John Charles Edward Alder was born on 29 November 1944 into a family of musicians, including his grandmother, who was a concert pianist and soloist. He was interested in music from a young age, and his professional career began in 1963 when he played the drums for Dane Stephens and the Deep Beats, a rhythm and blues band from Colchester. In 1964, after performing for a year, the band changed their name to The Fairies, and their first recording experience was backing Johnny Shadow on 'Talented Man', the flip of his 1963 single 'Atom Bomb Song Part 3', which was issued in two years later in 1965. Due to the band's growing popularity, its members began receiving regular gifts from their music fans, and as Alder had long curly hair at the time, he regularly received bottles of Twink brand home perm lotion, eventually adopted 'Twink' as his stage name. The band signed to Decca in 1964, and their first single was a cover of Bob Dylan's 'Don’t Think Twice It's Alright', with the band making newspaper headlines when members of the group were arrested for climbing up a statue. In 1965 they moved to HMV and recorded 'Get Yourself Home', written by their road manager Johnnie Dee, after rejecting another of his songs 'Don't Bring Me Down', which later became a hit instead for The Pretty Things. Original vocalist Doug Ord was replaced in 1965 by Nick Wymer while Ord spent time in jail for manslaughter following a road accident in which he'd driving the group's van without any licence or insurance when he hit a car and killed a number of people. n 1965, Twink moved to London, living in the Chelsea area. When the Fairies broke up in August 1966, he replaced the departing drummer in a rhythm and blues/soul music band called The In-Crowd, playing alongside guitarist Steve Howe, bassist John 'Junior' Wood and singer Keith West. A few months later the band decided to change their name to Tomorrow, releasing a a njmber of singles and the classic self-titled album in 1967. When West scored a massive hit with his solo single 'Excerpt from A Teenage Opera' it resulted in the band's breakup, which in turn led to a one-off single by the short-lived band Aquarian Age, which was basically just Twink & Wood. A third track was reputedly recorded by Aquarian Age, but Twink has confirmed that 'We' was actually recorded by Zion De Gallier, aka Dougie Ord, aka Dane Stevens – the original vocalist with The Fairies. Also in 1967, Twink completed a recording session with a group called Santa Barbara Machine Head, which was an ad-hoc band consisitng of two former members of the beat group the Birds, Ron Wood and Kim Gardner who both later joined The Creation, plus keyboardist Jon Lord. They recorded three songs which later turned up on the 'Blues Anytime' compilation series.
In 1968 Twink replaced Skip Alan in The Pretty Things, joining Phil May, Dick Taylor, Wally Allen, and Jon Povey as they were half-way through recording the classic 'S. F. Sorrow' album, and he was still with them when they they appeared in the Norman Wisdom film 'What's Good For The Goose.' Following the release of 'S. F. Sorrow' in 1968 Twink started recording songs for a solo album, enlisting the help of members of underground band The Deviants, including Mick Farren (who produced the album), guitarist Paul Rudolph, Duncan 'Sandy' Sanderson, and Steve Peregrin Took (of Tyrannosaurus Rex, who contributed two of the songs). 'Think Pink' was belatedly relased in 1970, and it also included May, Povey, Waller, and Victor Unitt from Pretty Things, Viv Prince (ex-Pretty Things), John 'The Honk' Lodge (Junior's Eyes, Quiver), 'Junior' Wood, and the enigmatic 'Pink Fairies Motorcycle Club and All-Star Rock and Roll Band'. This provided the name for Twink's next band, when he formed The Pink Fairies with Took and Farren, both of whom had left their respective bands, and they played in Ladbroke Grove, home of the UK underground, as well as helping record Farren's solo album 'Mona – The Carnivorous Circus' in late 1969, before they fell apart. Took, Farren, former Entire Sioux Nation guitarist and bassist Larry Wallis, and Tim Taylor then assembled the band that became Shagrat, with Farren departing before any recordings were made. Farren then reunited with Rudolph, Sanderson and drummer Russell Hunter for a North American our, and when they returned to the UK in 1970 they invited Twink to form a two-drummer second incarnation of The Pink Fairies. This version of the band recorded the stunning 'The Snake', which they released as a single in 1971, followed by the 'Never Never Land' album, after which Twink left the band, although he would periodically return to play with them. As you can see from his convoluted biography, Twink has had an amazing journey from his first group in 1964 to playing with one of the biggest underground bands of the 70's, and it didn't stop there, as he's continued to record and release new and archive material right up to 2019, including an excellent collaboration with The Bevis Frond on 1990's 'Magic Eye', and three more volumes of 'Think Pink' in 2015, 2018, and 2019. So enjoy this collection of recordings from the many bands that have been graced with his drumming and composing skills.
Track listing
01 Don't Think Twice It's Alright (single by The Fairies 1964)
02 Anytime at All (b-side of 'Don't Think Twice It's Alright')
03 Get Yourself Home (single by The Fairies 1964)
04 I'll Dance (b-side of 'Get Yourself Home')
05 Don't Mind (single by The Fairies 1965)
06 Baby Don't (b-side of 'Don't Mind')
07 Am I Glad To See You (by The In Crowd 1966)
08 Blow Up (by The In Crowd 1966)
09 Caught In A Web (unreleased demo by Tomorrow 1967)
10 Why (unreleased demo by Tomorrow 1967)
11 Porcupine Juice (by Santa Barbara Machine Head 1967)
12 Rubber Monkey (by Santa Barbara Machine Head 1967)
13 Albert (by Santa Barbara Machine Head 1967)
14 Private Sorrow (single by The Pretty Things 1968)
15 Balloon Burning (single by The Pretty Things 1968)
16 10,000 Words In A Cardboard Box (single by The Aquarian Age 1968)
17 Good Wizard Meets Naughty Wizard (b-side of '10,000 Words In A Cardboard Box')
18 Fluid (Slow Version) (alternate demo for 'Think Pink' by Twink 1969)
19 The Snake (single by The Pink Fairies 1971)
