As reported before, Mick Farren, a counterculture mover, auteur and musician passed away yesterday. DME didn’t get to interview the great man, so it seemed logical to ask people who knew him, fellow members of London’s Ladbroke Grove community, to share some memories.
That’s what Mohammed Abdullah John Alder, or the legendary drummer Twink, says: “We certainly had our ups and downs, and I would go so far as to say more downs than ups. However, I will be eternally grateful to Mick who introduced me to Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehreh of Sire Records with a view to him producing a ‘Twink’ album for Sire. I was the drummer with THE PRETTY THINGS at the time, and it came as quite a surprise to me that someone had faith in my abilities to do my own solo album. Thank you, Mick, old pal. R.I.P.”
And that’s how Tim Blake, the Crystal Machine driver from HAWKWIND, remembers Mick: “He’ll remain one of the London Revolutionaries from the ’68 explosion who kept a straight path in his thinking – and never really Deviated!.. Musically, I wasn’t close at all, but read much of his writing on my way through the past 45 years. Someone suggested a “PinkWind” memorial gig… That’d be the thing you’d get from all the Ex-Hawkwinders clammering for attention – and highly inappropriate . Mick did that kind of thing his way, putting on a gig with THE DEVIANTS , and dropping dead on-stage – Man, he’s always admired the legend of rock ‘n roll, an now he’s pulled it off! You cannot but admire him!”