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.
Alder, who had long curly hair at the time, regularly received bottles of Twink brand home perm lotion.
Other members of the In-Crowd included Steve Howe (guitar; later of Yes fame), singer Keith West, and bassist John 'Junior' Wood.
In his book White Bicycles, Joe Boyd cites a Tomorrow show at the UFO Club in London's Camden borough—and Twink's performance in particular—as the zenith of 60's pop culture.
Twink replaced Skip Alan in the band the Pretty Things, joining Phil May, Dick Taylor, Wally Allen, and Jon Povey.
Twink became famous for his 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.
The Mark 1 lineup—including Twink's girlfriend Sally "Silver Darling" Melzer on keyboards—performed one shambolic gig in Manchester and recorded Farren's solo album, Mona – The Carnivorous Circus, in late 1969 before falling apart.
The two-drummer Pink Fairies line-up recorded a single called The Snake / Do It followed by the Never Never Land album before Twink left in 1971 (although he would periodically return).
After a spell living in Morocco, Twink moved to Cambridge and worked with the 'Last Minute Put Together Boogie Band', which initially included vocalist/guitarist Bruce Michael Paine (ex-Apple Pie and star of the San Francisco production of Hair)[7][8] and 'The Honk' playing bass.
The Last Minute Put Together Boogie Band, now with ex-Delivery bass player Jack Monck, backed American blues guitarist Eddie "Guitar" Burns at King's College Cellar in January 1972.
[9] The next day, the Last Minute Put Together Boogie Band, with guests Fred Frith and Syd Barrett, played on a bill with Hawkwind and the Pink Fairies.
[12] In July 1975, the Pink Fairies staged a reunion gig at the Roundhouse, featuring the then-current line-up of Russell Hunter, Duncan Sanderson, and Larry Wallis, joined by former members Twink and Paul Rudolph.
Twink formed the Fallen Angels in August 1976 with Steve Marriott and former Allstars band members Greg Ridley and Mickey Finn.
Twink then worked as a vocalist with the Rings in early 1977, releasing one of the first punk rock singles, "I Wanna Be Free", produced by former Sparks member Martin Gordon.
According to Twink, "It was the Psychedelic Punkaroo project, but Chiswick Records didn't like the track and I jammed 'Do It' with the Lightning Raiders, which they preferred.
Twink next moved to Belgium, where he played drums on the recording of British punk rocker Elton Motello's Victims of Time album (1978, Pinball).
Later in the decade, he collaborated with Hawkwind founder Nik Turner in the band PinkWind, writing about the semi-legendary Hawkwind/Pink Fairies jam sessions of the early 1970s.
It also included a collaboration with the Italian group the Technicolour Dream, featuring guest guitarist Brian Godding from Blossom Toes.