Twink

Born John Alder, the singer and drummer who performed as Twink anchored himself at the heart of the British psychedelic scene. His first public appearances came in 1963 with the Colchester group Dane Stephens and the Deep Beats; the band signed to Decca in 1964 and promptly changed its name to the Fairies. Rechristened Twink, Alder entered the seminal UK psych outfit Tomorrow in 1967 and contributed to the group’s only album the next year. He then assembled the short-lived Aquarian Age, which released just one single, “10,000 Words in a Cardboard Box,” before dissolving. Alder next enlisted with the Pretty Things, drumming on their celebrated rock-opera album S.F. Sorrow, and departed the band in 1969 to begin recording his solo debut, Think Pink. Those sessions produced the Pink Fairies, a new band Twink formed alongside former members of the psychedelic group the Deviants; after finishing the 1971 album Never Never Land he exited the lineup. In 1972 he resurfaced in Stars, a trio that also featured Pink Floyd alumnus Syd Barrett and bassist Jack Monk. The group’s existence proved fleeting when Barrett left the stage midway through its first live performance and never returned. For much of the remaining decade Twink took occasional session work and joined a 1975 reunion of the Pink Fairies, finally releasing the solo EP Do It (With the Fairies) in 1978. Although he stayed away from the studio for an extended period, he kept performing live and took part in further Pink Fairies reunions; in 1989 he issued the live album You Need a Fairy Godmother, recorded with the neo-psych band Plasticland, followed a year later by Mr. Rainbow.