One of the greatest rock acts in the history of the genre has returned to the frontlines with a renewed outlook on life and their place in the world as we know it. Legendary rockers the Scorpions have finally matured after many years and bring with them a truly remarkable work of art known as Humanity – Hour 1, a globally conscious concept album that is sure to stir the emotions of anyone who hears it. Taking its lead from the Scorpions mega hit “Wind of Change” Humanity – Hour 1 is quite possibly the band’s finest moment in an illustrious career. Always a band that knows how to reach their fans, they continue to rock with the best and pride themselves in being able to take their music to the far reaching corners of the world. I remember the year I picked up their landmark release Love at First Sting, I was amazed at their penchant for delivering such heavy riffs as in the all time classic “Rock You Like A Hurricane”, while at the same time creating some truly beautiful and emotional outpourings as “Still Loving You”. Vocalist Klaus Meine is a uniquely gifted frontman whose trademark voice is as powerful today as it was thirty years ago. Guitarists Rudolf Schenker and Matthias Jabs are largely responsible for me being late to school or not finishing my homework, as even though I was never a guitarist myself, I like many other kids, had to own one just so I could sit in my room and play along with the tapes while trying to figure out the riff to “The Zoo” or “No One Like You”. After having been a fan for so many years I was ecstatically happy to have been given the opportunity to speak with Klaus in regard to their new CD and their continued success as Heavy Metal icons. I’ve tried since the beginning of this magazine to score some time with one of the Scorps, and after nearly a decade it is a great pleasure to finally bring another first to the table here at On Track. And away we go!

OT: Hello Klaus, how are you doing?

Klaus: Hi David, I’m fine thank you. How are you doing?

OT: Right on. I’m doing well, thanks.

Klaus: Where are you calling from?

OT: I’m in Southern California, the desert area of Southern California.

Klaus: Ahhhh, that’s where the scorpions live.

OT: Yeah, where the scorpions live, exactly.

Klaus: Ahhh, okay.

OT: So how are things going with you and the band?

Klaus: Well we just started a tour in Latin America; we’re playing Sao Paolo tonight.

OT: Oh wow, well cool. It’s probably hotter there than it is here.

Klaus: Yeah we just started here a few days ago in Minaos in the Rain Forest. That was amazing; it was fantastic.

OT: That’s sounds like it would be. So I must say that the new CD is very powerful; I’ve been spinning it non-stop.

Klaus: Thank you.

 
OT: Y’know it takes on a slightly different approach for The Scorpions in that its lyrical content contains a deeper, more serious and mature attitude than much of your past work, do you view this new album as sort of a re-invention of the band’s sound in some way?

Klaus: Well I guess that’s what the legendary Desmond Child wanted to do with us. When we met with Desmond last summer in L.A. – he was on top of our wish list, shopping for producers – and we wanted to go with him for a lot of reasons. Desmond said, “You guys might have German passports, but you’re part of the international rock family, and when we do this record I want to put you guys on the next level in your long history. I would love to make an album, but more of an album – especially from the lyrical side – a more mature kind of record. Not so much about boys chasing girls, ‘Hey baby, let’s rock.’, but he was thinking about having like a theme. So when we started in October, he presented us with the idea and concept of Humanity - Hour One, we loved it. It was the right decision to go with Desmond and to make an album that features the trademarks of the band, but at the same time, to make a mature kind of album with more sound of 2007; a more current sound. There’s a good mix on this record so it came out very powerful; we’re very happy about it.

OT: That’s very, very cool. Now how do you like doing a concept album versus a standard album of more unrelated songs?

Klaus: Y’know with a standard album you just go fishing and then put so many different songs together and sometimes also there are songs that didn’t work out with the last record and so there’s some left-overs and then for some reason you bring ‘em back in. Or there are songs where you go, ‘Ahhh, we should have done this one, let’s try this and put this back in.’, so it’s a whole different thing. But when you have a theme, like with Humanity, and you have a Master of Ceremonies (laughing) like Mr. Child, so you have a red line. So on this record it was not so much about, ‘This is my song, this is your song,’ it was a collaboration of so many great writers, some of the best writers in rock music. Not only Desmond, also James Michael, Marty Fredricks, and Eric Bazillion, we’ve had great people around. Some of them we’ve worked with before, like on the last album, Unbreakable, a couple years ago. So there was a whole different set-up and it was exciting from the very beginning, and it was not so much about, ‘In all those rock songs, let’s look for the big power rock ballad.’, it was more about, ‘We have this concept and we want to make an album that hopefully will blow everybody away.’, because when you listen to it from the beginning to the end, every song is strong. That was a different philosophy and following this line, going through this kind of project, it was a whole new experience; it was great, it was great, we enjoyed it. And Los Angeles is, of course, it’s a very inspiring place, you run into so many musicians, so many artists every other day, so then it’s much easier to have somebody like Billy Corgan or John 5 put on a guitar; Billy sang guest vocals on “The Cross”. You do an album like in Germany - it’s a whole different story. I mean this was not the first record we did in L.A., Crazy World with Keith Olson as producer, was done partly in L.A., or we worked with the great Bruce Fabern in Vancouver in the early 90’s. But we haven’t been in America for recording for quite awhile and this was just very inspiring again, because it’s the music you hear on the radio every day, it’s more rock than it is in Europe, that’s for sure.

OT: Right, right, absolutely. Now the title is Humanity Hour One, and it actually is the name of two different songs found on the CD. How are these songs connected to become the title of the album, understanding that it is a concept and you picked those two particular songs to name the album?

Klaus: Actually the title was the first, Humanity - Hour One, and the Hour One relates to the artwork, when you see a cyborg standing in front of a crater and in a way it’s all of us standing in front of the future, asking ourselves, ‘Where do we go from here?’ And now is the time to turn around to find back to the road of humanity to find back to more love and respect for each other in this world. And Hour one stands for ten thousand years of mankind, the human race, and so where are we now, with all our amazing achievements. And in many ways we’re walking on the edge and we have to figure out how to get out of the mess. And hopefully, in so many ways, like when we played Minaos last week and talking about the global warming and all this. This is all in those songs, like in Humanity. And the song “Humanity Hour One” actually was written later on because Desmond thought it would be good to start the record with “Hour One”, it had this Armageddon-type feel and it’s an exciting track, and with a little spice of John 5’s guitar in there makes it a very powerful opener of the record. So this song came later, but the title Humanity: Hour One, it was really from early on and the artwork concept and everything, Liam Carl, amazing American futurist and designer, he did it. So this was very inspiring for the whole album and we tried to find a good mix between songs that portrayed the darker side of life and songs of hope. There was a song called “Love Is War” and I was arguing with Desmond about it; ‘Love is war’, for me it doesn’t work because for me love is hope, love is everything positive, but not war. He said, “Klaus, you’re wrong. Let’s take a couple of young people falling in love and love is heaven, a couple years later, or a couple of months later, they find themselves in front of a lawyer figuring out how they can manage to split up their f*cked-up relationship; and then love is war.” And so it is true. So there’s a good mix, but there’s also “Love Will Keep Us Alive”. So it’s a good balance and those songs are loosely connected with the global theme of Humanity.

OT: It’s interesting that you put so much thought into this, I mean I really appreciate that a lot. It is something different for the band and it’s good to know that you guys are very conscious about world events and things that are happening in society. What are you trying to achieve as a voice in rock with this latest release, I mean being that it’s so different, overall what are you trying to achieve?

Klaus: I think what we’re trying to achieve, after all these years is one thing: you put a new album out and you want to be taken serious as an artist and not become a caricature of your self. Just doing the same old songs and just boys chasing girls kind of lyrics; we’ve done all that. It was fun, it’s been great, we had a good time, especially in America, I mean the 80’s were amazing! But we’re not stuck in the 80’s, we want to be seen as artists that move on, and at the same time, we’ve hopefully come up with a powerful, entertaining rock album, there’s a message and the news. And I think it’s up to artists like us and many others too, spreading out the message and sending out positive vibes, positive energy through music into a world that’s pretty much out of balance, especially since September 11th, and adding something for, hopefully, a more peaceful world. We know that music, or this record or a song, cannot change the world, we know that, but we don’t want to give up believing that we still can make a change, we can make a difference with music. Music is a very powerful tool in the hands of artists sending out some positive vibes. We can see it when we play, let’s say, in the Middle East, we play in Israel in Tel Aviv and we play in Cairo at the pyramids, in Egypt, and people in the world of music, in the world of emotion, they’re much, much closer together than what we see in the news every night. And so their music makes a difference and music is connecting people and that’s what we try to do: connect people.

OT: Awesome! Now obviously you have a massive fan base and your fans have been around for a long time, do you feel that some of them may not embrace this form of the band in all its glory? How do you think the fans will take this?

Klaus: We don’t worry about it because we move on and we went through times when we were experimenting and it didn’t turn out like what we thought it would be and fans didn’t appreciate it because they couldn’t find The Scorpions in there; and we learned our lesson, I think. So this was not about experimenting, this was just making a record that is deep, that is powerful and that is professionally produced. And the overall reactions we’re getting, like when it was released in Europe and from other parts of the world, and now it comes out in America, it was just...., mostly it was very, very powerful and positive and fans go along with it. People are surprised that you can still find The Scorpions in there, but on the other side it’s a very modern sounding record, it has a very current kind of sound and people are excited about it. I heard in America, the title track “Humanity” is on the radio for quite awhile now and it moved up the classic rock charts to number 2 this week.

OT: Fantastic!

Klaus: Not so bad after all these years! (Laughter)

OT: No, no not at all!

Klaus: And I think the track moved over to mainstream rock as well and it went from 60 to 33 this week. I mean the album’s not even out: that’s saying something. We figure that, especially in America, this album will go down very well because everybody understands the lyrics and it’s much different from other parts of the world where it’s more the overall package and the music. But the lyrics are very strong with this album and I think in America this will go down very well. I mean we’re very happy about the early feedback we’re getting on this from the U.S.

OT: Absolutely. From what I can tell, I’ve been streaming the video and really digging on that, besides listening to the full album, but the video came out really well. The feedback that I’ve heard has been nothing but positive, so I think it’s gonna do great things. This album, as well as 2004’s astonishing release, Unbreakable, is very much rooted in the classic Scorpion’s sound, and you mentioned that you’ve done experimental stuff in the past and that you learned your lesson. And I’m not sure here, but I’m thinking you’re possibly referring to the Eye To Eye album….

Klaus: Yeah. (Laughing)

OT: (Laughing) I’m curious to know where exactly you guys were at when you did it; was it just that you wanted to do something modern?

Klaus: With Eye To Eye?

OT: Yeah.

Klaus: Well I think it was when we picked the producer for that album, I think it had to do also that we recorded this album in Austria and it was just a very difficult time. The 90’s were a very difficult time for every rock band that came out of the 80’s. I mean, basically we were dead: our survival package called ”Wind Of Change”, that was a mainstream hit all over the world, and that carried us throughout the 90’s. But it was a very difficult time and after that we went back and we did some projects with the Berlin Philharmonic and we did an unplugged record, Acoustica, and both projects were very successful; and that gave us new life and new power. And then we went onto Unbreakable, and on to now, to Humanity - Hour One. I mean Eye To Eye, it was not so much looking for a new audience, it was just, in a way we were getting lost a bit. And the fans were not there, there was no feedback. Not from the radio, not a rock audience, classic rock was out, out, out. It was the time to split up, (laughter) follow the rest of the bunch. But I think that we became very powerful in the mainstream and when you have a hit such as “Wind Of Change”, which became like an anthem to an historical event, the coming down of the Berlin Wall; it was very, very powerful. Without that song I think The Scorpions wouldn’t have survived the 90’s like many others, y’know.

OT: Right, right. No I agree with you and I know it definitely was a struggle. You pretty much said what I figured you would say about that, but just reading some of the reviews of the album, not everybody sees it the way that you do, or the way that I do and so I wanted to ask that question to kind of give you an opportunity to answer it from your perspective.

Klaus: We were never about to give up y’know? And with Peter Wolfe, who produced Eye To Eye, he used to be the keyboard player for Frank Zappa, and so he turned us on to just a slightly different kind of music and brought in computers and some other sounds. And it was not so much looking for a new audience, we were just with a very talented musical producer but who just couldn’t figure out what is The Scorpions trademark; we missed that totally and I think we learned that lesson.

OT: Well I think this new CD and the maturity that it shows, in a way, “Winds Of Change” has kind of got that same feeling; you guys were successful with that, and that was a very serious song and it really touched a lot of people throughout the world and I think this new album kind of follows in that pattern as well and I think people will embrace it.

Klaus: That’s absolutely right, yeah. Yes.

OT: I mean I remember just watching the video and being in tears watching what was going on; it was definitely something that affected the entire world.

Klaus: Yeah y’know, and there are a lot of young people out there, a new generation of rock fans, and they’re desperate for this kind of energy coming from music, from musicians, from artists and bands like The Scorpions. And it’s a very messed-up world in so many ways and music is something a lot of people are looking for; looking for artists that carry on with this kind of message, connecting the people and making this world a little bit better.

OT: You’re absolutely right about that, I agree. Now you mentioned that there were a lot of reasons that you decided to go with Desmond Child, what was the main draw for him? Was it the fact that he’s worked with so many different artists over the years?

Klaus: Yeah because he worked with so many different artists we respect very much, from Aerosmith to Bon Jovi, who started with The Scorpions in ’84 as an opening act, and so many others. And even though his reputation is a little more on the pop side, he did Ricky Martin too and Cher, but for us he was always like ‘the rock guy’. And of course when you make the decision you want him as a producer, you want him as a songwriter, too, and there were some of the best writers around. We didn’t know if he would agree to work with The Scorpions and since he was very busy with Meatloaf and he said, “These days I’m only working with icons.” And Rudolf and I, we were looking at each other, “Let’s hope we are icons!” (Laughter) But it worked out and I must say, it’s amazing, he’s a visionary man and he lives for his music and lives for his art and he has an amazing team around him of all professionals. And I don’t want to miss saying that James Michael, who was also co-producer on this record, he did most of the guitar stuff while Desmond was very much focused on the lyrics, on the vocals. He was not so much the guitar guy, he was totally the vocal guy. But James Michael, he’s an amazing producer/song-writer/singer and he was fantastic to work with; this guy. And this combination, I think between Desmond and James Michael, I think that made this album so very special.

OT: Right, right, absolutely. Now the album’s been out pretty much everywhere else in the rest of the world, except for the U.S. for a number of months now. Why the delay in releasing it here in the States?

Klaus: Y’know, because we were looking for a record deal - we were looking for a label. We were not very happy with what happened with Unbreakable in the U.S. a couple years ago and so we were looking for a new set-up; this is the reason it was not released at the same time. And for the rest of the world we are with Sony/BMG but for the U.S. and Canada it was like a whole different story. Now we are back with Universal, like with Crazy World and Wind Of Change, when we spent many, many years with Universal when we were signed in New York with Mercury records back then and so we’re back with the Universal family. But it took awhile and since we started the tour in Europe we had a chance to come to the U.S. and set it up properly from the record label side in September so that’s why it comes out now.

OT: Right, right. That’s great! It’s a shame that the label didn’t do more for Unbreakable because it was a really good record; it was a very powerful album.

Klaus: The truth is: the whole world of music changed so much, y’know. You never know what’s going on. A lot of people out there figure out and like this album, but still you don’t find the promotion campaigns and you don’t find the video on MTV, and for different reasons. Sometimes because there are different priorities in labels and for a so-called ‘veteran act’, a ‘veteran rock band’ it’s different and we have to come across with a quality album, with a great album.

OT: Mhmm, awesome. On a more personal level; how have you maintained your vocal abilities over the years? You have this amazing voice and after doing it for so many years it doesn’t show any signs of wear or tear if you ask me.

Klaus: Well, I’m a lucky guy. (Laughter) I think after I went through this nightmare in the early 80’s called ‘surgery’, twice on my vocal chords; it was a lesson for life. After that it was like a second life as a singer, when my voice was back. And since then I never forget this and I really try to take good care with my voice. And with this album I have to say Desmond hooked me up with a vocal coach and I never ever did this in my life, as far as recording goes. We worked with a vocal coach like way, way back, like get some tapes and make you work out on the tour, but in the studio I never worked with a vocal coach. So this was very new for me, but this guy, Eric Vitrol in L.A., he was fantastic and I learned many, many new things and I opened up for this and I enjoyed it very much. And I think this added too, to the quality of the vocals on this album.

OT: Hmm. Yeah, yeah. It’s interesting that after so many years, people wouldn’t expect you to go to a vocal coach.

Klaus: Yeah, y’know, Eric, he came to the studio, or I went to his house, and he has very prominent clientele coming to him and working with him. One day when I left his place the door opened and the next client was standing in front of the door and was a very famous Hollywood actor and when we were introduced this guy says to me, “Klaus, you don’t need a vocal coach!” (Laughter) That was very, very funny. At the end of the day there are a lot of things - you have to just take care of yourself and discipline is an ugly word in connection with rock music and rock and roll, but to be on a long tour and to be able to really deliver, you just have to take care of yourself.

OT: Well I think it’s really good that as a musician and a vocalist, as musicians are always trying to improve upon themselves, that you’re not afraid to say, ‘Hey I can possibly learn something new here.’ After all these years, that’s fantastic.

Klaus: Yeah absolutely. Working with Desmond Child, he really puts a challenge on you, he’s not easy to convince and he never leaves a place before he gets the best out of you, and that’s good. At some point you go like, ‘Ok Desmond, now I show you what I can do!’ (Laughter) You know? And it’s good, so I enjoyed it a lot.

OT: That’s very cool. Now I read a lot of different news clippings and what not, on the internet and in magazines. What sort of relationships does the band have with its former members? I’ve heard possibilities of reunions somewhere down the line, or recording and then I hear a lot of negative stuff too.

Klaus: Well we did a couple of shows, actually last year we played Wacken, it’s a DVD we’re working on right now, we played more than three hours I think, and the show was ‘A Night To Remember’ and we invited Uli Jon Roth, Michael Schenker, Hermann Rarebell and some of the key figures in the long Scorpions history, playing songs that were related to their time, and it was amazing. And since we enjoyed it so much – and the fans loved it – we decided to bring Uli Jon Roth with us on a couple of shows here in Europe and we played with Uli in Paris and London just recently and the fans loved it. Michael Schenker was at the British shows, it was a festival we played near Manchester. We did the London Hammersmith, we had MSG opening up and then Uli Jon Roth joined us during the set, we played a couple of early songs; we played “Humanity” and we played “Fly To The Rainbow” with Uli, which was f*ckin’ amazing.

OT: That’s great. So everybody’s still getting along.

Klaus: Yeah we’re all getting along very well, but there’s no thought of any reunion coming up; we’ll leave that to Van Halen…. (Laughter) No, no just joking. Fortunately this band – Rudolf, Matthias and myself – chemistry is great and together with James and Paul. Those two guys, they add a powerhouse, bass and drums, especially when we play live; it’s so powerful. It’s a lot of fun and chemistry is great, otherwise we wouldn’t do it. There’s no sense in touring the world after so many years and just killing each other, no way. So this feels really good and we enjoy it, to see there’s a whole new generation of rock fans out there – that’s just fantastic and amazing!

OT: That’s awesome, and really cool. Now I’ve got one last question for you then I’ll let you go. Over the years The Scorpions have created a legacy that has stood the test of time. In your opinion, what has been the single most determining factor in the band’s continued success?

Klaus: Well I think it’s the friendship deal. Without this, without this strong foundation of friendship and the fact and Rudolf and myself, we started the band and we still share the same dream. And I think that’s one of the biggest things: the talents and the chemistry, but the friendship and that we still enjoy each other’s company and we enjoy to be on the road, and we enjoy to be a live band and to go out there and play in front of an audience. It’s just what we always did and what we enjoy the most. We have all our families and our private lives, but we have also The Scorpions family, and that’s still running and going strong. And I think also, also it’s a fact that we came out of Europe, out of Germany, which is when we started, it is pretty much like being on a different planet and very outside our position; and this made us very, very strong. And growing up as a Second World War, post-war generation, growing up in the 50’s and 60’s, well not so much to be proud of to be a German in a divided country with the Berlin Wall. You know, we wanted to be musicians; we wanted to be respected as international musicians and that was also very underneath like a very strong motivation. Not to be a German band, we never denied we were a German band, we’re a German band, we live in Germany and have German passports, yes, like Desmond said. But we feel very much connected with all over the world; we’re part of the big rock family out there. That’s what was taking us, and this was the vision we had in the early days, to see that. Like, we just played Minaos, in the jungle, in the rain forest, in Brazil in front of thirty thousand people going nuts! Tonight we’re in Sao Paolo then we go to Mexico City, we go to Toronto and all those places. Last year we played in Mongolia! So this band, and like somebody said in the last couple of days, ‘I can’t see any other band that is touring, really, like all over the world.’ Not only playing like America or playing in Europe, but we go all over, even in the Middle East and that’s quite something; this band goes like everywhere. And this was the vision we had when we started and we wanted to be seen as an international band. And I think there’s still some energy and power in this kind of motivation. And today, we enjoy it, but we don’t look back and say, ‘Ok, we did this all and that was bad.’, and the 80’s and the hair bands and all that. We tried, like I said, we are trying to be taken seriously as artists of today, and going out there and still surprise people, not only by making, hopefully, great albums but also put on a very, very powerful live show.

OT: Wow. Absolutely, man, absolutely. Well I’m so glad you guys are still doin’ it. I’ve managed to be able to see you a number of times over the years and I’m looking forward to the next time, which I think you guys are gonna be coming to the States soon and playing a few shows, one of ‘em being in L.A. and I plan to be there.

Klaus: Fantastic.

OT: I thank you so much, Klaus, for your time.

Klaus: You’re welcome David.

OT: It’s been a great pleasure and thank you again.

Klaus: Ok. Thanks a lot and hope to see you in L.A., ok?

OT: Ok man, ‘bye.

Klaus: Ok. ‘Bye-‘bye David.