Never - Neverland

Pink Fairies were a rebranded The Deviants, although that wasn’t the original intention. Following the recording of his solo album, Twink teamed with Mick Farren and Steve Peregrine Took; they played a one-off gig in Manchester in October 1969. Farren left soon after recording his solo album, and Took went on to found Shagrat, leaving Twink to contact the remainder of The Deviants-guitarist Paul Rudolph, bassist Duncan Sanderson and drummer Russell Hunter-to reboot the Pink Fairies. Much like mates Hawkwind (they sometimes played together as Pinkwind), the Fairies were all about the festival scene, most famously appearing naked at Phun City in July 1970. After a single “Black Snake” b/w “Do It” in January 1971, the band got the go-ahead from Polydor Records to record their debut album Never Never Land with producer Neil Slaven. The album blasts open with the classic riff of “Do It.” Raw and raucous, it offers the Fairies’ raison d’état. The dreamy “Heavenly Man” slows the pace, but “Say You Love Me” again blows the doors wide open. “Wargirl” offers an unlikely rhythmic vibe, but the boogie rock of “Teenage Rebel” gets things back on track. The wild jam of “Uncle Harry’s Last Freak-Out,” however, is the album’s juggernaut. Truncated to half its time on record, it’s the type of number that put the Fairies’ live shows on the map. Following the album’s release, the band played the Glastonbury Fayre in June 1971. Twink left shortly thereafter, with Trevor Burton from The Move joining for the band’s 1972 album, What A Bunch Of Sweeties. It made the charts in the UK, reaching No. 48. But shortly thereafter, Rudolph departed; and after Mick Wayne’s brief spell on guitar, Larry Wallis (ex-Shagrat) was recruited for the Fairies’ third album, Kings Of Oblivion. But the plot seemed lost, at least musically, and the band broke up. Wallis went on to form Motörhead with Lemmy. The Pink Fairies had a brief reunion in 1975, from which live recordings eventually were released.