The Scorpions website reports that “Scorpions, Germany’s most successful international music export, are poised to ‘sting’ once again and are planning a frontal attack on the musical artery of rock fans all over the globe with their new album, ‘Humanity – Hour 1.’ Thirty-five years after the release of their debut album, ‘Lonesome Crow,’ Scorpions believe they have reached a new creative high in their impressive career. They plan to prove it with the release of album #21 on August 28th (New Door Records/UMe).
“Smashing Pumpkins singer/guitarist Billy Corgan makes a special appearance on the album as a featured guest on ‘The Cross.’
“The band – Klaus Meine (vocals), Rudolf Schenker (rhythm guitars), Matthias Jabs (lead guitars), James Kottak (drums) and Pawel Maciwoda (bass) – enlisted acclaimed songwriter/producer Desmond Child (Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, KISS) and producer James Michael to work behind the boards on the album, which was recorded at several Los Angeles studios. ‘Desmond is a fabulous visionary who took us to musical levels we had never reached before,’ declares lead guitarist Jabs.
“The fruit of this extremely productive collaboration is an album that melds the classic hard Scorpions sound with modern elements of today’s musical style. ‘Humanity – Hour 1’ is a mature concept album, with lyrics that are often provocative and deal with the dark sides of the world we live in. Such is the case with the timely first single, ‘Humanity,’ a song filled with the band’s renowned melodies, big guitars and global awareness. A video for the track can be found on the band’s official website (www.the-scorpions.com) and on YouTube.com.
“‘At the same time, though, we are sending our fans a positive musical message, telling them not to let the insanity going on around us every day get them down,’ explains Meine, who considers ‘Humanity – Hour 1’ to be the most powerful album since the global success of ‘Crazy World’ in 1991. ’The new album will feature the great power-rock ballads, of course, but we have been and we remain a rock band, and people who go for hard but melodic songs will love this album.’
“‘As exciting as it is to work on new songs in the studio, when it comes right down to it, we are a die-hard live performance band that really shifts into overdrive when we hit the stage,’ says Schenker. ‘Direct contact with our fans is our biggest source of inspiration,’ continues Meine.
“And that’s one significant factor explaining why the band’s calendar is already quite full for this year. ‘Humanity World Tour 2007/2008’ will take Scorpions through Europe, South America, and Asia. They land in the U.S. starting September 4 in Sault Ste. Marie, MI. Dates through September 30 are being confirmed and will be posted on the band’s official website in the coming days.
“Scorpions – who’ve sold more than 70 million albums worldwide – still fill the biggest stadiums in the world each year, performing in front of hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic fans. In early March, the band returned to Moscow to give a concert in the Kremlin at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin – an honor granted to relatively few Western artists. For decades, their power-packed live shows have been among the few events that broke records for sold out shows in the USA, Canada and many European countries.
“Since its release in Europe and Asia in May, ‘Humanity – Hour 1’ has been a smash in various countries as well as on various album charts” (http://www.the-scorpions.com).
All Access Magazine’s Valerie Nerres was able to speak to frontman Klaus Meine via phone about everything from the new album to “The Simpsons.”
Klaus Meine: Hi Valerie, this is Klaus Meine, how are you?
AAM: I’m great! Where are you today?
KM: Well, I’m in the Rainforest, in Manos, in Brazil. That’s where we’re playing a show tonight.
AAM: That’s incredible! Well, I just have a few questions. I don’t want to take up too much of your time, so I’ll just get right to it.
KM: Let’s go!
AAM: Why do you think the Scorpions have been so successful, so consistently, for all these years?
KM: Well, it’s been an amazing journey. From the very beginning when we had a dream, when Rudolph Schenker, Matthias Jabs and I started the band in the early ‘70s, we still share this dream and we haven’t lost the passion for rock music at all. We feel privileged that we’re still touring all over the world and we still have fans in the U.S. and all over the globe. I think the fact that this band was always about friendship, and that we still enjoy each other’s company, is why we still rock the world!
AAM: On this new album, you’re working with Desmond Child, who has worked with so many other legendary rock bands – Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, KISS, etc. Whose idea was it to work with him? How was it different working with him as opposed to working with any other producer? Was it more of a collaboration?
KM: Yeah, absolutely! We know Desmond from way back, from the late ‘80s, when we played the Moscow Music Peace Festival. For this new album, we were checking out different producers in America and back in Europe and Desmond was on the top of our wish list. When we met with him last summer when we played a couple of shows in California, Desmond said “You know, I would love to do this project. To me you’re part of the international rock family.” It was a great experience to work with Desmond and, like you said, this time it was not so much, “This is my song, this is your song.” I think when you make the decision that you want Desmond Child as a producer, of course you make a decision that you want him writing songs as well. The man is a legend, you know? It was a great experience and we had a great time working in Los Angeles. For about 4 months, there was such an amazing pool of creativity around. All we wanted to do is hopefully come up with something that could add another milestone to the long history of the Scorpions.
AAM: You mentioned the Moscow Music Peace Festival. You recently played in Moscow at the Kremlin?
KM: We played in Moscow, actually went there straight from the recording sessions in L.A. We played a big show at the Kremlin Palace, which is a very special venue inside the Kremlin wall. It was packed and sold out. It wasn’t the first time we played there, but straight from the studio we went back on the road. We played all over Europe, starting in Moscow, and right now, well, we’re in the jungle! When our producer James Michael arrived from L.A. yesterday, we said, “Hey James, Welcome to the Jungle!” So we’re very excited about this part – Latin America, Brazil, Mexico – and then we’re on our way to Canada. Before we hit America next year big time, hopefully, we’re playing a couple of selected shows there this year, and of course we’re looking very much forward to coming to Los Angeles.
AAM: On the new album, “Humanity – Hour 1,” you have Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins doing a guest appearance. How did you become involved with him?
KM: Well, Rudolph Schenker met with Billy a couple of years ago and it turns out that Billy Corgan is a huge Scorpions fan. He grew up with our music. So this time, accidentally, we were working in the same studio in L.A., The Village Recorder. So Rudolph went out one night and had dinner with Billy, and they talked about it. Rudolph said, “It would be nice, if you would like to, if you could put a guest vocal performance on our new album, on a song called ‘The Cross.’ It would be perfect.” Billy was working downstairs with the Smashing Pumpkins and I was recording vocals upstairs with Desmond, so we were in the same place. We kept bumping into each other every other day, and I said, “Whenever you feel good about it, just come up and put your part in, just lay your part down,” and that’s what he did and it turned out great. He’s such an amazing character, great singer, and I think this is very much unexpected – for a classic rock band to collaborate with one of the alternative bands, one of the most important alternative bands from that era. So although this was not very expected, it’s just about music. The fact is that, between musicians, there are no lines like there are in the media between “This is classic rock, this is alternative.” We were musicians meeting. We enjoy each other’s music, we respect each other, and c’mon, you want to sing something? You want to play a track? Let’s enjoy the rock dream together!
AAM: What are the similarities or differences for you between this new album and some of the Scorpions’ previous albums?
KM: I think you still can hear the signature Scorpions sound, you know, the big heavy riff guitar and the typical Scorpions vocal sound. We haven’t lost that trademark Scorpions sound. But with this album we wanted to make one that is more mature, with the whole concept of humanity, and we wanted to make an album with a more current sound. We didn’t want to lose what makes the Scorpions, the Scorpions. But we wanted to give the album a very up-to-date sound, not give it an ‘80s kind of sound, you know? This is a band that is in the here and now. We’re artists, we’re touring, and we’re still recording albums. We move with the times. We don’t look so much yesterday, we’re here now, and want to make an album that matters now, where the fans hopefully go, “Wow, this is really cool.”
AAM: Yeah, it DOES sound really cool. I received a copy of it prior to doing this interview. I listen to it in my car. I think this is probably one of the best Scorpions albums I’ve ever heard.
KM: Wow. Well, thank you.
AAM: I love it! You can tell it has the classic Scorpions sound, but it is a little different. I can understand what you’re saying about trying to stay with the times.
KM: Yeah, staying with the times. We want to reach the loyal, longtime Scorpions fans out there, but also we realize that wherever we play there are many, many of the new, young generation of rock fans out there. I mean, there are a lot of the kids out there standing in front of the stage singing along to the songs that were written when they weren’t even born yet. They appreciate this new sound, but they also go along with “Blackout,” “Rock You Like a Hurricane,” those old-time classics. On this tour, of course, we play songs from the new album, like the title track, “Hour-1,” or “Humanity,” or “321” is a fantastic live song. They match very, very well with all those longtime classic and big songs.
AAM: Right. Well, that’s what I was going to ask you: What can people expect to see on this current tour? Are you going to be doing mostly new songs, or are you going to mix it up a little?
KM: Yeah, of course we want to mix it up for the fans. It will be like a journey through all those years and decades, but it’s a lot of fun to play the new stuff and we kick off the show with “Hour 1.” We do “Game of Life,” then of course a couple songs from “Unbreakable,” the last album, like “Love ‘Em or Leave ‘Em.” Then also we might go all the way back and play songs we haven’t touched in a long time, like “Leaving You.” It’s an all-time classic, I think especially in the U.S., very especially in California. It’s still on the air many, many times. All those songs work very well live. And then of course the big ones, “There’s No One Like You” and “Rock You like a Hurricane.”
AAM: What about “In Trance”? I love that song.
KM: Yeah, we might do “In Trance” as well. We just had a couple of shows in Europe, in the U.K., 2 weeks ago, where we had Uli Jon Roth as a very special guest. We did a couple of songs with Uli from way back in the ‘70s. We played “In Trance” together.
AAM: Is there any chance of Michael joining in on any of the dates?
KM: Well, we’ll see. Michael was with us in England with MSG being a special guest on a couple of shows in London and on the big “Rock & Blues Festival.” He’s going through difficult times right now and I hope everything works out for him. It’s always great for the fans when you have some of the musicians that had such an important role in the Scorpions career and history play together, jam together, play songs from that decade together. Or if they are just with MSG, just being a special guest on the tour, it would be so cool. We are open for that, because we know for the fans that’s something very, very special. But it’s all about timing, their schedules and touring going on. And with Michael right now, I hope he’s feeling better soon.
AAM: What is your favorite song to play live?
KM: Well, one of the all-time classics and a big, big crowd pleaser is “Rock You Like a Hurricane.” It’s the climax of every Scorpions show and wherever we go – either in Brazil, in the jungle, in the Rainforest, or in L.A. or in Tokyo or in Berlin – “Rock You Like a Hurricane” is such a rock anthem. There are so many requests to put these songs in movies, especially coming from the U.S. There was a game that recently came out with “The Simpsons,” and they had put “Rock You Like a Hurricane” in it as well.
AAM: How do you feel about that?
KM: [Laughing] I think that’s great! I think that’s fantastic! It’s really like… wow. It puts you right up there. It’s very special. A lot of people love “The Simpsons.” The movie just came out in Europe.
AAM: You know you’ve made it when you’re involved with “The Simpsons”! That’s hilarious; maybe they’ll make a cartoon character out of you and put you in the movie….
KM: [Laughing] Yeah, right? It’s like getting knighted by the Queen! Almost as good, you know?
AAM: Well, that’s even better! It’s more Rock n Roll!
KM: Yeah, it is!
AAM: Do you have a message for the fans out there?
KM: Yes, this is a good chance to say “Thank you” to all the fans in the U.S. We’re very much looking forward to touring to support “Humanity – Hour 1.” We hope that the fans in the U.S. like it as much as we do, and we want to see them again, like so many years, to “Rock You Like a Hurricane!” But we’ll also rock them with new material and a very powerful show. Hopefully we’ll come back next year for more dates in the States. Since we’re all over the place right now, just a few parts of the nation are planned, like playing L.A. and New York. But we’ll come back next year and then go all over the place!
AAM: I want to wish you well for your show in the jungle this evening and I’ll see you at the show in Los Angeles on September 15th. Thank you for taking the time to speak to us at All Access Magazine.
KM: I’ll see you there!
For more information on the Scorpions and tour dates, please visit their website at: www.the-scorpions.com.
