RUDOLF SCHENKER opened up for possibility of MICHAEL SCHENKER playing with SCORPIONS again: 'never say never'
27-06-2024
In a new interview with Spain’s RockFM, SCORPIONS guitarist Rudolf Schenker was asked about the possibility of his brother, fellow legendary guitarist Michael Schenker, rejoining the band at some point before the German hard rock veterans officially call it quits. He responded: “Never say never. So in this case, I’m always open.”
He continued: “It’s, like, we had two different ways. My brother, he wanted to be the best guitar player in the world, or one of the best guitar players in the world, and I always said I wanted… I did an interview in 1970 or ’71 or something with a German music paper, and the guy asked me, ‘What is your goal? What is your thing what you’re going for? I said, ‘I want to be a part of a rock band, of the 30 biggest rock bands in the world.’ So everybody gets his piece, but these pieces don’t fit together.”
Rudolf added: “When you want to be one of the best guitar players in the world, it’s very hard to be in a band, because you have your own ideas. And I was always there to create a great chemistry to great people. And now, after nearly 60 years, we have the best chemistry maybe in the world. I don’t know. Because we are playing, we are enjoying, we’re not fighting. Our goal is make the fans happy and give them what they’re looking for. And that’s the situation. I will say never, never, because I love my brother. That’s the important point. But when you have different philosophies, you can’t connect them very easily. So there must be a different time… I’m always open.”
Michael Schenker gave a number of interviews in recent years in which he questioned his brother’s integrity, going so far as to call Rudolf “a con artist” who “completely adopted” Michael‘s image as his own. He also denounced the SCORPIONS for “distorting” the story of his brief tenure with the band and lamented the fact that he gave Rudolf his “portion” of the songwriting credit for the classic SCORPIONS song “Coast To Coast”. It all came to light, Michael said, when he was approached to help with the recent 50th-anniversary SCORPIONS reissues.
During an appearance on the April 12, 2024 episode of SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”, Rudolf — who is seven years older than Michael — said about his brother: “I love him. He’s a great person. I watched him since he was a baby, and I love him, and I brought him in into all the bands he had in the earlier times and to care that he’s not going downhill. It’s up to him. He’s a very extreme person. He can’t be in a band. He’s not a band person. He is an extreme, great guitar player. And that’s a different situation.”
Michael Schenker first appeared on SCORPIONS‘ 1972 album “Lonesome Crow”, earned acclaim in the 1970s on classic UFO albums such as “Phenomenon” and “Lights Out” before rejoining SCORPIONS for 1979’s “Lovedrive”. He departed soon thereafter to launch MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP. And while his sometimes-erratic behavior have derailed parts of his career, Schenker remains one of hard rock and metal’s most influential axemen.
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