This happened while garagepunk.com was on sabbatical: http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2013/jul/29/charles-shaar-murray-tribute-mick-farren

Better still...

This would be better placed elsewhere perhaps...can't undo! Oops.

Yeah, this should be under Psychotic Reactions.. Mick definitely deserves a good-bye; however, it fits under the proto-punk cat. o well I work too hard and need one of these: 

Irrelevant info of moderate interest : Wilko Johnson (Still Alive , You Bastards!) played the Guitar solo on "I Wanna Drink". I FIRST READ ABOUT THE DEVIANTS IN "THE ACID TRIP "BOOK.  They seemed like Britain's counterpart to The MC5 and Stooges ,and ,on many levels , they were.....Tho' they were also heavily into The (Early) Mothers , and , no doubt , The Fugs  . Of course , "Ptoooff!!"(check for spelling) came out two years before The Stooges' debut , but , parts of it , especially "I'm Coming Home" forsee that album and sound.       I first found the "Outrageous Contagious"EP on Stiff , and it suceeds in not embarrassing itself in the wake of Punk , just as surely as Twink's band , The Rings' Chiswick single , and The Downliners Sect's and Troggs' 45s on Raw.  Later , I actually found "Deviants 3" in a charity thrift shop.....Later still , I almost passed on "Human Garbage" because it looked like a Hardcore record . Boy , was I surprised . The other stuff was later , finally , reissued on CD , and I picked those up , too.....

Highly relavent to the subject I'd say... I agree 100% about them being the British equivalent to MC5 & The Stooges, or just themselves.  Mick's got the look.  (BTW, don't check my spelling, I write for a living and it has to be in written grammatic perfection all the way, so I don't think 'bout mine or others off hours). 

Ahhh Stiff Records, where would my happiness be without them.

Yeah , Farren definitely had the look , but , like The Dolls and other bands influenced by The Five , he probably was'nt aware of them until "Kick Out The Jams" came out.....possibly not ,he could haveseen something in the Underground PRESS IN 67 OR EARLY 68. He said that he had to tell The MC5 THEY WOULD'NT BE PAID TO PLAY THE PHUN CITY FESTIVAL , as it  had been turned into a free festival (They could'nt take donations from the crowd for a band that flew overseas to play?). bUT , FARREN REMEMBERED IT AS , HE TOLD THEM BEFORE THEY WENT ON , AND WAYNE KRAMER SAID , AT FARREN'S MEMORIAL , MICK DID'NT TELL THEM UNTIL AFTER THEY PLAYED.   I USED TO KNOW WAYNE KRAMER , THO' NOT REAL WELL. HE TOLD ME HE HAD JUST HEARD A TAPE OF A RADIO INTERVIEW WHERE FRED SMITH DESCRIBED A RIOT THAT BROKE OUT AT ONE OF THEIR GIGS. HE TOLD ME HE REMEMBERED THAT HAPPENING , BUT , NOT HOW SMITH DESCRIBED IT , BUT , SINCE IT HAD JUST HAPPENED WHEN HE RECALLED THE EVENT , HIS RECOLLECTION HAD TO BE RIGHT. WE ALL REMEMBER THINGS HOW WE WANT TO. IT DOES'NT MEAN YOU'RE LYING IF YOU SAY IT AS YOU REMEMBER IT. I TOLD WAYNE , WHEN I MET ROB TYNER , HE SAID JAMES BROWN WAS THEIR IDOL (TRUE DAT.) , BUT THEY NEVER DID ANY OFHIS SONGS. WAYNE KNOWS THAT'S WRONG , I KNEW IT WAS WRONG AT THE TIME.....BUT , IT WAS JUST HOW ROB REMEMBERED IT.

RIP. Now I wanna drink.

I , technically , subbed for Farren , once , about 10 years ago. My friend , Plastic Crimewave , puts on a big Psych festival at The Empty Bottle in Chicago ,  yearly. So , Farren was slated to be the uber - special guest and headliner (Over Michael Yonkers.). But , he cancelled at the last minute and myself , and our friend , Chris Connolly (I am NOT into that Waxtrax stuff in the least , but Connolly is a prince among men.) were asked to sing some of the songs Mick would have sang. I did "Slumlord" and "Trouble Coming Every Day"(With a verse thrown in for the recently deceased Arthur Kane. He'd been beaten , nearly to death , during the Rodney King riots in Watts.) , and Chris Connolly blew my shit off the stage with a cool - as - fuck "I'm Coming Home".

He had the name recognition , but , we both went over really well. The band sounded great , playing  those songs. I always felt that Farren missed out.

I wish I had friends named Plastic Crimewave, that seems more real to me than something like Janet or Roger, or whatever.  So, do they still put that Psych Festival on at (Im glad to know there is still an) Empty Bottle.  Haven't been there since the Horizontal Action Fest. 

Well.......................Your friends should be proud to have a Lutz Vipinderwoman for a friend.

Yeah , P.C. still does the Psych festivals....But , I only go to The Empty Bottle , maybe , two or three times a year. It's too big a pain in the ass to get there and back on Public Trans , and they have  must - see shows with mind - numbing infrequency.....nothing like it was in The 90's. Mind you ,I like the place and the people there very much , but , unlike most people who're all geeked out about it , I was going there 20 years ago.

The Hozac fest (Formerly called the Horizontal Action Fest) is still a huge blowout every year. I wanted to see Deadmoon at one of those fests , but they sell out by lunchtime....I did see Roky , last year , when he played the Hozac Fest. I also saw The Mentally Ill at the pre - party , but that's all I cared about , and that's me . To their credit , the Hozac fest and related gigs have diversified considerably in recent years.

John Battles said:

 

"The Hozac fest (Formerly called the Horizontal Action Fest) is still a huge blowout every year. I wanted to see Deadmoon at one of those fests , but they sell out by lunchtime....I did see Roky , last year , when he played the Hozac Fest. I also saw The Mentally Ill at the pre - party , but that's all I cared about , and that's me . To their credit , the Hozac fest and related gigs have diversified considerably in recent years."

I'm glad to know it's still going on. I feel like all forms of music (specifically punk as we knew it, in this case) has diversified because no one stays true to form, as I would imagine the natural evolution of any music genre ends up or comes about.  Half the time, people don't even know where it all came from in the first place, so they mix up styles seeing the former state as stale, and want to revamp it in a new way (ex. powerviolence....less musical to my ears, but coming from the same place w/the same concept). I can appreciate that.

POWERVIOLENCE? iS THAT A GENRE TERM?  EDUNIONALCATE ME , NOW. yOU KNOW WE WENT TO DIFFERENT SCHOOLS TOGETHER.