SCORPIONS
interviewsofrecordingartists.com
SCORPIONS
June 1989.
Since 1985, Scorpions' fans have been waiting for a follow-up to 'Worldwide Live'. Now with the Scorpions' latest release and a North American tour, the Germans are invading the American shores with heavy metal mania once again. 'Savage Amusement' debuted at number five on the Billboard charts and it is well on its way to becoming the most successful release in the band's 16-year history. Being the only continental European musicians to have one double platinum, two platinum and two gold albums in the United States is not enough for singer Klaus Meine, guitarists Rudolf Schenker and Matthias Jabs, bassist Francis Buchholz or drummer Herman Rarebell. Constantly striving to achieve higher and higher goals is what keeps this metal machine running smoothly. Never satisfied with mediocre performances, a quest for perfection is the central drive behind the band's climb to the top of the music business.
'Song Hits' caught up with Klaus Meine and Herman Rarebell during their record-breaking North American tour for an interesting insight into their beliefs on the formula for success and their recent Russian tour.
Q. Scorpions seems to thrive off of life on the road. What do you attribute this to?
Klaus Meine: Because we love the road, that's what rock and roll is all about. If you are getting tired of this, you are getting too old to rock and roll. Since we have been in the studio for most of last year recording 'Savage Amusement', and then to come over to America to play rock and roll, is really something we enjoy.
Herman Rarebell: This is something that we have been doing all of our lives. We have played this music for 20 years now so it is a very natural thing for us to be on the road. We drain energy off of the people out in the crowd.
Q. Do you enjoy the constant challenge of staying on top in the music business?
Herman Rarebell: Well it is a wonderful feeling if you are in the top ten all of the time. Nobody complains! It's a great feeling when you make an album after a two-year wail and it goes straight to the top ten. When you see that then that is the best reward you can get. It shows you that people have not forgotten you.
Klaus Meine: It is just great! Before we came over to America the album went platinum. When you are locked in the studio for weeks at a time it is like being in jail! So when the album is out and you get positive feedback from the fans all over the world, then that is a really good feeling.
Q.How do you keep Scorpions' creative process a democratic situation in the recording studio?
Klaus Meine: What we do is have everyone in the band come to the studio with songs that have been written before we enter the studio. Then, we pick the songs which we feel will stick best in everybody's minds. Then, we pick the songs which all the band members feel are the best to put on an album. It truly is a democratic process. We make sure our albums are filled with all good songs. We want to serve our public in the best way that we can. You do not want to try to fool the public by putting out an album with one or two good songs and the rest filler. The public cannot be fooled. So that is why our albums go straight to the top ten. We start out with 50 songs recorded in the studio and only 9 songs make it on the album. We want only the best songs on the albums.
Q.Did your quest for perfection take an extra long time to record 'Savage Amusement'?
Klaus Meine: We attempt to be perfect but the thing is if you record a song and you really like it after 6 months time then you know that you picked the right song to be on the album. We did want to make sure that we made a better album that 'Love At First Sting', which was a pretty hard album to beat. We feel 'Savage Amusement' is our best album and our most mature album. We go over and over our songs in the studio and constantly ask ourselves, is this really good enough. That is the process we take in recording an album in the studio.
Q.How can the Scorpions take 2 years off to record an album and still come back strong with a platinum album and a worldwide following?
Klaus Meine: The fans get quality from the Scorpions when they buy a Scorpions' album or go to a Scorpions' concert. We please ourselves in the work we do in the studio. Then we do not write our music for hit radio, we write our music for the kids that come to our shows to see us live. Our music is played by talented musicians who play straight from the heart and the kids know this. We gave all our energy and power into this new album. To come back out on the road and to tour the world with all the strength and energy we can give it is also important to us.
Q. How can a man who seems to have such control over his life and his business sing a song like "When Passion Rules The Game"?
Klaus Meine: When it comes to music, to have control of your life is one thing but control over your heart is another. We are musicians of the '80s; we are much more in control of ourselves then at any other point in our lives. To put on a good show and give the people what they want you have to be in control of the situation. When it comes to good music then we are talking not about control, but passion of the heart. I think it is not contrary to be in control of your life, but to be passionate about your music. When it comes to making music it is something that you cannot control with your head; you need to create it from your heart. With music you have to let your heart and soul do the talking. You can only be truly excited about the work that you are doing when your heart is totally in flames otherwise this would be boring and I could have a 9 to 5 job!
Q.Are you more comfortable on the road than in the recording studio?
Herman Rarebell: We are definitely more comfortable on the road than in the studio. We love the adventure that life on the road brings us.
Klaus Meine: When you live life like we do, touring with a band for 12 months at a time and have a chance to travel from America to Japan or to Spain, there are so many stories to tell and so many things happening, that is where our inspiration comes from. Rock and roll is about adventure and touring the world is as exciting as it gets.
Q.The ultimate adventure must have been the Soviet Union tour!
Herman Rarebell: The Russian government cancelled the 5 shows in Moscow because they said that they could not handle all the security for a building that holds 40,000 people for a rock concert. So we played in Leningrad in front of 18,000 people nightly for 10 sold-out shows. We noticed that the people of Russia were very warm towards us which is something we did not expect from the Russians because of our upbringing we were always told that the Russian people were the bad guys.
Klaus Meine: For us to go to Russia was a very positive experience and rock and roll was always meant to be an adventure and to go on tour in Russia was truly exciting. We were the first major hard-rock band to ever play in Russia. The Russian people had no idea what to expect from us and we had no idea what to expect from them. This was the very first time the Russians ever saw a large scale concert production and they loved it! Russia seemed to us like it was 30 to 40 years behind the times. So when we got off of the plane and thousands of fans were there to greet us while playing our music, we were very surprised! So, overall we were very much surprised by how popular the Scorpions were in the Soviet Union.
Q.What was the Russian security like for the Soviet concerts?
Klaus Meine: There was no armed security for the shows. The concert was the first rock concert ever where the fans could stand in front of the stage. Tickets were freely sold to the public and we could do whatever we wanted to do in concert. No one told us what to sing and nobody told us how to play our music.
Q.What was your impression of the Russian music scene?
Herman Rarebell: People are very poor there and to go to a concert costs about half a month's salary. Still, people traveled from all over Russia to see our shows.
Klaus Meine: We had a lot of fun and made a lot of new friends. We even joined our Russian support act onstage for a jam session. It was the first time that a Russian and a German rock band played together on the same stage.
Herman Rarebell: These Russian fans are the generation of tomorrow and it is amazing how music is an international language.
End.
interviewsofrecordingartists.com
SCORPIONS
June 1989.
Since 1985, Scorpions' fans have been waiting for a follow-up to 'Worldwide Live'. Now with the Scorpions' latest release and a North American tour, the Germans are invading the American shores with heavy metal mania once again. 'Savage Amusement' debuted at number five on the Billboard charts and it is well on its way to becoming the most successful release in the band's 16-year history. Being the only continental European musicians to have one double platinum, two platinum and two gold albums in the United States is not enough for singer Klaus Meine, guitarists Rudolf Schenker and Matthias Jabs, bassist Francis Buchholz or drummer Herman Rarebell. Constantly striving to achieve higher and higher goals is what keeps this metal machine running smoothly. Never satisfied with mediocre performances, a quest for perfection is the central drive behind the band's climb to the top of the music business. 'Song Hits' caught up with Klaus Meine and Herman Rarebell during their record-breaking North American tour for an interesting insight into their beliefs on the formula for success and their recent Russian tour.
Q. Scorpions seems to thrive off of life on the road. What do you attribute this to?
Klaus Meine: Because we love the road, that's what rock and roll is all about. If you are getting tired of this, you are getting too old to rock and roll. Since we have been in the studio for most of last year recording 'Savage Amusement', and then to come over to America to play rock and roll, is really something we enjoy. Herman Rarebell: This is something that we have been doing all of our lives. We have played this music for 20 years now so it is a very natural thing for us to be on the road. We drain energy off of the people out in the crowd.
Q. Do you enjoy the constant challenge of staying on top in the music business?
Herman Rarebell: Well it is a wonderful feeling if you are in the top ten all of the time. Nobody complains! It's a great feeling when you make an album after a two-year wail and it goes straight to the top ten. When you see that then that is the best reward you can get. It shows you that people have not forgotten you.
Klaus Meine: It is just great! Before we came over to America the album went platinum. When you are locked in the studio for weeks at a time it is like being in jail! So when the album is out and you get positive feedback from the fans all over the world, then that is a really good feeling.
Q.How do you keep Scorpions' creative process a democratic situation in the recording studio?
Klaus Meine: What we do is have everyone in the band come to the studio with songs that have been written before we enter the studio. Then, we pick the songs which we feel will stick best in everybody's minds. Then, we pick the songs which all the band members feel are the best to put on an album. It truly is a democratic process. We make sure our albums are filled with all good songs. We want to serve our public in the best way that we can. You do not want to try to fool the public by putting out an album with one or two good songs and the rest filler. The public cannot be fooled. So that is why our albums go straight to the top ten. We start out with 50 songs recorded in the studio and only 9 songs make it on the album. We want only the best songs on the albums.
Q.Did your quest for perfection take an extra long time to record 'Savage Amusement'?
Klaus Meine: We attempt to be perfect but the thing is if you record a song and you really like it after 6 months time then you know that you picked the right song to be on the album. We did want to make sure that we made a better album that 'Love At First Sting', which was a pretty hard album to beat. We feel 'Savage Amusement' is our best album and our most mature album. We go over and over our songs in the studio and constantly ask ourselves, is this really good enough. That is the process we take in recording an album in the studio.
Q.How can the Scorpions take 2 years off to record an album and still come back strong with a platinum album and a worldwide following?
Klaus Meine: The fans get quality from the Scorpions when they buy a Scorpions' album or go to a Scorpions' concert. We please ourselves in the work we do in the studio. Then we do not write our music for hit radio, we write our music for the kids that come to our shows to see us live. Our music is played by talented musicians who play straight from the heart and the kids know this. We gave all our energy and power into this new album. To come back out on the road and to tour the world with all the strength and energy we can give it is also important to us.
Q. How can a man who seems to have such control over his life and his business sing a song like "When Passion Rules The Game"?
Klaus Meine: When it comes to music, to have control of your life is one thing but control over your heart is another. We are musicians of the '80s; we are much more in control of ourselves then at any other point in our lives. To put on a good show and give the people what they want you have to be in control of the situation. When it comes to good music then we are talking not about control, but passion of the heart. I think it is not contrary to be in control of your life, but to be passionate about your music. When it comes to making music it is something that you cannot control with your head; you need to create it from your heart. With music you have to let your heart and soul do the talking. You can only be truly excited about the work that you are doing when your heart is totally in flames otherwise this would be boring and I could have a 9 to 5 job!
Q.Are you more comfortable on the road than in the recording studio?
Herman Rarebell: We are definitely more comfortable on the road than in the studio. We love the adventure that life on the road brings us.
Klaus Meine: When you live life like we do, touring with a band for 12 months at a time and have a chance to travel from America to Japan or to Spain, there are so many stories to tell and so many things happening, that is where our inspiration comes from. Rock and roll is about adventure and touring the world is as exciting as it gets.
Q.The ultimate adventure must have been the Soviet Union tour!
Herman Rarebell: The Russian government cancelled the 5 shows in Moscow because they said that they could not handle all the security for a building that holds 40,000 people for a rock concert. So we played in Leningrad in front of 18,000 people nightly for 10 sold-out shows. We noticed that the people of Russia were very warm towards us which is something we did not expect from the Russians because of our upbringing we were always told that the Russian people were the bad guys.
Klaus Meine: For us to go to Russia was a very positive experience and rock and roll was always meant to be an adventure and to go on tour in Russia was truly exciting. We were the first major hard-rock band to ever play in Russia. The Russian people had no idea what to expect from us and we had no idea what to expect from them. This was the very first time the Russians ever saw a large scale concert production and they loved it! Russia seemed to us like it was 30 to 40 years behind the times. So when we got off of the plane and thousands of fans were there to greet us while playing our music, we were very surprised! So, overall we were very much surprised by how popular the Scorpions were in the Soviet Union.
Q.What was the Russian security like for the Soviet concerts?
Klaus Meine: There was no armed security for the shows. The concert was the first rock concert ever where the fans could stand in front of the stage. Tickets were freely sold to the public and we could do whatever we wanted to do in concert. No one told us what to sing and nobody told us how to play our music.
Q.What was your impression of the Russian music scene?
Herman Rarebell: People are very poor there and to go to a concert costs about half a month's salary. Still, people traveled from all over Russia to see our shows.
Klaus Meine: We had a lot of fun and made a lot of new friends. We even joined our Russian support act onstage for a jam session. It was the first time that a Russian and a German rock band played together on the same stage.
Herman Rarebell: These Russian fans are the generation of tomorrow and it is amazing how music is an international language.
End.
