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 Rudolf Schenker, guitarist with the Scorpions, recently spoke with Second Supper. The interview covered the bands latest album 'Humanity Hour 1' as well as talk about album art, and what the future might hold for the band.
Several excerpts from the interview are included below.
Secondsupper.com: On your past albums, the Scorpions have drawn
controversy for cover art such as Virgin Killer. Do you believe such
art would be acceptable on new albums today? How have artistic
standards in rock changed since you started out?
Schenker: "Virgin Killer was an idea of the record company. The
company guy came up and said, 'Even if I have to go to jail, I will do
it.' As a German band, the journalists never went through the lyrics.
We came up with Virgin Killer, and had the song, and the album cover,
and the journalists said we can’t do that. We told them to go to the
album and listen to the lyrics. The Virgin Killer is time. We wouldn’t
do that today. It’s too far away from what the Scorpions are. What we
liked very much was album sleeves like Lovedrive, which was pure rock
n’ roll. Also, the days of vinyl with the big album sleeve was the time
when you could really see this piece of art on the cover. With the
sales of CDs going down and people downloading, this part of what we
had is gone. Today people don’t want to listen to the whole album
anymore."
Secondsupper.com: Are artists tied down by this lack of emphasis on albums?
Schenker: "Of course. It’s not so deep anymore. The record
companies don’t have the money to support bands that make experiments.
You go to a record company, you have to have a hit with the first
album, or you can go. There is no chance to build up a band like PINK
FLOYD or GENESIS or LED ZEPPELIN. So they’re not thinking too deeply.
It’s not good, but maybe times will change again."
Secondsupper.com: The Scorpions have certainly been a career building band. What’s next in your career?
Schenker: "We’re still watching the world. We want to be a part of
this revolution. By traveling around the world we can see things coming
up, warning us, and trying to put it into music. We’re still on the
road with Humanity Hour 1, and then we’ll see what we’ll do
recording-wise. It’s more important that we go on tour – more important
than it was 20 years ago. We can see how much young kids enjoy live
concerts. You can’t download [the experience of] live concerts. We have
a great chemistry and friendship in the band, and when we have an idea
we put it on tape and bring out a new album."
Read the full interview here.
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