The Small Faces

Lore & Background

In the mid-1960s London, the mod scene was the beating heart of British youth culture, and The Small Faces were one of its most electrifying musical expressions. Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane, both from the East End, brought a street-level grit and melodic instinct that set them apart from the more polished pop acts of the time. Their sound married jangly, surf-influenced guitar work with tight, driving rhythms and lyrics that felt like overheard conversation in a Soho café. Where The Who were building their thunderous, power-chord architecture, The Small Faces were crafting something leaner, more melodic, and deeply rooted in the mod lifestyle—parkas, scooters, and a restless, forward-looking energy. The band's peak came in the latter half of the decade, when tracks like "Itchycoo Park" and "Sha La La La La Lee" became anthems of a generation that identified with both The Who's volume and The Small Faces' wit. They shared the same club circuit, the same radio airwaves, and the same cultural moment. Fans of the era often remember them side by side: The Who for the spectacle and the wall of sound, The Small Faces for the hook, the attitude, and the sense that rock and roll could be both serious and fun simultaneously. When the group eventually split, the musical world did not lose them. Ronnie Lane, with Rod Stewart, formed Faces, carrying forward the same London-rock ethos in a slightly different key. Steve Marriott continued to write and perform, his voice and guitar remaining a touchstone for fans of that particular brand of 1960s British rock. The Small Faces' legacy is inseparable from the broader tapestry of the era that also produced The Who, and any complete picture of that world must include them.

In Their Own Story

The air in the club was thick with cigarette smoke and the smell of wet wool from a hundred mod parkas. The set before had been The Who—still in their early days, still finding the shape of the thing that would become their signature. The crowd was buzzing, half-dazed, half-furious. Then the house lights came up, and Steve Marriott walked out in a flat cap, guitar slung low, Ronnie Lane already tuning his bass at the monitor with that particular impatience. No pyrotechnics. No elaborate stage design. Just two lads from the East End and three others, and a song that started with a jangle of clean guitar that made the whole room lean forward. The front row—scooter boys, art-school kids, a few journalists scribbling in notebooks—swayed in unison. For three minutes, it wasn't a concert. It was a conversation between the stage and the street, and everyone in the room knew they were part of the sentence being spoken. When the last chord rang out and the applause hit, Ronnie gave a small, almost embarrassed nod, and Steve just grinned, already reaching for the next chord. Outside, it was raining on the cobbles, and the night was young.

Reader's Guide

The Small Faces were not a sub-unit or spin-off of The Who; they were a separate, fully independent band operating in the same London mod-rock ecosystem during the mid-to-late 1960s. The core partnership was Steve Marriott on lead vocals and guitar and Ronnie Lane on bass and harmonies, supported by a shifting rhythm section that included keyboardist Ken Fordham and drummer Ian Wallis (later replaced by others). Their output was a run of mod-inflected rock singles and albums that captured the restless, stylish energy of the era—tracks like "Itchycoo Park" and "Sha La La La La Lee" became touchstones of the period. Their relationship to The Who's orbit is one of parallel rather than direct connection. Both bands drew from the same well of British working-class rock, shared the same club venues and radio playlists, and contributed to the cultural landscape that made the mid-60s British rock scene so distinctive. Where The Who pushed into power, volume, and theatrical spectacle, The Small Faces leaned into melody, wit, and a lighter touch. They were, in the eyes of many fans, the melodic counterweight to The Who's thunder. After the group's dissolution, Ronnie Lane co-founded Faces with Rod Stewart, extending the London-rock lineage in a new direction. Steve Marriott pursued a solo career. Neither trajectory was a continuation of The Who, but both remained part of the same broad family of British rock that The Who helped define. For a fan exploring The Who's world, The Small Faces are the essential "what else was happening in that same room, that same year" answer.

Did You Know?

• Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane were both from London's East End, bringing a distinctly working-class sensibility to a scene that was often dominated by more polished, middle-class acts.
• Ronnie Lane's post-Small Faces project, Faces, featured Rod Stewart on vocals and became one of the defining British rock bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
• The Small Faces and The Who were contemporaries on the same London club circuit in the mid-1960s, and fans of the era often remember them as two sides of the same mod-rock coin.
• Steve Marriott's distinctive vocal style and jangly guitar work influenced a generation of British rock musicians well beyond the 1960s, even after his solo career following the band's split.