Germany has always been seen by most as a cold and different country but with an amazing rock scene. The Scorpions came out of late 60’s early 70’s Germany with a different sound that could not be matched by any and alone they stood.  For well over thirty years they have savaged the world with amazing records nad some of the best live shows period.  Rudolph Schenker, their over the top stalwart guitarist, is the definition of musician.  Humanity Hour 1 is the new album and Rudolph had much to say about that record and his multiple guitar lines.  

Jeffrey Easton interviewing Rudolph Schenker 

Jeffrey:  The new record is amazing but was is the fascination with the end of the world? 

Rudolph:  The end of the world it is not.  When you hear the child’s voice say “it is time“, he is saying that is time for a change.    We wanted to do a more mature record and give a message to lift up the collective consciousness around the world, especially the young kids who are the pillars of the new world.  They care about what we do with the world so we decided to build Humanity Hour 1 around that idea and have a good message.    

Jeffrey:  What is the message? 

Rudolph:  The message is to care more and the one from the Sixties, Make Love Not War.  I think it was important for us to not make this album to dark because it was in the beginning and we wanted it to be more Scorpions like, to build a bridge between the old Scorpions sound and the new Scorpions sound.   

Jeffrey:  The album reminds me of the 70’s era, more along the lines of Virgin Killer or Taken By Force. 

Rudolph:  Those two albums are a good way at looking at it. 

Jeffrey:  You said you did not want to make a dark album but to me it is a dark release, much darker than the last few albums. 

Rudolph:  After we had a hit with Wind Of Change grunge and alternative came into prominence and the majority of the band went into lighter weight material which I did not like because I like the heavier material.  I can do anything and it was important to be a team player and we found a middle ground.  The 90’s was more of finding our way back to who we are considering all of the changes.  Did some different albums and ended up with Unbreakable which sounded like the old days with the production of today and when we thought about the new album we wanted  to make an album that we wanted to be a masterpiece.  We started looking for a new producer  and Desmond Child was the closest to what we wanted to go for.    

Jeffrey:  With Humanity Hour 1 are you looking at Post Nuclear War or the Fall Of The Human Race? 

Rudolph:  If you listen to the lyrics anything is possible.  Everything is money money money and losing the way of love.  They are selling the world out and using all of the oil and the poor are going hungry while the rich get richer.   

Jeffrey:  humanity Hour 1 is a dark, thick sounding album like he old days and you used Desmond Child.  Desmond was known as a slick producer back in the 80’s.  How did you bring him over to your way of thinking for this album? 

Rudolph:  With James Michael, we had the right mixture with Desmond Child.  It is like a Pina Colada, with the wrong rum you will not have a good drink.  You just know how to put the right people together. 

Jeffrey:  You had some outside writers.  Why did you go with so many people this time? 

Rudolph:  When we came into the studio with a bunch of songs and Desmond presented us with the Humanity idea and he came up with the people to do it with.  We had worked with some of the writers before so it was a good experience.  We took Desmond because we wanted to learn a different way to write because after 35 years you are looking for new ideas and inspirations.   

Jeffrey:  You have been releasing records since 1971.  How do you think you are going over with the new generation of people buying hard rock albums.   

Rudolph:  We played last year at the Wacken, it is the biggest metal fest in the world and over 60,000 people were there.  We played 3.5 hours with former members playing our old material from the 70s and 80’s and the young people could not believe what we were playing.  A lot of the younger bands in America are saying that they were influenced by us and we see the young kids up front singing our songs.  We still have a lot of attitude left and people cannot believe how strong the band still is.   

Jeffrey:  How are the reactions to the new record? 

Rudolph:  The reactions have been great to the new record and the live shows.  We still see a great future for the band because we can still get people into the show without any gimmicks, just a great live show, lights and a great band on stage.  We want people to go home saying that was the best show they have ever seen.   

Jeffrey:  As far as this album is concerned, this is Hour 1, will there be a follow up to this album?   

Rudolph:  We are open for anything.  We are going to finish this world tour and see if it makes sense.  It will not be a good idea if we cannot make Hour 2 as strong as Hour 1 if not stronger.   

Jeffrey:  Last time I saw you when you were signing at the Dean Booth at the NAMM show.  What made you pick up on Dean instead of Gibson? 

Rudolph:  I never changed to Dean guitars.  My brother had the idea to make a Schenker Brothers guitar.   He called me and asked if I would be into it and I thought it was a great idea.  I met Dean and he is a good person with a good philosophy and a powerful way of doing things.  We started to work with them and out came this Schenker Brothers guitar sounding fantastic.  I do play it live and I love it.  They have asked me if I want to do a Rudolph Schenker signature model but I am not sure yet due to my many years with Gibson.  

Jeffrey: What are you using on your tours?  

Rudolf:  I am using Dean, Gibson and Dommenget Guitars.  

Jeffrey:  Your early albums always had scandalous album covers.  Do you think you could get away with album covers like Taken By Force or Virgin Killer if they were released today? 

Rudolph:  Taken By Force was an idea that was later taken by Metallica but it was only released in Japan.  There was already Terrorism in Germany but it was done by an artist and we were not very happy with it.  With Virgin Killer nobody was taking us seriously so we had to do something about it.  People had negative things to say about the album, saying we could not do that but I always asked “did you read the lyrics”?  Time is the Virgin Killer, people are born into this world Naïve and time is taking the virginity away.  That was the basic story of it all.  We would not do that again, no question.  Lovedrive is my favorite cover:  It is funny and very rock n roll.  In The early days we were playing with the possibilities we had because we said to ourselves that if we have something to give to the fans you had to give something strong and eye catching.   

Humanity Hour 1 is a blistering statement in how good the Scorpions still are.  A brilliant vibrant album that harkens back to rawer more aggressive times, a true piece of hard rock art.