SCORPIONS Guitarist Rudolph Schenker

BraveWords.com Talks To SCORPIONS Guitarist Rudolph Schenker - "Our Career Highlight Is That We Created A Song Like ‘Rock You Like A Hurricane'"



By Mitch Lafon

Since 1965, Rudolph Schenker has held the esteemed position of guitarist for the SCORPIONS, but the current Get Your Sting And Blackout World Tour marks an end to that amazing run. The band has decided that this will be their last tour and the guitarist sat down with BraveWords.com's Mitch Lafon to let us know what that all means to him and the band.

Bravewords.com: You’ve announced a farewell tour. You’re going to stop in 2012/2013. KISS announced a farewell tour. OZZY did a farewell tour. THE WHO did a farewell tour. Are you sure that you’re really going to stop?

Rudolph Schenker: “We are Germans. We have no sense of humour. We are very strict and we stick to what we say. Klaus (Meine; vocals) and me are 62 (years old) with three years on the road we’ll be 65. If we take a little break and go in the studio again to make a new album – we’re 67 then we go out on stage again and we’re bad boys running wild…”

BraveWords.com: At 70…

Schenker: "The reason for the decision is that when we started to do this album (Sting In The Tail) – we had the idea in mind not to do Humanity Hour 2. With Desmond Child we had done a very polished American kind of album and rock music was always our soundtrack, so let’s do a rock album. We came up with songs like ‘Spirit Of Rock’, ‘The Best Is Yet To Come’ and ‘Raised On Rock’. When we started the mixing of the album to decide what we had to add to it or had to take off our manager said ‘hey guys this could be a great piece to finish your career,’ and we said ‘yeah, this is the right way.’ Another thing that helped us make our decision is that in some ways the ‘80s are back… back in music, fashion, etc. To make this album we had to slip into this feeling again… an ‘80s comeback. So, we called the producers, Mikael Nord Andersson and Martin Hansen, both are huge Scorpions fans and they said ‘the Scorpions are about big guitar riffs, great melodies and great vocals. We have to go back to this formula… to this DNA.’ They were very much focused to get back this feeling, this DNA from the ‘80s which we found back. They gave us the right kick in the ass to really come up with something outstanding. By listening back to the album, we found out that this was the best of the Scorpions of the ‘80s, but only with new songs on it. So, this is the perfect moment to…”





BraveWords.com: To call it a day…

Schenker: "We can leave the whole scene on a high note. We went through the ‘90s and we were lucky that we had already built up our career. We could go through our career without big damage because grunge and alternative put most of the guys who played in the ‘80s out of business. We had the advantage to not follow the money line. We went where the fun is… where the adventure is that’s the reason why we started playing places in Asia in the ‘80s where no record company was happening. It was just friends who wanted to see the Scorpions. That paid off in the end. That’s the reason I wrote a book called Rock Your Life; it’s a biography, but more it’s a help for people who don’t know where to go. It’s to improve your inside. Most people make the decision to go where the money is, but they are not going where they can have the most fun and in the end they have the money, but no happiness. We went to foreign countries and we really wanted to show those countries that there’s a new generation coming up in Germany and they’re not coming with tanks, but with guitars bringing love and happiness. This was our message. We always gave to the countries around the world and we became the ambassadors of rock – building bridges between generations, religion, countries and continents. That was the reason we were one of the first rock bands to play in Russia. We played the Music Peace Festival and BON JOVI was there and OZZY OSBOURNE…”

BraveWords.com: and CINDERELLA, SKID ROW…

Schenker: "We came back from this big adventure and wrote the song ‘Wind Of Change’ which became the anthem of the most peaceful revolution on earth. One year later, we were invited in the head office of leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the Kremlin. So, this is outstanding career what the Scorpions did including the US Festival, Rock In Rio, The Wall in Berlin… we did a lot of outstanding things including playing in front of the pyramids in Cairo or playing in the Amazon or Red Square. We always tried to be where the adventure is. That makes the Scorpions, as a band, very different to all the other bands around the world. We want to give the people a great picture of the Scorpions until the end. We want to give 150% until the last concert because when we can’t give that we feel terrible.”

BraveWords.com: Have you chosen a final date yet?

Schenker: "No. We want to leave it open ended. We don’t want to have a perfect tour in mind. We’re waiting still on great offers. We want to do a video (Blu-Ray) in a special place which we will release. Our plan is to be inspired by more and more great concerts around the world.”

BraveWords.com: When the tour finally ends, obviously the brand Scorpions won’t end. Will there be box sets, live CDs, DVDs…

Schenker: "It will not end. We have a library with around 800 hours of more of film material including 300 hours from Russia. We want to re-release the Worldwide Live video/DVD with ‘outstanding’ (bonus) footage. We have lots of stuff that we haven’t shown anybody. We want to do different stories and we want to do that in the future. We’ll have lots of time to do that.”

BraveWords.com: When the band ceases to exist do you just retire to Hawaii or do you take your brother and go do some shows or do you do a solo album… what happens to you?

Schenker: "I wrote a book called Rock Your Life. It’s already released in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Portugal and other countries. I want to promote that and, of course, after my brother released a Schenker guitar done by Dean (http://www.deanguitars.com/schenker_v.htm
) - we had in mind to do a Schenker brother album, but this last tour got in between that and we don’t want to do it as a side project. We want to do it when we have real time. Klaus has already said ‘I would love to be a guest singer for one or two songs.’ There are lots of things to do… Hawaii? Why? The only thing I don’t want to do is travel. I’ll have a little bit of rest and wait for the offers to come in and I’ll see what is the most interesting thing and which is the most fun to do. The book thing, of course, is my priority. It’s a book that gives people (as an example) – that when you do everything wrong in the beginning that you can still end up with everything right. Most people are doing their decisions out of the moment. They want to be hip now and to make the money that is coming now. You have to trust the inside because it knows already what comes up in the future. Make what you want to make and have fun with it because the money will come by itself.”

BraveWords.com: Do you want to write other books?

Schenker: "The decision to write this book came from one minute to the other. The idea came and I know from the inside ‘yes, that’s what I have to do’. I went in January to the Dakar Rally – the most dangerous rally in the world. Volkswagen called me and said, ‘we read your book and the message is perfect for the Dakar Rally. Do you want to be the test driver for our new pickup called Amarok? I said ‘yes’ immediately and I told my manager and he said ‘you’re crazy. We have to make a very important Scorpions tour. How can you do that?’ I told him ‘I know there will be nothing happening’ and in the end it was one of my biggest adventures and I had a lot of great moments driving the rally between Argentina and Chile. It was fantastic. So, you don’t know what’s coming up. If you’re making your plans before the time has come then you’re maybe killing all the other kinds of possibilities. Be open – don’t be afraid. Fly into the new world.”

BraveWords.com: You mentioned the Berlin Wall and ‘Wind Of Change’. That was very important, not only for the Scorpions, but for humanity. Is that your greatest accomplishment?

Schenker: "Our career highlight is that we created a song like ‘Rock You Like A Hurricane’. It’s the essence of the ‘80s. When people ask me ‘what do you think the Scorpions are’, of course, we start at rock music and as we go through ‘80s it’s rocking and partying like animals, but then it’s also about taking care of what’s happening in the world without becoming a political band and creating this ‘Wind Of Change’ thing. For me, the Scorpions is ‘Rock You Like A Hurricane’. It’s this side of a crazy rock band and ‘Still Loving You’ is the romantic side of the Scorpions which created a baby-boom in 1985 in France. We sold over two million singles of ‘Still Loving You’ and many couples, in France, made love to ‘Still Loving You’. It’s no joke. There was a baby-boom. We found out by doing a TV show in France called Taratata with *******Alanis Morrissette in the ‘90s. The interview guy said ‘you know you created a baby-boom in ’85 with 'Still Loving You’. We were completely shocked because nobody had told us. Out of that many couples gave their babies the first name ‘Sly’ because it’s the first initials of ‘Still’, ‘Loving’, ‘You’. This is also the reason why on the new album (Sting Of The Tail) there’s a song called ‘SLY’.”

As for ‘Wind Of Change’ – it became the soundtrack for a people’s revolution. We grew up next to the Berlin Wall. These are (the three songs) the essence of the Scorpions along with songs like 'Big City Nights', 'The Zoo', 'Bad Boys Running Wild', 'Holiday' and and and… there’s lots of stuff. There’s working with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. We are probably the only band to, even at the end of the ‘90s when everything was upside down, have two record companies. We had East-West for the rock stuff and EMI for the classical stuff (because of the album with the Berlin Philharmonic). One year later, we did Acoustica. We even did on four different days – three different concerts – one was a rock show, one was the acoustic show and the other was a classical show.”

BraveWords.com: The Scorpions work way too hard…

Schenker: "Yeah, but we had fun with it and that’s the important point. In the ‘90s, we stopped touring… the long tours. We only played where people wanted us that means we played in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia or we played Wacken or the next day we played Portugal… We always played the best and we did not come as a machine running and trying to repeat again again and kill the feeling. No, we always tried to see the Scorpions in a new way and to enjoy playing in the different countries.”




BraveWords.com: You mentioned Wacken. In 2006, you brought back some of the guys (Uli Jon Roth, Herman Rarebell and Michael Schenker). For your last farewell show or last week of shows or last month of shows- do you think you’ll bring back the old guard and do like a thirty song concert?

Schenker: "I think this is what we have in mind, but we will wait until the right moment is there. Two nights ago, we played in Oklahoma and we played with my brother. These days Carmine Appice is playing in his band. His band, MSG, was fantastic and then he came and played ‘Another Piece Of Meat’ with us and for ‘No One Like You’ Herman (Rarebell; former drummer) came on stage.”

BraveWords.com: Speaking of Herman have you heard his new version of ‘Rock You Like A Hurricane’? It’s on his new Take It As It Comes album.

Schenker: "No.”

BraveWords.com: It’s very different. Not sure if it’s hilarious or brilliant.

Schenker: "He’s still funny and he’s a great guy. We laughed a lot in Oklahoma. It was a great evening with him, MSG, the Cinderella and the RATT guys were there. You know the rock family is about sharing a lot of memories and it’s fantastic.”

BraveWords.com: I want to ask you about ‘sharing memories’. On the current tour, you’ve had Ratt, Cinderella, TESLA, VINCE NEIL and DOKKEN - you are using all those bands from the ‘80s. Why didn’t you picked two or three of those bands and make it a huge package tour and why did you pick ‘80s bands? You look at KISS, Bon Jovi or whoever and they’re always picking up new young bands to open for them."

Schenker: "We talked with our manager about a big package, but there’s not a lot of people out there (touring) this year. JOURNEY’s not out there. DEF LEPPARD made a decision not to tour. AEROSMITH made a decision in the last minute. They would have been good because we like them and we’re good friends. So, we started thinking – since Ratt wasn’t out for a long time and we had toured Europe with them in the ‘80s or ‘90s. Ratt opened for us a few years ago in Chicago and their new album (Infestation) is quite good. It’s gotten good reviews (even in Europe). So, we said ‘why not use these bands?’ We know them and we invited Ratt out for dinner in New Orleans and we had a great time. So, we thought they’d be good for the last tour. Though we might be coming back to America. America is such a big market for us that one tour is not enough.”

BraveWords.com: Montreal and Quebec City are big markets for the Scorpions.

Schenker: "Very big markets, yes, and we had a very good time there. My idea two years ago was to go out as a big package with JUDAS PRIEST, IRON MAIDEN and the Scorpions. We would really have the love of people if we could get these three bands together, but somehow it wasn’t possible. So, here we are now playing the whole tour with RATT, Dokken, Cinderella and it makes sense. When we were in Greece, I heard ‘Another Piece Of Meat’ played by Vince Neil and it’s a very good version. He came with us onstage and we played it together. It’s great and fantastic to have these people on stage and we have no problems. Some of the younger bands always think they are bigger than they really are and they are making all these problems. Here we have a great time together because we’ve known each other for a long time.”

BraveWords.com: It’s great for the bands. Sometimes the opening bands don’t have a lot to offer and you feel like you’ve wasted money on half a show rather than getting a full show…

Schenker: "That’s also very important to us because I know that fans of the ‘80s are very ignorant to new sounds…”

BraveWords.com: And they’re very loyal to their bands…

Schenker: "Yeah and we wanted to have great bands that have a great repertoire. We wanted bands that can really give the people something without wasting their time.”

BraveWords.com: You pay 125$ for a ticket and you feel that you get 60 minutes of music rather than a full three hours. So, it’s nice to see Cinderella on there because you know they put on a fantastic show.

Schenker: "This band, Cinderella, can really play. Their set is fantastic. They have great songs. Ratt also – their singer (Stephen Pearcy) has a problem a little bit because of his recent operation (inguinal hernia), but he’s doing very good.”

BraveWords.com: What’s the next release for the Scorpions? Will it be the Blu Ray or will it be a greatest hits album or a box set…

Schenker: "We don’t know yet. It was very important for us to get this show together. We had a production meeting in Poland and somehow our production manager wasn’t really on the spot and he did not a good job. So, we had a wake up call because we know that we are very close to the tour. We had to rush and we called in one of our friends and said we need an outstanding show with an ‘80s feeling with a twist. We put together a great show including James’ Kottak Attack drum feature. We’ve gotten great reviews in Europe and America. We’re focused on the right set list and also on the right live concert experience. We’re giving more than 150%. So, we’re really concentrating on playing and then after we have a few plans. We want to make a cinema film, but we will see. There are a few plans in mind and as you know – we are wide open and there are more and more great offers coming in. We want to come back to America and do a few other shows in Canada. We want to make an outstanding DVD it might even be in 3-D or whatever.”

BraveWords.com: There’s the Heavy Mtl III Festival in Montreal next summer (July 2011)…

Schenker: "That would be fantastic. I will talk to my manager.”

BraveWords.com: I wanted to thank you for your time, but one last question please. When you say that you are retiring. Do you mean from the album/tour/album/tour cycle or do you mean for good? Or maybe five years from now you’ll do a show in Berlin, in London, in Chicago… Is this ‘goodbye & thank you very much the Scorpions are done’?

Schenker: "Look at it this way, when something comes that is outstanding, I would never say no. It’s always a question of the situation. We are not saying no because we don’t like each other. We are saying no because we don’t want to be in the position again of having to deliver something which we can’t.”

BraveWords.com: And, maybe, a lot of the fans don’t appreciate that touring when you’re 20 years old is not the same as when you’re over 60…

Schenker: "Most important is Klaus’ singing. It’s very very high. The people in every city you go in are expecting you at 150%.”

BraveWords.com: That’s a fair expectation…

Schenker: "Exactly.”

BraveWords.com: So, hopefully after this tour people can still see a Scorpions show…

Schenker: "It’s a question of how our health is doing…”