They come from traveling Eastern Europe: Poland, Estonia, Lithuania… Scorpios have been working on their projections in these countries for many years. How did these concerts survive in the imminence of war?
Eastern European people are very happy that we went there. The whole world supports Ukraine. We have been to those countries and Russia many times in the last 30 years and we have a strong fan base, music lovers who have nothing to do with wars. Unfortunately, we can no longer act in Russia or Ukraine. So sad.
The song ‘Wind of change’, released in 1991, was inspired by the last days of the USSR and now they’ve retouched the lyrics because it “romanticized” that country, they say.
The public love that we play the game and it’s in this new version. I must say that ‘Wind of Change’ was written not because of the fall of the Berlin wall, but a moment ago, at a time when you can see the changes that the Soviet Union was going through. Now everything has changed with the war. It’s brutal enough to inspire you to make a song.
They are returning to Barcelona after the ‘Rock Believer’ launch last year. Is the relationship with Rock a matter of faith?
The title song of the album is a reference to the fact that we have dedicated our entire lives to rock’n’roll. We never had a plan B. This is how we live. It’s been 45 years since I joined the group a few days ago, and that’s how it’s been all along, not just for us but for the fans as well.
He entered Scoropions in 1978 and debuted with the album ‘Lovedrive’. The band scene with guitarist Ulrich Roth is left behind. The voice change was significant.
Certainly. In the 70’s the band tried to find their own style and they found a new sound with me especially after ‘Blackout’ (1982). I think ‘Rock Believer’ is close to what we were doing back then because with the pandemic we couldn’t work with the producer we wanted in California and we recorded it ourselves in our hometown of Hanover.
They are a very unique example of a continental European group entering an Anglo-American ‘star system’. How did they do this?
When I joined, the band performed in the United States for the first time and everything happened very quickly. We were lucky to have a manager running Ted Nugent and Aerosmith. We were able to open for Ted and get a huge audience and made an impact even though we only played for 45 minutes. One day, I think he was in Seattle, Ted came into the locker room and said to us, “Gentlemen, slow down a bit because I’m having a hard time keeping up with you”. And we were already in the lead role in 1982, and being successful in the United States helped us succeed in Europe as well.
A country opaque to rocks, often made in other European countries, including the United Kingdom. The bands of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal raged there.
They invented Rock: The Beatles, Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Cream… we could see it at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games. As for the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, I don’t know why but we never worried. Lots of waves and trend. We were very busy doing four shows a week, recording… Each album was more successful than the previous one.
In Spain, the ballad “I Still Love You” swept the ’80s and brought a female listener to the traditionally male domain of metal.
Ballads brought the girls to Scorpions and opened the doors to the ‘mainstream’ for us. Also ‘Always somewhere’, ‘Vacation’… But ‘Still love you’ had a terrible success in France, Spain, Portugal… We keep playing. This is a beautiful song.
They toured with Joan Jett & The Blackhearts in 1984. He was barely able to perform in Barcelona: the band had to leave the stage due to the hostile rain of coins and objects they had received.
I remember well it happened in Germany too. It hurt us so much for him who had a great song called ‘I love rock’n’roll’ at the time. We had a quiet audience, but with it came its most extreme side. This was strange. It never happened to us, it never will happen again.
Urban tribes were very distinctive back then: “I am heavy, you are vagrant: you are my enemy”.
True, it was about being a rocker or not. There are so many styles of music now, it’s hard to keep up with them all.
This time, they are at the beginning of a festival in Barcelona that also features another classic, Saxon.
I really want to see them. It’s a band that’s always there, even though we don’t come across it much on tour. But it is remarkable that such a group still exists. Much respect. Not easy.
On their current tour, as is customary, they put the repertoire aside before coming to the group.
We did a ’70s mix-up’ in the previous ‘tour’, but this material no longer fits in our repertoire, even after editing it. This is the past. We do a mix of classics like “Rock you like a hurricane”, “Bad boys run wild” and “Rock Believer”.
They announced their farewell tour in 2010 and later withdrew. How do you see this decision now?
I ran into Klaus (Meine) at an airport and asked him, “Where did this goodbye saying come from?” I asked. He told me “I don’t know”. I thought it was his thing. It turned out to be a management idea that Klaus and Rudolf (Schenker) embraced, but then we realized that the fans, the agencies, the organizers didn’t want us to stop. MTV asked us if we wanted to ‘unplugged’ and we said “let’s try it”.
And they’ve been going ever since. Will they no longer announce a final round?
Our agency is scheduling for 2024, and it turns out that 2025 is the group’s 60th anniversary. No, we will not be announcing a “last concert” whenever it happens. We are healthy for now and still having fun.
We see groups that are close to the 80s and still active, such as The Who or the Stones.
I will be 68 in October and my colleagues are 74-75. Yes, it’s pretty awesome to dedicate your whole life to it. Mick Jagger will soon turn 80. That’s incredible.
Is the dream of hard rock and heavy metal stagnant around the usual big names?
There is a feeling that the dinosaurs are dying and it is difficult for younger groups to follow them. We see it at festivals, but we do not fill large venues alone.
Will there be more Scorpions albums?
I don’t know, it depends on the songs. A new album should be at least as good as the previous one. We really don’t need it. There are already too many and we could go on tour forever without further recording. We’ll only do it if it’s worth it.