy
  • 1989 – The Last Stand of the DNA Cowboys
  • 1990 – Mars – The Red Planet
  • 1991 – Necrom
  • 1996 – The Victor Renquist Quartet
    Victor Renquist
    Victor Renquist is a fictional vampire created by Mick Farren. He has appeared in a series of books known as 'the Renquist Quartet'.-Profile:...

    : The Time of Feasting
  • 1999 – Back From Hell: Car Warriors #2
  • 1999 – Jim Morrison's Adventures in the Afterlife
  • 2000 – The Victor Renquist Quartet: Darklost
  • 2001 – The Victor Renquist Quartet: More Than Mortal
  • 2001 – Short Stories (1972–1973)
  • 2002 – Dead Cats Bouncing
  • 2002 – The Victor Renquist Quartet: Underland
  • 2004 – Kindling
    Kindling (Mick Farren novel)
    Kindling is the first novel in the Flame of Evil series written by Mick Farren, featuring The Four: a mythical group of young adults with supernatural powers...

  • 2006 – Conflagration

Non-Fiction

  • Watch Out Kids
  • Get On Down
  • Elvis In His Own Words
  • The Rolling Stones In Their Own Words
  • The Rock & Roll Circus
  • Elvis – The Illustrated Record
  • The Black Leather Jacket
    The Black Leather Jacket
    The Black Leather Jacket is a book written by English journalist and author Mick Farren published in 1985.-The Book:The book chronicles the history of the black leather jacket over a seventy year span up to the mid-1980s, taking in all aspects of its social, cultural and political impact. In the...

  • Elvis And The Colonel
  • The Hitchhiker's Guide to Elvis
  • The CIA Files
  • Conspiracies, Lies And Hidden Agendas
  • Give The Anarchist A Cigarette
  • Gene Vincent: There's One In Every Town
  • Words of Wisdom From the Greatest Minds of All Time
  • Who's Watching You?: The Chilling Truth about the State, Surveillance and Personal Freedom
  • (Who put the) Bomp! Saving the World One Record at a Time
  • Zones of Chaos (an anthology)
  • Speed-Speed-Speedfreak - A fast history of amphetamine

Counterculture activity

Farren organised the Phun City
Phun City
Phun City was a rock festival held at Ecclesden Common near Worthing, England from July 24 to July 26, 1970. Excluding the one-day free concerts in London's Hyde Park, Phun City became the first large-scale free festival in the UK....

 Festival in 1970. He has long been associated with the Hells Angels
Hells Angels
The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is a worldwide one-percenter motorcycle gang and organized crime syndicate whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporation. Their primary motto...

 (UK) who provided security at Phun City; they even awarded Farren an "approval patch" in 1970 for use on his first solo album Mona.

He was a prominent activist in the White Panthers UK movement, a group that most notably organised free food and other support services for free festival
Free festival
Free festivals are a combination of music, arts and cultural activities for which, often, no admission is charged, but involvement is preferred. They are identifiable by being multi-day events connected by a camping community without centralised control. The Free festival movement being the...

s from the Windsor Free Festival
Windsor Free Festival
The Windsor Free Festival was a British Free Festival held in Windsor Great Park from 1972 to 1974. Organised by some London commune dwellers, notably Ubi Dwyer and Sid Rawle, it was in many ways the forerunner of the Stonehenge Free Festival, particularly in the brutality of its final suppression...

 onwards.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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