One of the most talented and versatile voices in the world of rock, although sadly underexposed in his native land, David Readman has finally realised his dream of releasing a solo album. I happened to send him my review from issue #29, whereupon he wrote back to thank me personally and we talked about the possibility of an interview. On getting the Ed's blessing, and having surmounted several connectivity problems with my Skype headset, we spent a very pleasant 45 minutes chatting about life on planet Readman.

Hi David, congratulations on the solo album. What has the reaction been like so far?

It's been great. It's only been a week since its official release, but now the UK seems to be more aware of my existence. In Germany they just say it's the singer from PC69 who's made a solo record.

I understand you had the idea to do a solo album a long time ago?

Yes, as soon as I started out in music I knew I wanted to do something, but it was out of the question back then and there weren't any computers like nowadays. Also, in England it was difficult to find people who were professional enough to turn up on time ready to rehearse. There's no doubt that there are people like that around, but it just didn't seem to happen for me living up North, so I had to come all the way to Germany to find some!

And you've been in Germany for 13 years now. Do you speak fluent German?

Yes, I speak it all the time because I teach singing lessons. Actually, a girl turned up the other day who is half Canadian, and I had to really think about how I was explaining things because I don't teach in English.

Where in Germany are you based?

I live in Karlsruhe in the south, near the border with France.

So, when you first moved over, did you feel you had been thrown into the deep end?

Well, I was only 24 and I was partying all the time, so it didn't even occur to me, to be honest. I was on a ride. We were signed to Sony, we went to America to record the first record in the studio where ‘Born to Be Wild' was made. The guys that we were recording with used to be the backing band for the Monkees. We also made a video. So I went from being on the dole in Manchester one day to being exposed to that level of success the next, and it was amazing. I used to wake up and think "Crikey, I'm in Germany!" It's not such a big deal anymore. Sky TV saved my life because I can watch British TV. Years ago I couldn't watch any films or anything, and I can't bear to watch a film in German, because it's over-dubbed with a different voice.

Is there anything you particularly miss about home?

The only thing I miss is fish and chips. When I go back home it's fish and chips every day. Also proper tea. I found a local Turkish shop that sells Typhoo tea bags. When they run out of stock I do cold turkey for a while. Believe it or not it affects my voice when I can't drink black tea.

During a Whitesnake show, fans lob boxes of tea onto the stage because David Coverdale loves it too.

Really? I remember I mentioned it one time, and there was a photographer who always brought a box of tea to the shows, but I haven't seen him in a while.

How do you find the German humour? Was it a bit of a culture shock when you first moved?

Yes, and they still don't get it. I've wasted my humour – that's probably why I'm not funny anymore (said ruefully.) I have my moments, though. I have days when I think I'm pretty funny, but I've learned to fit in with their humour and I know what they want to laugh at, but generally speaking nobody really laughs at my jokes so I end up not telling as many.

And you can't do that British thing where we take the piss out of each other either.

Yeah, I know. They like to pick at each other a bit, but you can't take it too far, and if you just start laughing for no reason, it's really bad. They think there's something wrong and take it personally. (At this point we digress into chatting about our Teutonic experiences)

Fast forward back to the present. Presumably you relied on computer technology to make the solo album?

Yes, well I could have made an album with the guys from PC69 but I wanted a proper solo record. So I have my own computer and drum machine, I wrote 13 songs and gave them to Dennis [Ward]. He listened to them and gave me his thoughts. Finding a record company took some time. Then I moved house, built a new studio and recorded the vocals myself. Paul Logue [Eden's Curse] played bass and co-wrote two tracks. Lots of stuff went backwards and forwards, like you do when you have guests on an album. That's the plus point of the internet.

How long did the recording process actually take?

About six months. It was actually finished in the middle of 2006 but I had to wait for ‘In10sity' to come out first, so everything was put on ice for more than a year before it got released.

And how have the reviews been?

England and America have given it great reviews. Also in Germany and Holland. There was one on the internet in Germany, though, that was quite insulting. The guy mustn't like my kind of music or something, but someone had commented underneath it saying if you don't like it, don't write about it. But on the other side of it, some people are voting it album of the year.

How did Alex Beyrodt from Silent Force get involved?

Well, I was thinking I needed an exciting guitar player and I'd asked a few people to send me some stuff, but nothing really blew me away. So I sent Alex an email and asked him if he fancied playing on a couple of tracks. He was so good that I asked him to play on another seven! I think he was just moving house, and there was a lot of stress for him at the time, but he did it and he was really great. Through that we went on a small tour of last year with Mel Gaynor from Simple Minds on drums - because he lives over here - and a few other guys, and we did a club tour playing Whitesnake stuff, Deep Purple covers ... things like that. We'll be doing that again at the beginning of November, different guitar player but same sort of deal.

Is the club thing a regular, then?

Well, the bass player is from a quite famous German band and every month he plays the same clubs, but with different musicians playing different styles of music. They don't even rehearse, they just turn up on the day with a list of songs and play them. I turned up on the first day, met Mel Gaynor and everybody else for the first time. I asked if they'd listened to the songs or whatever, and they said not really, and what are we playing? I thought "Oh, My God", but we played for two hours.

Didn't you have one of those "how does this go again?" moments?

No, for me every song is verse refrain, verse refrain, middle section, solo ‘til you're about to die, refrain out. We just rocked. It's songs that everybody knows anyway. We always do a first set then a break. To give you an idea, the first set I sang three songs, so that tells you about how many solos are being played and stuff. The people love it, though.

And what's happening with Pink Cream 69 at the moment?

Well, at the end of the month, we're going on a short tour of Europe, taking in Germany, Spain, Poland, France. It's shorter than the ones we usually do, mainly because Kosta [Zafiriou, drummer] is doing a lot of management these days. A month after we get back he's going on a huge world tour with Helloween. Sometimes it's a problem because it means we can't do other things. We had the chance of playing Firefest in 2006 but we couldn't because everybody was committed elsewhere. Hopefully we'll get the chance again soon. After the European tour, we go to Brazil on 26th October.

Have you played in Brazil before?

Yes, we played in Sao Paulo around 2000. It's a different mentality over there. It's hot, they don't care if the show runs two hours late. There are too many people on the stage who don't know what's happening, or what plug should go where, but somehow it ends up absolutely fine.

Just out of interest, have you enquired about Firefest 5 in May 2008?

I love the Firefest. We've been asked back a few times, but the dates just haven't worked out for us which is a shame. The 2005 show was amazing for me, and my mum finally got the chance to see me play live, so she was really pleased as well.

The audience loved it too, judging by the reaction.

Well, the Pinks would love to be able to play in the UK again. Who knows, I may get the chance next year as a solo artist.

I was just about to ask you whether you'd consider putting a band together with some local musicians. Paul obviously lives here, and Alex might be playing next year.

Oh my God, is he? Well, no matter what, I'm definitely going to get a band together even if it's just to do some bits and pieces. Hmm, that sounds quite convenient, though. All we'd have to do is rehearse a bit (laughs).

How about a Pink Cream 69 live DVD? Is there one the cards at all?

Well, we've made a live record, but no live DVD so far. However, we filmed all our live festival shows this year, so we're making a double DVD. One will focus on the band when Andy [Deris] was the singer, and the second is with me, with lots of footage from backstage and studio sessions and stuff. Back in the beginning there was a show in Japan that was filmed, but never released, so that'll be released too. If we do something we try to do it right with the best quality. We prefer to take our time and make something that's really worthwhile.

Tell us the story about drinking a bottle of red wine during the ‘Electrified' sessions when you succeeded in frightening the Pink Cream 69 fan club to death?

I was drinking red wine the whole time, actually (laughs). I don't do it so much these days, but at that time I needed some sort of intoxication to help my voice – well, it seemed to help anyway. I always felt looser! Anyway, the Electrified session was massive. We spent a long time in the studio, something we don't do so much these days. It was the end of the session and Dennis said "That's it, the record's finished". We'd done a song called ‘Gone Again' and I said keep the tape rolling and I did a different version of the song, like a drunk Londoner version. Have you heard it?

Strangely enough, it's just been sent to me! I've got Electrified, though, and I'd not heard it before.

Yes, it's a hidden track. I think if you're in the middle of housework or whatever, and you leave the CD in the player, it eventually comes on. In Japan they were really shocked. (Puts on fake Japanese accent) "David why you do version of song like this? Why you spoil ballad?" I said well, I'm a stupid guy at the end of the day, you know? A lot of people loved it, said it should be on the radio and stuff. So while I was singing it, the head of the fan club was in the studio and I could see his face just falling, like "What the hell is this?" I didn't care, though (laughs).

You must get a lot of offers to sing on other projects?

Yes, the offers do come in, lots of mp3s sent through, which I'm glad about but I've got to the point where I really only want to get involved when I know there's some sort of record company behind it and it's going to be good for me and my voice, and that's it, really. There's an element of flexibility involved of course, but to be honest if I haven't been worked into the budget, then I know it's something I'll probably not touch. If someone comes with something that's really great, then of course I'll give it serious consideration, but unfortunately 9 times out of 10 the stuff isn't up to scratch.

Obviously you were impressed with Eden's Curse then?

Well, I'd worked with Paul anyway so I knew his stuff was quality and I definitely enjoyed doing it. I wasn't around much, unfortunately, because I was so busy but we got to hang out and have a bit of a laugh on one of the days they were in the studio, which was great. I'd like to meet up with Paul a bit more, but obviously there's the distance involved, and now he's a father which changes things just a bit.

How did you hook up with him in the first place an get him involved in your solo album?

Well he was doing my original website Sing Like a Rockstar. I knew he was involved in music as he'd mentioned that he'd been playing bass in a Van Halen tribute band. I asked him if I could send him a couple of tracks over the net, and that's how it basically started. So he ended up playing bass on the whole album. I enjoy having different guests, and I would have loved to have had other musicians on it, but it's not just about finding people who can play well, it's finding people who can record themselves with the best quality and send me a track I can use, not just some sort of scratchy bad quality noise. You can be the best guitar player in the world but if you can't record yourself these days in the studio you're going to be stuck. Paul and I went through a learning process, though, with different software and stuff. I remember at one point I couldn't get a message across about one part of a song, because obviously we weren't able to sit together in the studio, so I made a video recording of me sat in the studio trying to explain one part of the song, then put it on Youtube so he could watch it. It worked a treat, because he got my drift and it was cool. Sometimes you have to go to different lengths and find different solutions to get the message across.

So what's going in the world of David Readman right now?

Well, I've just started teaching again after the summer break. Actually, in about five minutes I've got a student coming over and I'll start teaching. I've been recording all day, working on new songs, whether for Pink Cream or for my solo record. I split them up because I know a song that will fit my record and what fits for Pink Cream. Soon we'll start rehearsing, of course, for the tour, and most weekends I'm out there playing with a few different projects, like playing in a cover band. I'm just happy to be on stage. If you are a guitar player you can do other things, but I'm not the kind of person who can sit around and just do a Pink Cream gig and that's it. I've been doing cover stuff for years, and I enjoy it. I get to sing different styles and I've learned a lot through it. Last weekend we were playing at a technical museum and they've got the last Concorde that was for sale. Someone paid £1 for it or something at auction, but it cost them £20,000 to have it transported. So on Saturday night I was on stage with Concorde to my left and a Russian fighter plane and a jumbo jet in the room. I felt like I was on stilts. It was a really cool evening. For me it's just great to be singing in front of people and not sat at home twiddling my thumbs.

Tell us about your music school?

Well, I started off teaching at a school, then I quit because I was having to pay them rent. I've got my studio downstairs where I live, so I teach in there, and I've got a place in Karlsruhe that I rent. I have students nearly every evening – that's when people seem to have most time. I've still got my Sing Like a Rockstar project going and I've got a few places on the German internet where I advertise and stuff, and I throw a few flyers around wherever I'm playing. Sometimes people mention it at shows, and I'll take them on. We start with a free half hour where we get to know each other and if it's all cool, they sign a contract and we start putting the appointments in the diary. It's pretty hard work sometimes. You'd only be finishing a 45 minute session, then the next person's ringing the door bell. I've just started back again after the break so it's been pretty mad this week so far.

Well, as you've got a student coming soon, I'd better not keep you. Is there anything you want to add before we sign off?

Well, obviously I've been in Germany for such a long time, and I hadn't really done much in England until Firefest brought me and the band over. It's great to finally get some genuine support and interest from England and it seems like the rock scene is a bit more interesting these days, and people are definitely more into it. Hopefully we'll get the chance to come over and do some sort of touring in some shape or form.

Well, we wish you good luck with everything, and hope to see you in the not too distant future.

Check out David's website at davidreadman.com and his Myspace page at myspace.com/davidreadman. Also sing-like-a-rockstar.com