Pink Cream 69 was founded in 1987 by singer Andi Deris and drummer Kosta Zafiriou in Karlsruhe area, Germany. Andi and Kosta played together in Kymera, and both were unhappy with the situation within the band, where the relationships between the members were very tense because of personal differences. Kosta initiated the creation of a new band, where he and Andi will be playing with musicians who share their views. In early 1987, Andi and Kosta left Kymera and started Pink Cream 69. Name of the band was accidentally invented by Andi. Once future The Pinkies were in a restaurant at some hotel in Karlsruhe and in the beverages menu they saw a cocktail named "Pink Cream". Andi joked that it would be a good name for the band, and guys started fooling around and joke about it too. But this name - "Pink Cream 69" - was stuck. The most important thing for the band was to avoid the 'mandatory' use of the words "blood/witch/kill/death" and to emphasize that the name displays funny and lively concept of the band. Only American which joined to the band a year later noticed that he couldn't said this name to his mother. How much PC69 is different from other bands, the guys realized a few years later, when they suddenly found out that they were the only German band, which smiles at the cameras during photo sessions.

As a guitar player of PC69 both Kosta and Andi wanted to see Alfred Koffler, whom they have known for many years, also Kosta played with him in Redline band. Alfred had talent, personality and ambitions - just what PC69 is needed. In Mart 1988 the band completed its line up with the American bassist Dennis Ward, who played in the clubs of U.S. military bases in Germany and with whom The Pinkies met through an announcement in "Guitar Player" magazine. First meeting of Ward and The Pinkies occurred at the gas station on a highway Bruchsal, and literally since the first minute they realized that they match each other very well.

During 1988 PC69 recorded various demos in the studio, knowing very well that they need to learn a lot to achieve a contract with the label. Also The Pinkies had about 30 concerts in every club, pub and concert hall in southern Germany for few months. In April the band took part in a young talents competition (named Rockfabrik festival of young rock talents), arranged by "Metal Hammer" magazine in Ludwigsburg. In December was the final stage of the festival, where Michael Weikath from Helloween was presented among the members of the jury. In the final stage were the eight best bands of the preliminary selection. The Pinkies were confident while playing their set and easily won the competition. They have got a check for DM10000 and the opportunity to sign a contract with a major label. PC69 opted for CBS (now Sony Music).

Kosta proposed to his friend Jan Bayati to become the band's manager, and they both started fan club and merchandising activities, so it means they had some serious intentions on PC69. In summer 1991 Jan, who had also wanted to work with other bands, founded Bottom Row Promotion agency; Kosta became his partner and co-owner of the company. The name "Bottom Row" was proposed by The Pinkies as a joke: this is a name of one track from the debut album. Bottom Row Promotion is still managing PC69 nowadays.

In May 1989 The Pinkies went to Hamburg and began work on their debut album in "Soundhaus Studio" with producer Dirk Steffens, who also worked with Helloween. Recording and mixing of the album continued until August.

The first album, called "Pink Cream 69", was released on October 2, 1989, and it was featured two singles: "One Step Into Paradise" (1989) and "Close Your Eyes" (1990). The Pinkies wrote 13 songs for this album and didn't want to lose anyone from them. So three songs became a bonus for CD. The debut album was received very well by both fans and critics. As a support of the album a tour around Europe as the opening act of White Lion was followed and the headliner tour in Germany too. Support to White Lion was an ordeal for PC69: "Lion" not allowed to The Pinkies make a soundcheck, left them without dressing-room, limited in eating & drinking. But all these things did not interfere to The Pinkies to outshine the performance of headliner - what was, however, aggravated further relations between both bands.

The Pinkies were out on the road from October 1989 to May 1990, and in the summer played a number of festivals. The international recognition of the band was held on July 15, 1990, when PC69 were invited to play in New Music Seminar in New York, USA. The Pinkies was proposed tour in America, but they had to abandon it, because it was time to immediately start preparing their second album, which should record to Christmas. In August The Pinkies started rehearsing new material, and then went to "Soundhouse Studio" with Dirk Steffens. After three months the album was ready. Lack of time was displayed positive on a material, retaining its freshness. The Pinkies were awared very well about their responsibility: the band will has the future only if the new album will overshadow such a successful debut.

Second album "One Size Fits All" was released Feb. 25, 1991 in Europe and 22 May 1991 in Japan. It was featured two singles: "Ballerina" and "Do You Like It Like That"; as well as two EPs: "36°/140°" for Japan (November 1991) and "49°/8°" for Europe (December 1991). It turns out to be the most successful album in the history of the band. It entered the charts in many European countries and reached the Top-20 in Germany.

In April PC69 did a headliner tour in Germany with the opening act Little Angels, and throughout the year numbers of festivals has been done as well. In January 1992 The Pinkies supported Europe band on tour in Scandinavia, but at the end of the month they went to Japan. 5 shows were played in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. The gig at the Tokyo's club "Citta" was filmed and released later as a full-length concert video "Size It Up", which is supplemented with bonus interviews and backstage footage made during the tour. From Japan the band returned to Europe, where during February and March continued supporting tour to Europe band. It was a successful tour, during which PC69 performed in 13 countries. Musicians of Europe were treated PC69 completely opposite to White Lion, and there were no any problems arised on the road this time.

After return to home and a little break PC69 started to record their third album. At that time the band emerged some disorder. According to Andi Deris, he wrote the first PC69 album and the half of second PC69 album in the shower room during the military service (1985). In 1993 Andi remained satisfied with the musical direction of the band and was not going to change it. But Alfred Koffler - the second composer of PC69 - had the opposite view. Koffl, which always try to play something new, now started to compose modern alternative songs. It was obvious that Andi can't to sing them so Koffl just put them "in die Schublade". But in that time Koffl convinced Kosta and Dennis that PC69 must make some deviation to grunge and alternative rock, which were quite fashionable back in those days. Finally a compromise between Koffl, Kosta and Dennis from one side and Andi from other was found, but there were still some disagreements about some songs on the album. PC69 produced the album by themselves with the help of Steffens. Record lasted three and one-half of the month.

Album release was preceded by the singles "Face In The Mirror", "Keep Your Eye On The Twisted", "Somedays I Sail", and the third PC69 album "Games People Play" was released on May 3, 1993. It was received very ambiguous by critics and audience. From May to September PC69 did a number of festivals in Germany and the Czech Republic, including famous German Rock Am Ring Festival, and in October they did a headlining tour in Europe, which lasted until December.

Musical and personal differences in the band continued to grow. In December 1993 Andi left the band, but The Pinkies found out his resignation only in January 1994. Deris joined Helloween by accepting the invitation of Michael Weikath, who called to him to join his band for several years. Andi said: "At least I have one friend in Helloween, while in Pink Cream there are no any." With his departure Andi - the main composer and frontman of the band - dealt a severe blow to PC69, but the band survived. Commercial Director of Sony Music offered to The Pinkies a new contract and the enter to the the U.S. market, in case PC69 will record "modern" album, arguing that classic rock is dead. Failure would mean the loss of the existing contract.However, the royalty and the prospects looked so enticing and furthermore they corresponded to the musical ideas of Koffl that The Pinkies agreed and proceeded to search for a new vocalist. Initially, their choice fell on the D.C. Cooper, but musicians couldn't cooperate together. One of the candidates was Dougie White. In several music magazines all around the world the announcement were given and an article in English magazine "Melody Marker" was seen by David Readman, who made a demo tape and sent it to PC69. The Pinkies identified David's demo from hundreds of other entries and invited the Englishman to audition. June 17, 1994, David flew to Germany, and after the first rehearsal with the band he became the new vocalist of PC69. In November, he signed a contract, and the team immediately went to Los Angeles to record their fourth album with producer Shay Baby. Before this Shay Baby lived three weeks in Karlsruhe making every track perfect. But America and grunge, which reigned there at that time shocked The Pinkies. There were a lot of difficulties during album recording, leading to irritations within the band and relations with the label changed to worse too, but The Pinkies decided to finish the record despite all the difficulties. During the record main attention was paid to preserving of "dirty" live sound of the band. In January 1995 The Pinkies returned to Karlsruhe in the area of which they all - including David - living to the present time. Kosta became a manager in Bottom Row Promotion and Dennis became a producer.

"Change", fourth album of PC69 and the first in a new composition, appeared on March 20, 1995. Album was featured two singles: cover versions of the 70's hit "20th Century Boy" and "Only the Good". "Change" is fundamentally different from all previous works of the band, introducing more open, modern sound to the audience. Although The Pinkies were not satisfied by this album and call it the mistake by themselves, they recognize that the creation of this album was necessary. Mainly, because they have never thought about what kind of music they wanted to play before. Experiments and testing themselves in different styles showed them the right way. But The Pinkies considered as the main mistakes of "Change" the producer work and the sound of the album which killed strong original idea. David's debut on stage was happened in July. After performing at various festivals in September and October 1995 PC69 did a tour around Germany in support of the album. The Pinkies adapted to David's voice all their live hits for tour. Although Readman completely could copy Andi The Pinkies were absolutely against this.

After that PC69 suffered another tragedy: Sony Music without any warning tore the contract with the band. Next album The Pinkies had to make themselves so all expenditures were maximally reduced. They rented Trick Studio near Heidelberg. The Pinkies produced the album and Dennis engineered it. During 8 weeks (August-September 1996) 15 songs were made and it was the album with working name of "Gravity". These songs were used for making record deal with new label.

The fifth album "Food For Thought" appeared on July 25, 1997 on High Gain Records. The new album continued the direction of "Change", but this time the band has combined new ideas with their roots. Selfproducing brought not only financial benefits but also gave the album a perfect sound. "Food For Thought" avoided all mistakes of "Change". Also this is a first album with influence of David: during recording of "Change" all songs were completed before adoption of Readman in the band and only now he could show himself as composer.

In May and June the band made a tour in Germany. Due to the tenth anniversary of the band The Pinkies recorded a few shows and planed release the "live" album. Although The Pinkies assert that the idea of the "live" album arose long time ago and it was just a coincidence the possibility of creating and the anniversary. "Live", the first official live album of PC69, was released on November 3, 1997. "Live" was entirely produced by Dennis Ward, and since then he became the permanent and the only one producer of PC69.

The band started composing their next album, and this time The Pinkies decided to leave experiments and return to their traditional sound. All three composers of PC69: Koffl, David and Dennis - wrote the new songs. The new material is a classic melodic hard rock, but made very strong, fresh and professional. The Pinkies decided to work and experiment with new songs in the studio instead of long rehearsals. The album was recorded in House Of Audio Studios, Karlsdorf in December 1997 - February 1998 and mixed by Dennis in May. "Electrified", which was released on September 21, 1998, bore the name of the strongest album of the band at that time. It combined melody of the early works with innovation and experience gained over 10 years. Vocals for several tracks were done by Ralph Schepers and D.C. Cooper. In November the band went on tour with Bruce Dickinson. In March 1999 The Pinkies gave two concerts in Japan together with D.C. Cooper, and in November they did their first gig in Brazil.

In September 1999, High Gain label went bankrupt, and next March PC69 signed a new contract with Massacre. The label was so impressed by "Electrified", that suggested to The Pinkies contract even without listening of new material. Alfred, Dennis and Kosta participated in recording solo album by D.C. Cooper, the idea of which was proposed by managers of Bottom Row Promotion. PC69 also participated in a movie shooting at Bavarian Filmstudios. Also The Pinkies recorded a cover of "Looks That Kill" for Tribute To Motley Crue "Kickstart my Heart". Despite their daily jobs, the band was preparing material for the new album. During Jule-August 1999 Koffl and David wrote 20 high-class songs. In that time David lived in Manchester but he, as well as Koffl in Karlsruhe, had a full set of modern equipment and two composers of PC69 sent each other the idea of songs via email. In October 1999 The Pinkies entered House Of Audio Studio and worked on the record till New Year 2000.

"Sonic Dynamite" was released on Feb. 21, 2000. This album carried on the idea of "Electrified" and secured the band's success. PC69 hit the official charts in Germany again. In April the band did a tour to support the album. Songs from the new album very good worked live and some of them always are in the set-list of PC69 show. On November 11, 2000 EP "Mixery" was released - a collection of demos, covers, live versions of songs. "Live" bootleg recordings were made by unknown fan at a concert in Japan and was confiscated by security guard. The quality of record was so high that the promoter gave the tape to band, and The Pinkies decided to use it. In the studio Dennis just added a few mid ranges - the only thing he could do.

The new label also reissued the "Food For Thought", "Live" and "Electrified". In November and December PC69 made another tour around Europe.

The Pinkies came back to studio in April 2001. They recorded the new album in House Of Audio Studios, Karlsdorf until July. The Pinkies composed 25 songs and selected the best tracks for the album. Since Dennis produced the band in his home studio, The Pinkies could spend plenty of time for rehearsal. While recording the next album, the band suffered a tragedy. Alfred suffered Focal Dystonia - nerve disease, which struck his left hand. The first symptoms of the disease were during Sonic Dynamite-tour in 2000 but during recording of the album The Pinkies realized that situation is very serious. It was a difficult time for the band. Few months they didn't know whether PC69 continue. The band even did not thought about replacement of Alfred by other guitarist. According to Kosta: "How long will exist Pink Cream - so Alfred will play here". Nevertheless the album was finished.

"Endangered" was released on Oct. 29, 2001. The name and the cover of the album were chosen by the band at the last moment. According to the musicians, it turned out weaker than previous work. Because of his illness, Alfred could not play some difficult parties of the album as easy as possible. Also The Pinkies refused to tour and did not play live for two years. It was obvious that Alfred couldn't play live and although Koffl proposed The Pinkies to go in a tour without him they rejected this proposal.

PC69 reminded about themselves only in 2003. In March was released "Two Originals" - a collection that brings together the "Mixery" and "Sonic Dynamite", and the band decided to reappear in public. Unfortunately, the hopes for recovery of Alfred did not come true. His condition improved, but the full mobility of his hand never returned. But Alfred recovered from the psychological trauma. He analyzed the situation and after that developed his own method of guitar playing. During all this hard time The Pinkies supported Alfred and it was Koffl's proposal to invite a second guitarist for the live shows. It became Uwe Reitenauer which was recommended by friend of Dennis. The Pinkies checked their forces in Verviers on June 26, and two days later made their legendary comeback gig. June 28 the band played at one of the biggest festivals in Germany, "Bang Your Head" in Balingen. After this incredibly successful show some performances at several German festivals were followed.

On December 28, 2003 in Ludwigsburg during the Rockfabrik Anniversary Show The Pinkies met with Andi Deris. It was the first meeting in 10 years. Andi watched the PC69 set and after that they said each other few words. According to Koffl the conversation was brief and on general themes but after that Andi and Kosta had long private conversation.

Besides that PC69 returned to the studio in 2003 to start work on a new album. The producer, as on previous albums, was Dennis. His talent, professionalism and mutual understanding with the musicians allowed him to take a risk and move away from the standard scheme for recording to facilitate the work of Alfred. Uwe did not take part in the recording of the album, all the guitar parts were performed by Koffl himself in the own home studio.

"Thunderdome" was released on January 26, 2004. By this time PC69 left the Massacre label and signed with SPV. The new album has exceeded all expectations. It entered German charts, became the best-selling album of David Readman's era and one of three best albums of PC69 along with "One Size Fits All" and "Electrified". Some fans call it the best album by that time. In March and April PC69 went on tour with Axxis, and during 2004 and 2005 the band performed in Europe. September 17, 2005 PC69 played in Atlanta, USA, at the Prog Power festival.

Because of Dennis and Kosta's tight schedules, recording of a new album was delayed, but musicians wrote the material. Finally, in October 2006 The Pinkies entered the studio and started recording, which took time until mid-February 2007. When all songs were complete The Pinkies almost lost everything done because of the broken computer. Fortunately they saved everything except back vocals. Back vocals were rerecording during next few days. On March 23, 2007 "In10sity" saw the light of day, released by Frontiers Records label. The new album was a successor of its predecessor. Made in a true tradition of melodic hard rock, it represents vivid vocals and unusually strong guitars work to the audience. Thanks to Uwe, whom at that time became a full member of the band, The Pinkies were able to use the guitars at the parts where they had to use keyboards previously. Alfred composed 10 songs and Dennis wrote lyrics for it. Other three songs were written by David. But "In10sity" have experiments as well. The Pinkies have included pop-oriented "Crossfire" to the album, which Alfred did not compose for the band, but the song was too good and brought some diversity to the album.

During 2007 and 2008 the band performed at numerous European festivals and did a number of solo performances, even visited Sao Paolo, Brazil. On January 24, 2009 PC69 performed the domestic show in Karlsruhe-Durlah, celebrated 20th Anniversary of the band.

On October 16, 2009 The Pinkies presented the greatest gift for their fans. They released double live CD "Live In Karlsruhe" and double live DVD "Past And Present". Making of DVD wasn't a secret but CD became a real surprise. Double CD includes 20th Anniversary show live in Karlsruhe, January 24, 2009 and three songs live at Das Fest, Karlsruhe, 2007. Double DVD with running time more then 4:30 includes 20th Anniversary show live in Karlsruhe, insight interviews and backstage, "Size It Up - live in Kawasaki" (Japan, 1992), all videos of the band and bonus footage at Das Fest and Masters Of Rock in summer 2007. The Pinkies tried to show all their history and to include rare interesting materials on these DVD. Kosta Zafiriou is an executive producer and Dennis mixed the sound on these disks.

Now PC69 compose songs for the new studio album.

Article written by Tanya 'ivanna' Valchishena