RUDOLF SCHENKER: SCORPIONS Is Nothing Without The 'Sting'

Aniruddh "Andrew" Bansal of Full Metal Rock recently conducted an interview with SCORPIONS guitarist Rudolf Schenker. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Full Metal Rock: What made you decide that this is going to be the farewell?

Rudolf: We were mixing the album and we realized how good the album is. It is like an anthem of the whole of the best songs of the '80s. After working so much on the album, you know, we didn't realize. But you do when you have the whole picture in front of you. I said to the guys, "Hey, I can see how excited you are with this amazing album and I think that this could be a fantastic thing for you guys. If you know what I'm talking about, it could be a good last album and a last tour." So in the first place they said, "Hey, are you kidding or what?" I said, "No, think about it." Then we started talking and then we noticed that really it is in an outstanding kind of way how this album sounds like. We had some producers where the chemistry worked out so amazing. Two guys from Sweden, one is a very good guitar player and the other one is a very good technician on the boards, and somehow the chemistry was working in my studio and also in Stockholm. We recorded the parts of the backing vocals, guitars and bass here in my studio and other parts like main vocals and drums we did in Stockholm, working together with these guys and really they somehow got this special guitar work out of us, which is really really kicking ass. So this is right essence of the SCORPIONS to really go on tour again with amazing '80s kind of rock show, the kind of big show we are known for from the '80s. To do that and release the album, that would be fantastic and make it a really big world tour. So more and more we thought about it, the more we came to the point that, yes, this is the right situation because SCORPIONS being on stage we make our name as a great live band because of the very powerful act on stage. When that acting gets less and less, it means that the "sting" is not there anymore. And SCORPIONS is nothing without the "sting." In this case, we know now that we are fit enough to really present a 100 percent SCORPIONS show with a 120% SCORPIONS album, which would make it a successful tour, especially for a band from Germany where people thought that rock music never can come out of Germany. So we are now aware of that and we will give everything to make this last tour around the world a big rock and roll party.

Full Metal Rock: Your upcoming album was supposed to be "Humanity Hour II", but it's not. What happened to that?

Rudolf: The truth came after "Humanity Hour I". We talked about the fact that we had to be careful with the "Humanity Hour I" album. Our fears and everything came true, and because of financial crisis and everything, even a band like LINKIN PARK was talking about the same thing. So in this case, we didn't have anything, any reason to discuss about another concept album. So we said you know, why talking again and again [about it]? Now is the time to say, "Hey, guys, now we are in deep shit, let's rock, let's get positive energy and let's get out of this shit and make our world positive again." And that's what we did with "Sting In The Tail".

Full Metal Rock: You recorded this one in Germany as compared to the previous album that you did in the U.S. How much of a difference you think that has made?

Rudolf: It [recording in the U.S.] was fantastic! I tell you what, we really enjoyed being in Los Angeles and America is still our dream country. It's pure rock and roll and it was really fun. They gave us personal trainers to be fit, especially coming out of the production and to go on tour again. It was a great idea because after doing this program that time with the personal trainers, we are still doing it because it helps us really to be powerful on stage.

Full Metal Rock: Your farewell tour is supposed to last for two years. During this time, can we expect the SCORPIONS to play in as many cities around the world as possible, covering places you've never been to before?

Rudolf: Of course! We are ready to rock everywhere in the world. Because we did already, but you can talk about SCORPIONS even playing in the jungle in Amazon, playing in Mongolia, the pyramids in Egypt and there are so many places. The fun thing about it is, its so great to see people who may be never saw a rock and roll band, like when we played in the eastern part of the Europe in Russia. They never saw a rock band live before. We enjoyed very much to play in front of the Russian audience and also we like to play in front of American audience or South America. It's great to see the different mentalities and it's fantastic to see that rock music is really building bridges between generations, between continents and religions.

Read the entire interview at Full Metal Rock.