- Twink (musician)
Infobox musical artist
Name = John Charles Alder
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Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
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Born = birth date and age|1944|11|29
Died =
Origin =England
Instrument = drums
Genre =Psychedelic music
Occupation = Musician Drummer Percussionist Singer-songwriter Actor
Years_active = 1963 – Present
Label =Decca Records HMV Parlophone Records Sire Records Columbia Records Rare Earth Records Midnight Records
Associated_acts =Dane Stephens and the Deep Beats The Fairies Tomorrow The Pretty ThingsThe Pink Fairies PinkWind The RingsSyd Barrett
Stars
URL =
Current_members =
Past_members =
Notable_instruments =John Charles Alder (born
29 November 1944 ), better known as Twink, is an Englishdrummer ,singer andsong writer who was a central figure in the English psychedelic movement, and anactor .Biography
Early life
Alder was born in
Colchester ,Essex ,England , into a musical family. His father's mother was a concert pianist and soloist. Alder has said he was always interested in music as a child.The Fairies
Alder's career began in 1963 as a member of a
rhythm and blues band fromColchester calledDane Stephens and the Deep Beats . After a year, the band changed its name to The Fairies.The Fairies were sent gifts and Alder, having long curly hair, regularly received bottles of Twink brand home perm lotion. It was at this time that he adopted 'Twink' as his stage name.
In 1964 The Fairies recorded the single "Don't Think Twice It's Alright" for the
Decca Records label. In 1965 they recorded two singles, "Don't Mind" and "Get Yourself Home", forHMV .The band split at some date before 1967.
The In-Crowd and Tomorrow
In 1965 Twink moved to
London and lived in Chelsea. When The Fairies came to a halt, he joined arhythm and blues /soul music band called The In-Crowd after its previous drummer had left the band. Other members were Steve Howe (guitar) andKeith West .A few months later the band was renamed Tomorrow. The success of West's solo recording "Excerpt From A Teenage Opera" resulted in the band breaking up.
In
Joe Boyd 's book "White Bicycles" he cites a Tomorrow show at UFO Club and, in particular, Twink's performance, as the zenith of 60's pop culture. [ [http://punkcast.com/1129/index.html PUNKCAST#1129] ] [Boyd, Joe, "White Bicycles - Making Music in the 1960s", Serpent's Tail, 2006. ISBN 1-85242-910-0]The Pretty Things
Twink replaced Skip Allen in The Pretty Things and participated in the making of the album
S.F. Sorrow . He was also a member of this group when they appeared in the Norman Wisdom film, 'What's Good For The Goose'. He became noted for outrageous behaviour, such as climbing the speaker stacks and diving into the audience when the band performed at a free open-air concert in London's Hyde Park. [cite web|url=http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/hyde-park-7-28-68.html|title=Hyde Park Free Concert 7-28-68|month=August|year=2005|accessdate=2008-01-10|publisher=ukrockfestivals.com]"Think Pink"
He recorded his first solo album, "
Think Pink ", with The Deviants, includingMick Farren (who produced the album), Paul Rudolph who played guitar, as well asSteve Peregrin Took .The Pink Fairies
The line up of The Pink Fairies (Mark 1) featured Think Pink musicians Twink, Took and Farren, and was named after the "Pink Fairies Rock 'n' Roll Club", a loose group of people including Took, Farren, The Deviants,
Syd Barrett (still at the time inPink Floyd ). They were resident inLadbroke Grove , the home of theUK Underground .Pink Fairies (Mark 2) was formed with Twink and former Deviants (but without Mick Farren). He left The Pink Fairies in 1971 (although he would periodically return) and after a spell in
Morocco moved toCambridge where he played with Syd Barrett, in Stars, after which he moved back toLondon .In 1987 he rejoined The Pink Fairies for a reunion tour.
Hawkwind and PinkWind
He periodically performed with fellow Ladbroke Grove community band
Hawkwind .He also collaborated with Hawkwind founder
Nik Turner in the band PinkWind. Turner brought in the Wind and Twink, as a member of The Pink Fairies provided the Pink. PinkWind released two albums. Some line-ups also featuredJudge Trev Thoms ofInner City Unit andSteve Took 's Horns.tars
Early in 1972 Twink played in the short lived trio Stars with
Syd Barrett and bassistJack Monck . Stars played a handful of shows which were well received. However, Syd, fragile mentally, quit after reading a negative review by Roy Hollingworth inMelody Maker . [http://www.pink-floyd.org/barrett/twink.htm Interview with Twink] , Ivor Trueman. Opel #11, 5 December 1985]The Rings and punk
Following an injury sustained in a car crash, he worked as a vocalist with The Rings in early 1977, releasing one of the first
Punk rock singles "I Wanna Be Free". Other members includedAlan Lee Shaw and Rod Latter ofThe Adverts . "I Wanna Be Free" featured on the "Long Shots, Dead Certs And Odds On Favourites (Chiswick Chartbusters Volume Two)"Compilation album (1978:Chiswick Records ).Twink coined the term "Acid Punk" to describe his music and went on to release an EP "Do It '77" in 1978 that included a song "Psychedelic Punkeroo" about Syd Barrett.
1980s-present
In 1986 he released a solo single "Apocalipstic", which inaugurated his new, self-titled
record label .During the 1987 Pink Fairies reunion tour Twink met members of
Plasticland which resulted in the collaboration "You Need a Fairy Godmother ", released in 1989 on Midnight Records.In 1990 Twink released his second solo album, "Mr Rainbow".
Acting career
Twink acted widely during the late 1980s, appearing in
United Kingdom television series including:-
*'Allo 'Allo! aBBC1 British sitcom .
* "David Copperfield", one of a number of adaptations of theCharles Dickens novel.
*"Chocky's Challenge ", which was based on "Chocky ", ascience fiction novel byJohn Wyndham , author of "The Day of the Triffids ". The three Chocky series were produced byThames Television .Discography
with The Fairies
*"
Don't Think Twice It's Alright " 7" single (Decca Records , 1964)
*"Don't Mind " 7" single (HMV , 1965)
*"Get Yourself Home " 7" single (HMV, 1965)
=with Tomorrow=*"Tomorrow" (
Parlophone Records /Sire Records , 1968)with
Pretty Things *"
S.F. Sorrow " (Columbia Records /Rare Earth Records , 1968)olo
*"
Think Pink " (Sire Records , 1970)
*"Do It '77 " 12" EP (1978)
*"Apocalipstic " single (1986)
*"Mr. Rainbow " (1990)with
Pink Fairies *"The Snake"/"Do It" 7" -
Polydor Records (1971)
*"Never Never Land" (1971)
*"Live at the Roundhouse" (1975)
*"Kill 'Em and Eat 'Em " (1987)with The Rings
*"I Wanna Be Free" 7" single (
Chiswick Records , 1977)with
Plasticland *"
You Need a Fairy Godmother " (Midnight Records , 1987)with
Santa Barbara Machine Head *"
Pre Purple People " compilation (2001)References
External links
* [http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Strasse/2724/twink.html Interview with Twink] By Ivor Trueman, Opel #11, 5 December 1985
* [http://www.terrascope.co.uk/MyBackPages/Twink.pdf Twink] - interview (Ptolemaic Terrascope #3 1990)
* Alan Lee Shaw's [http://www.alanleeshaw.com/Gallery.htm Gallery] includes a photo of The Rings.
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