DAVID READMAN – David Readman

David Readman is known as the voice of Pink Cream 69. He joined the band when Andi Derris left to join Helloween in the mid-90s. By then, David had finished his musical studies in England and was looking for a band. His career started with a bang when joining Pink Cream 69 in 1994. A record deal with Sony Music had just been signed and his first album with the band, called Change, was made. In support of the album, he went out on his first headlining tour with the band. Many great years followed, which included 11 Pink Cream 69 releases and several other releases with such bands and artists like the French Power Metal band Adagio and the guitar virtuoso Misha Calvin. Readman left Adagio in 2005 and started to gather material for a solo record. He started to record the songs during 2006, but had to take a break from it to finish the latest Pink Cream 69 release In10sity, which was released in the Spring of 2007.

Readman definitely shows off his qualities as a solo artist with this record. His self-titled solo album contains 11 strong Melodic Rock songs that will appeal to the fans of Pink Cream 69 and to a majority of music lovers as well. On this record, you’ll find many known names, such as Alex Beyrodt, Tommy Denander, Gerald Saenger and Uwe Reitenauer (Pink Cream 69) on guitars, Paul Logue (Eden’s Curse) on bass, Dirk Bruinenberg and Chris Schmidt on drums, and Eric Ragno and Guenter Werno (Wandenplas) on keyboards.

David’s debut solo record starts out with a classic Melodic Rock tune called ”Without You.” This one is a nice mixture between heavy guitars, pounding drums, and last but not least; David’s soaring and majestic vocal. This is a song with a great tempo and outstanding vocal harmonies. It really sets the standard for the greatest Melodic Rock releases in many years!

The joy of good listening continues in the following song “Evil Combination.” A great characterization of this one would be “mysterious and dark.” It’s much slower than the opener and features a quite heavy sound, maybe because of the very energetic and heavy guitar riff. It must be said that the guitarists do and incredible job on this record!

“I’m very happy with the record; it was a big deal for me — a real learning-curve. I’m also interested to hear what the people have to say about it. I’m very inpatient,” concludes David. It’s quite obvious that people will enjoy this record. The material that is brought out from the mastermind is nothing less than awesome and you will for certain get that confirmed through the following track, one of the four ballads on this record: “Take These Tears” tells the tragic, heartbreaking cliché. The song has a very relaxing melody, nothing that special except for the heavy foundation riff during the solo. Nothing outstandingly special with the song, but it’s definitely a great Melodic Rock ballad!

The fourth song on the record doesn’t disappoint, and is the hit single called “Don’t Let It Slip Away.” This one is also accessible as a music video. The song brings back the tempo from the opening song and has the potential of becoming a real sing-along favorite!

The four mentioned songs are truly Melodic Rock masterpieces and should, of course, fulfill the role as teasers. One thing is for certain — this record will be one of the greatest purchases this year! David worked very hard with the songwriting and succeeded in creating a record worthy of remembrance for many years to come. This record is well-produced and sounds impressingly fresh! The creator himself is really satisfied with this release, and he should be!

“There are a few songs that wouldn’t have made it on a Pink Cream 69 album because of style — with this record I was able to experiment a little. When you work this way it becomes your baby, you’re making all the decisions. It’s not always easy to keep a song interesting from the start to the finish. So that was a lot of work, but that’s what I wanted.”