By: Robert Cavuoto
It’s hard to believe that it’s been over 40 years since the formation of the Scorpions, back when Rudolf and his brother Michael drove their rickety red VW bus from one small pub to another, from one back yard to another in their home state of Lower-Saxony to rock out. Fast forward to 2010 when the band announced to the world that it would be retiring…but not before releasing a new CD, Sting in the Tail and undertake a Farewell World Tour that will take them 3 years and circle the globe….a few times.
Now in 2012 before they embark on the final US tour, the band has released two essential new titles: Comeblack, a new CD of classic rock covers and fresh performances of signature repertoire recorded earlier this year, and Get Your Sting and Blackout – Live in 3D, an 11-camera 3-D concert film recorded in Saarbrucken, Germany on April 15, 2011 during their farewell tour.
I had the chance to speak with Rudolf about Comeblack and his passion for Flying V guitars.
Rudolf Schenker
******
Robert: What was the band’s thinking behind redoing your classic hits on Comeblack, they truly do sound more powerful and sonically better?
Rudolf Schenker: The idea was to re-record 10 or 15 Scorpion songs but we changed direction to put half Scorpion and half cover songs that inspired us to play music. We thought the combination of our classics and covers would not only be great for new fans but they could also be used on video games. The new songs are now up to par on technological standards and the digital advances add the punch to the songs that give them their heart and soul.
Robert: You kept the integrity of the original versions and didn’t rework or tamper with them. Was it difficult to stay true to the original versions?
Rudof Schenker: I tell you there is a fine line when reworking songs. The fans are so into the old stuff and it’s a very dangerous situation when you change the structure too drastically. These are the songs we have played live for over 20 years and the fans like them the way they are. They go over well and we never felt that we had to change anything. There were a few things that we did adjusted because, Dieter Dierks our producer on the old LPs, wouldn’t let us fix since the record company was in a rush for them. In those instances, I felt as we gave the LP to the record company unfinished. So now that we had the time, we made a few of those adjustments.
After playing those songs thousands of times live, we’ve modified things only slightly compared to the original version. We wanted to freshen them up. For example “Blackout” and “Rhythm of Love” now sound fantastic. I felt never “Rhythm of Love” got to the point where I thought it was complete. After playing the songs so often, they are where we wanted the songs to be in the first place.
Robert: Sting in the Tail producers, Mikael Nord Andersson and Martin Hansen really found the heart and soul of the Scorpions on that CD. The band must have agreed as you decided to work with them again on Comeblack.
Rudolf Schenker: They are Scorpion fans in the first place. Mikael is very good guitar player and he offered a lot of good ideas on how to find the right riff for the right place in a song. Martin is the more technical guy who knows how to use technology to enhance our sound. So far we are very happy with them. Things are going great and it a lot of fun and easy to work with. I did my parts in my studio and Klaus did his vocal parts in his studio. We were very relaxed for these songs.
Rudolf Schenker
Robert: With so many great Scorpion songs in your catalogue how did you narrow down the selection to just eight? What were the criteria?
Rudolf Schenker: We asked our fans 4 to 5 years ago through our website what songs they wanted to hear live for the Unbreakable tour. From continent to continent there are some differences. For example, in America they have rock radio, so tend to like the rock songs. In Asia it’s more the softer type of songs. In those cases we know what the people want. The songs on the CD are actually the foam on the cappuccino, they please the most people.
Robert: What was the selection process for the cover songs?
Rudolf Schenker: We had picked about 20 to 25 songs possibilities that we were considering do, but had to work with Klaus to determine which ones he could sing best. The songs that are on the CD are the ones that were the best! In this case we didn’t make it too easy for him.
Robert: The Flying V guitar has been your trademark guitar for as long as I can remember. What is it about that style of guitar that speaks to you and makes you want to play it your entire career?
Rudolf Schenker: There is a funny story about me starting to play Flying Vs. It started with me going to a music store in Hamburg Germany with my brother Michael and seeing a poster of Johnny Winter playing a ‘68 Gibson Flying V. I went crazy for it!
My bother end up ordering a guitar that day and in four weeks the wrong guitar came in, it was the limited edition Flying V. He called me up and said come down right now to get this guitar. I immediately took my Gibson and ran down to the store. I sold my Gibson to the store owner but it wasn’t enough. I didn’t have the money for the rest so the owner let me pay him off monthly and I got the guitar. That was my start into my Flying V passion.
Another story that’s even better. We had a big festival that we were playing in Hanover Germany and at the time Michael was playing with us. He called me and saying that his guitar is locked in his girlfriend’s apartment and can’t get it. I called friends all over Hanover to get him a guitar and we found him a Melody Maker. Unfortunately it had too much feedback and he couldn’t play it, so I gave him my Flying V and I played the Melody Maker. After the show he told me in the dressing room that he loved the guitar and he wasn’t going to give it back. I gave him the guitar because I love my brother. We couldn’t have two guys in the band playing Vs so I tried every guitar possible but wasn’t happy with anything so I ended up buying another Flying V.
Robert: You have an amazing collection of Flying Vs that you use on stage. I think my favorite was the red Ferrari V. Who built it?
Rudolf Schenker: The Ferrari guitar was built by Boris Dommenget as well as my Flying V acoustic guitar. The Ferrari V was originally built for Michael Schumachjer, the Formula One racing car driver. He was on his way to becoming a champion and were planning to present it to him in to him in Shanghai Japan while we were in the country for a concert. Needless to say that there was a bombing at an embassy in Japan and all our equipment had to be put into quarantine for 1 day and 1 night vs. just going through customs. We ended up missing the concert and wasn’t able to present the guitar to Michael. I played the guitar for the next show and thought it sounded great so I kept t for myself. [Laughing] So in this case, the present for him was my present!
Rudolf Schenker
