Twink

J Strobridge eset08 at CASTLE.ED.AC.UK
Thu Nov 9 20:00:05 EST 1995


Someone was asking about Twink....

The following is culled from a magazine called "Mangled Mind"  edited,
written and researched by a guy called Adrian T'Vell.   I'll edit it
slightly but the info is all his.
                ****************************

There was a roadie called Twink who played keyboards for Hawkwind for
a couple of gigs in 1980.   This is NOT the same Twink.

Twink, real name John Alder of the Pink Fairies did play with Hawkwind.
He added backing vocals to Silver Machine, played with them at Brixton
when the Space Ritual album was recorded, played guitar for them at an
unspecified concert in Oxford and also played drums for them on at least
two occasions when Terry Ollis (and therefore, presumably Vic Prince as
well) could not attend.

He also took part with the Magic Muscle reformation along with Simon
House and Adrian Shaw.   He started in the late fifties with various
skiffle groups including the "Airliners" and with "Jimmy Pilgrim" and by
1965 he had formed the "Fairies".   In 1967 he formed the "In Crowd"
with the future "Yes" member Steve Howe.   They soon evolved into
"Tomorrow" and Twink then worked with "Artwoods"/"Deep Purple" keyboard
player Jon Lord and "Faces"/"Stones"/"Creation" guitarist Ron Wood in
the "Santa Barbara Machine".   Prior to joining "Shagrat" he was the
"Aquarian Age".   "Shagrat" soon became the "Pink Fairies" .

Twink left them to form the "Stars" with Syn Barrett (and, yes, tapes do
exist!) unfortunately the group fell apart.   Twink then joined the
recording cast on Robert Calvert's debut album.   In July 1975 he
rejoined the Pink Fairies but soon left to join the "Fallen Angels"
which after Twink's spell with them went back to Phil May, who was
vocalist with the "Pretty Things" a band which Twink was a member of
during 1968 and starred in the Norman Wisdom film "What's Good For the
Goose".   In April 1977 he joined the new wave band the "Rings" and four
months later he revitalised the name of the "Fairies" for a single and a
couple of gigs.   After a while he relocated himself to Belgium and on
his return he joined up with Elton Motello.   In 1968 he formed his own
record label, a year later he joined the reformed Pink Fairies and
toured with them, reliving the seventies by supporting Hawkwind at the
"Acid Daze" festivals.   In 1988 he joined other ex-Hawkwind members in
"Magic Muscle".   One concert at the Miles Club in Bath on 1/8/88 was
recorded for the live album "100 Miles Below" {good album IMO - js}.
This concert also featured a rare non-Hawkwind appearance from Dave
Brock, however his (Dave's) contribution did not filter through to the
album.

In 1989 he started to record his second solo album which was released
with a supporting tour which ended with the headline slot at the
Keildonk Festival in Holland on May 20th.   Since that time he has
worked on various new projects with his own work as well as working the
the "Bevis Frond".
                        **********

So there you are!    There's also a long discography of singles and
albums which feature him but I can't be bothered to type all of it in
although I'll do it if anyone is interested.

jill

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J.D.Strobridge at ed.ac.uk                         eset08 at castle.ed.ac.uk
                                                ELIJSA at srv0.arts.ed.ac.uk
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