The Fairies(1)

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The Fairies
 
  
 
.
Essex Rock Music Biograph, The Fairies,
John Power.
Although Sandie Shaw, a
Dagenham girl, had scored the
first hit record for Essex in 1964,
in the clubs of the day there was
also at that time a thriving Beat
and Blues scene in the wake of
the Beatles and Rolling Stones.
Colchester's finest were best
known when they adopted the
name 'Fairies', in a 'fingers up'
to the nickname applied to the
post-Mod generation of
longhairs.
The group were originally called
'Dane Stephens and the
Deepbeats.' 'Dane's' real name
was Dougie Ord, and he was
accompanied by Fred Gandy
and John Acutt on guitars,
'Wimp' Weaver on bass, and
John 'Twink' Alder on drums.
You could see them in Youth
Clubs or supporting other bands
at the lost, lamented,
Chelmsford Corn Exchange
before the name change and a
couple of singles: 'Any Time at
All', backed by a then virtually
unknown Bob Dylan's 'Don't
Think Twice it's Alright', which
many people regarded as the 'A'
side, in 1964; and 'Get Yourself
Home'/'Don't Mind'. Doug Ord
sang on the first single but was
replaced on 'Get Yourself
Home'/'Don't Mind' in 1965 by

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Nick Wymer, from Nix Nomads,
while Doug spent time in jail for
manslaughter after a road
accident. When he emerged
Doug became a scenery painter
for Colchester's Mercury
Theatre.
The member of the band who made the biggest
impact on the music scene was drummer John
Alder, always referred to as 'Twink'. The group's
management,which included a couple of
Chelmsford lads, also managed the 'Pretty Things'
formed by early Rolling Stone Dick Taylor [not to be
confused with the later Mick Taylor] and Sidcup Art
School mate Phil May. Keith Richard had been
another 'Stone' at Sidcup Art School. Dick Finished
his Art Studies rather than risk the precarious life of
a rock musician. Not the best career move as it
turned out! Twink was to join the Pretty Things in
1968 after their third line-up change, and had
previously played on their second album 'Get the
Picture' in 1965. He stayed until 1969 and played on
their [first ever, pre 'the Who's 'Tommy'] rock opera
'S.F.Sorrow'. En route he had been in 'the In Crowd'
and 'Tomorrow'. The latter group with singer Keith
West had had chart success with 'An Excerpt from
a Teenage Opera' with a backing choir which lost
the band support from the rock audience, and never
resulted in the projected 'opera.' Previously, and
more importantly, Tomorrow were the centre of the
cyclone which was the emergence of London's
psychedelic underground as it emerged into
daylight, playing at the launch party for
'International Times' and became regulars at the
earliest psychedelic nightclub , the U.F.O. Club in
Tottenham Court Road. They released a couple of
singles 'My White Bicycle', about the free bicycle
system organised by their contemporary
Amsterdam Beatniks/Hippies, and 'Revolution', as
well as an album. Tomorrow guitarist Steve Howe
went on to be a virtuoso with best selling 70's band
'Yes' and then 'Asia.'
Twink was by then well
established in the underground
bands scene, and apart from the
work with the Pretty Things
jammed, and recorded with
various groups including the
'Deviants' until they morphed
into the 'Pink Fairies', where he
occupied the drummers stool

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full time after line-up changes.
He joined ex- Pink Floyd genius
and founder Syd Barratt in 'Syd
Barratt's Stars' for three gigs
before it became clear that Syd's
mental health had become so
bad from over use of L.S.D. that
he could no longer perform live.
Twink also played in lesser
known bands like the 'Fallen
Angels' and the 'Rings', as well
as 'Twink and the Fairies' and
doing crossover gigs with
Hawkwind and Motorhead too.
He 'retired' in 1977 and spent
many years in Morocco studying
the local culture.
The Pretty Things continue to gig into 2015, with
Phil and Dick from the original line-up chasing their
70th birthdays. A planned Pink Fairies reunion in
2012 failed to materialise, but a collection of their
songs was published in 1998 as 'Mandies and
Mescaline at Uncle Harry's'. Unreleased studio
recordings and the live recording of Tomorrow's
contribution to the 1967 'Christmas on Earth' event
headlined by Jimi Hendrix at London's Olympia
also appeared in 1998, as the '50 Minute
Technicolour Dream', taking its name from another
International Times Free Speech benefit gig in 1967
at North London's Alexandra Palace, with a cast of
thousands and called 'The Fourteen Hour
Technicolour Dream', described by the news of the
World as being like the last rites of a dying tribe,
but which actually turned out to be the birth of the
Hippie Generation. John Lennon attended.
WARNING copyright with this
article remains with the author
John Power

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