 Jimmy K here, Metal Voice. Look at us. The Metal Voice shirts are now on sale. Just go to the video description to find out on how you can purchase one. Metal! Welcome to the Metal Voice today on the show. Yes, iconic guitarist, Michael Shanker, who's got a new album out, Immortal, which is going to be released January 29, 2021 on Nuclear Blast. Michael, how you doing? Considering the circumstances, okay. It's been a lot. This last year has been very difficult for all of us. Yeah. All right. Well, the exciting news is you have this new album with a whole bunch of new guests. You have Ronnie Romero, you have Michael Voss. Of course, he's been with you for a while. Ralph Sheepers, Joel Interner, and the list goes on and on. Why did you decide to change artist from before to now? Like you have a whole new set of people. Well, you know, like everything in my life happens by circumstances. And so I live in the moment. And, you know, my original idea was to have guest musicians, friends and fans to celebrate the 50s anniversary. And that would have been in 2020 to be released. But somehow my original idea was, you know, to have actually what I ended up with. But in between, there was a, you know, that getting musicians lined up and together, it is very, very complicated if you plan it. And I planned it and it was dragging on. And it came to the point when I realized, wait a minute, you know, the first note I put on Non-Somkro Scorpions was when I was 15 in 1970. And so this album cannot be released until 21. My agent told me, but your album, the Scorpions Non-Somkro was actually released in 72. And so I said, ah, that gives me two years to celebrate, get it all together. And the timing is going to be fine. And so that's the experience of getting all, you know, by dragging and dragging and getting guest musicians, etc. I decided to have a compact band, you know, and I decided for Ronnie James, I mean, not Ronnie James, Theo, but Ronnie Romero, you know, yeah, Ronnie Romero. And who, you know, I discovered when he was singing on a Michael Schenker text album, and he has the ability to sing like anybody. It's amazing. I mean, I was wondering why Richie Blackmore was choosing him. You know, I understand today why, you know, because Richie and I, we have lots of parallels. I mean, anybody who leaves Rainbow or, you know, even with Deep Purple, they asked me in 93 to join them. So my first producer was Richard Claver from Deep Purple. And it's just, it's just like, and then, and then Richie did acoustics, you know, I did acoustic stuff, and he did. And, you know, so, so, and then, and then you have all got Vinnie Moore from the same agent, from the same management as Deep Purple got to replace Richard Blackmore. So there is an endless, endless amount of similarities between Richie and myself. So, you know, I was wondering why he picked Ronnie Romero because I don't listen to music. And I don't know what's out there for the last 50 years. And, and, but I understand what he was up to. And, and because he's seen such a similar situation as, you know, I am in such a similar situation as he is, he needed to find a singer who can sing all the hits, you know, written by a Russ Ballett and, you know, and, and, and, and be able to sing like Joe Linterna and, and Ronnie James Beal and, you know, all the, and all the great singers that he had for a show that he prepared, you know, in London. And so I, I, I kind of told, you know, that because I'm in such a similar situation with so many different singers, and it, it, it would be great to have Ronnie as the main singer and, and to continue life and have a compact band, Barry Sparks, you know, he kept emailing me, I want to be your bass player. And I said, he got it. And, you know, and so I kept Steve Mann bottle shopped, you know, and so we, we, the idea was to, to just make it easier and do a 50th anniversary. But the virus showed up. And, you know, I call the virus a bit of sweet experience. Nothing sweet about it, to be honest. But it kind of directed me back to my original idea, but without me planning it, but just by circumstances, I got all of these incredible musicians on this album. I honestly, I'll tell you, step by step, how it all happened is, it's just a miracle. It's unbelievable. Yeah. Let me ask you this, are you planning on taking from these new musicians on your album, not new musicians, but we'll say to this project, who are you planning to bring live? Okay, Ronnie Romero, you mentioned, is there anyone else you want to bring live with you? No, you know, it's like, you know, the thing is I live in the now, you know, the virus, you know, we don't know what's going to happen and what will, you know, happen around the corner in life. And so, yes, I made up a, you know, a, a, a, a more, you know, because of the Michael Shankler test coming from Bangkok and from all over the world, it's still there, actually. It will still perform if people can afford it. It's such an expensive undertaking, but yeah, eventually, you know, throughout the whole period of the virus developing and so on, and with the borders being locked and people not being able to, you know, it just became also complicated. And then, but in the end, I ended up with what I originally planned, but much better than I could have ever done it, you know, contemplating it. But universally speaking, it was all pro to me. And that is the beautiful thing. All right. So the sound, I've heard it. And congratulations. It sounds great. A lot of variety. And what I love the most about it, being a big Scorpions fan is in search of peace of mind, you know, Lonesome Crow, the first album. Can you tell me about the feeling of redoing that song? You know, it's probably one of the best songs on Lonesome Crow. Just what was the feeling like revisiting that song for, you know, 50 years, right? Yeah, yeah, it is the best song. And it was, and this is the fantastic thing is it was the very first ever piece of music I wrote. And I was 15 years old. I believe in my mother's kitchen, there was nobody there. The Michael Frost corpages actually sent me the original credits of Lonesome Crow. And it says Michael Schenker lyrics and Ruro Schenker lyrics. We have zero knowledge of English. How could we have been doing the lyrics misinformation completely? You know, but I was 15, they were 21. And, you know, that composition is search of the peace of mind. I mean, Rudolph can't even play that. It's actually pretty complex if you get into the details of the original version. But it was such an incredible start for myself, you know, to put the first note on a record with a song like this. And, you know, it's, it's titled in search of the peace of mind, you know, looking for contentment. That's the theme of my life. And so ironic, it all fits so well together. And then it ends up in the end on the album as an epic ending to the end. Sounds like when I listen to it, it sounds like an inner conversation of making choices, you know, like we all have inner conversations between, you know, between, shall I do it? Shall I not? You know, all the temptations that we have within ourselves and the conversations about it to make a decision, you know, everything was a choice. And so the, so the end solo ended up like a conversation actually describing my whole 50 years. And basically, there's so many different elements on that out for solo with the wah wah and with a howler and, and all this different, I don't know, approach and all the different, it sounds like question and answer, you know, within yourself. And, and I, I couldn't have wished for a better result than that. I agree with you. I'm a huge fan of Lonesome Crow. Did you ever think of redoing maybe the song Lonesome Crow or something else off that album? It's a great album. Your playing is, that's one of your, I don't know, I just find your playing is excellent on that album for such a young age. What do you remember from that time? Well, the thing, the thing is that for some reason, for some very strange reason, the solo, the middle solo of the original version was so perfect, I would never ever change a note. Like Leslie West Mountain theme of the imaginary restaurant or stairway to heaven or whatever. Sometimes something like that happens. It's so magical. But I did not understand where it was coming from because I was developing as a guitarist. I was only 50 years old, you know, and you can hear the progress of myself like going from phenomenon to force it and so on. And the funny thing also is that Kurt Hammett, he is a Michael Schenker fan, and when I hear his vibrato, it sounds like Lonesome Crow. But you know, I must say that the rest of Lonesome Crow of my lead guitar playing was, you can hear that he's a nervous vibrato, I'm developing, I'm, you know, getting better over the years. But Lonesome Crow itself, the middle solo, was so perfect. I have no clue where it came from. And I'll ask you my last question on Lonesome Crow. What was the environment like, when the album was finished, what was your reaction? What was your feeling about this album? I'm absolutely excited, you know. I was listening to Led Zeppelin just a year before, you know, in my bedroom when I was a 14 or so. And it was one song, one of my favorite songs of all time, the immigrant song, you know. And that Lonesome Crow, one year later, was coming through the same radio. It was a great feeling. And your brother, like, I mean, did he, I mean, that's some pretty complex playing on Lonesome Crow. Did your brother contribute much musically to that album? Or is it more you? Nothing at all. Nothing. He can't even play it. The thing is that I wrote most of Lonesome Crow, but because I was 15, they were 21. They took advantage of me and they wanted the piece of the pie. And they wanted to be involved in the first experience of an album that was recorded for the first time for everybody. And, but I think there was also a kind of, you know, being inexperienced, making the first record that they didn't quite understand, or maybe they did. I have no clue. But, you know, Rudolf always puts music written by Rudolf Schenker and lyrics written by Sohn. So they should have done that on that, on Lonesome Crow. Yes, they should have said Michael Schenker, you know, the music written by Michael Schenker, the lyrics written by whoever. And I guess there was a couple of moments where maybe, I don't remember, but where maybe Rudolf or somebody had an influence in writing. But I was the musician. I was the artist. I was always focusing on music. Okay. All right. All right, let's get back to your new album. What was it like working with Ralph Sheepers? I mean, an incredible vocalist, right? The first time you're recording with him, what was it like? You did two songs, Devil's Daughter and Drill to Kill, I believe, right? Yeah, I just, you know, it just came out of nowhere. Because I had to, I had to, you know, my original idea of making a 50th anniversary with guests, musicians, fans and friends, dragged on. And I missed the timing of a release of 2020. Then my agent told me, but the album was released in 72. And I said, I have two hours, I mean, two years to actually, I can actually go back to carrying because I actually gave up on making this album, because I thought I missed the timing. And so now I had two years. And then that's when I decided to have a compact band because it was so complicated with guest musicians. And then it ended up the way I originally wanted it. But without my input, it just came out of nowhere. And so everybody came out of nowhere, Ralph Sheepers, I mean, Joe Linterna, everybody, Brian Ticci, I mean, Derek Serenian, I mean, all these incredible players, they showed up with my bit, finding out that I was doing the 50th anniversary, calling up Michael Foster and saying, I am a Michael Schenker fan, I want to make a contribution, you know, and it was amazing. After the rain, Michael Voss sings on it, I believe. An incredible, probably one of the best tracks on the album. I mean, you're handing over the vocals to Mike, and I believe he sings on the Queen of Thorns, Thorns and Roses too, correct? Yeah. And, you know, it's, I never planned for that. But, you know, Michael Foster always writes a B plan for vocals while I'm putting down my backing tracks. And he comes up, you know, with, you know, like, for instance, Warrior of Redirection, I came back from the hotel, he said, like, Michael, this is what I did to the music he put down last night. And it was Warrior, I said, Michael, that is unbelievable, but actually became one of the best songs ever, you know, and so the same after the rain. I came back from the hotel and he exactly did the same thing. Listen, Michael, I wrote this as a B plan, and I said, Michael, this is so beautiful. Only you can sing this. This is coming from your heart. This is incredible. And everything, I mean, the melody and I never, and it was a power ballad. I never have done a power ballad as far as I remember in my whole life. And so that was shocking in a way because I never expected anything like that, you know, showing up on the album. And so, you know, Michael Foster became the singer for that song, because I couldn't imagine anybody else singing it better than him. And then there was this other unusual song, which I must say unusual, because, you know, it's kind of different, but what he did to it was so amazing and so personal from the lyrics point of view as well, that I could not imagine anybody else singing it. And, you know, so I said, Michael, you know, you've got those two songs. Yeah, you know, it's a very well rounded album with a lot of different, I really enjoyed it. You know, I think it's a nice shift from what you're doing. So now you have MSG, which originally, of course, what you started with, but you've moved away from the Michael Schenkerfest name. Do you want to comment on that? Yeah, Michael Schenkerfest is still available. Everything is still available. Even Michael Schenkerfest Temple of Rock. Anything is still available. People want it and can afford it, especially the Michael Schenkerfest. Very expensive people coming from all over the world, top singers, and it is there when people can afford it. But the Michael Schenker group, in fact, from the 80s onwards, everything is Michael Schenker called with subtitles like Michael Schenker's Temple of Rock, Michael Schenkerfest, and which is a good thing because it helps everybody to kind of relate to what Michael Schenker group are we talking about. You know, the first one was Michael Schenker group, then the second one was MSG. And then, you know, that the first one was Simon Phillips, the more poster from Jeff Beck, and the second one was Colise Powell, and Paul Raymond, UFO, and Chris Ganon, and so on. And then we even had an MSG with Robert McCauley. I gave him the M. I didn't care about if I had the first M or not, but I wanted to keep the MSG. And so you have, but it's still a Michael Schenker group. It's not at all Michael Schenker, even though it's very different. And I let other people, you know, write, but it all everything always starts with Michael Schenker group. And, you know, because I it just in the end of the day, there's so many different lineups that people start getting confused. And I recognize that in interviews, and that's why I make it clear, you know, that to categorize and giving Michael Schenker group with so many different lineups, subtitles, like Michael Schenker's Temple of Work, Michael Schenker Fest, it helps everybody to know when it happened, who was in it, why did it happen, and so on, you know, I mean, Michael Schenker Fest was all original singers for the competition from the 80s with the songs I wrote. And the Michael Schenker's Temple of Work is the one with Harman Rebel and found the smooth oil from the scorpions. And so people always can refer, you know, to the time when it was done, and which Michael Schenker group it is. All right. And just some offbeat questions. You talked about Deep Purple when Richie Blackmore left, you were invited, right, to join Deep Purple or Audition? Was that? Yeah, in 1993, I got a phone call. I was the first person to be chosen, you know, you have to remember Richie Blackmore and I have so much power, everything that comes, everything that leaves Richie Blackmore joins Michael Schenker Group. It's the funniest thing. And so, you know, Rochak Lava was producing the first Michael Schenker album, Deep Purple, you know, and so there was always a conversation within Deep Purple, also in Black Sabbaths, you know, because when he wrote, it was a Michael Schenker Fest and, you know, that's why Ozzy called me up and asked me to join. I was always the first, you know, choice, but I declined and I must say, you know, this funny thing is, because I'm the kid in the sandbox, you know, just enjoying playing. I never looked for competition or fame or anything. I just like to put three notes together to create goosebumps and pure self-expression is what I love. And so, you know, when I get these offers from Tennessee and, you know, Motorhead and Ian Hunter, I mean, the list is counted. I always declined because I don't copy. I don't want to copy. I want to do pure self-expression. But the funny thing is that I love Ozzy Osborne. And I love, you know, I mean, bloodseppling Deep Purple and Black Sabbaths. That's it, you know, for me when I was 14, 15 years old. And, you know, that is the incredible thing, even though I'm the biggest fan of those three bands and some others, that I declined because I had the vision of, you know, focusing on pure self-expression. That's why I left, you know, mainly the year of all, which would have become one of the biggest bands in the world. They were peaking, starting to peak. Scorpions left right, you know, they asked me to help them out. And because Matthias was unable to open the doors for America for them, I wrote the first hit for UFO Lights Out in 21 in 76. And, you know, it was the ticket for Rudolph and Klaus, you know, to make it into the States. And but unfortunately, I had a different vision. I cannot follow a bunch of people looking for something that I have already finished with and don't actually, I'm not even interested in. But my own vision is more important than, you know, following a bunch of people that have something completely different in mind. And that's why my middle years became very experimental. And I'm very happy I did it because it really fulfilled me. Yeah. And the last question would be an Eddie Van Halen question. You know, you being an iconic guitarist, Eddie Van Halen becoming, it was an iconic guitarist. You know, just any comments about Eddie Van Halen and his guitar playing or his influence on you or maybe others, you know, any comments on Eddie Van Halen? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the weirdest thing is that actually Van Halen was supporting UFO at the Starwood. I was 19 years old, I guess. And I didn't nobody knew it was what would deal with that that would have been 74, 75, you know, and and I never paid. I heard that some people were saying that a phenomenal guitarist there. But it was five years before they brought out the Van Halen one, which, you know, even though I'm not listening to any music for the last 50 years, sometimes you cannot over here, things coming out of speakers everywhere. And when I, when I heard Eddie, I went like, wow, this is amazing. But I didn't know that he actually was doing the tapping technique because I was always wondering how on earth does he get such a smooth guitar sound, you know, and then even without the tapping, everybody was doing tapping later and trust Eddie, you know, just like they did with me. They copied my style in people copied my style 80% of all the tires in the 80s and trust my style, too. But I go to the inner infinite spring and always come up with something fresh. So I'm always a step ahead anyway. But with with a tapping that was so extreme and everybody and it was actually in the end, it appeared to be easy to do for overnight success. So there was like thousands of guitarists going to guitar school learning tapping to be to be a star in one or two years. And, well, that that shows that tapping is not all and not really actually doesn't create much emotion. But the thing with Eddie Van Halen, he had rhythm style. And by the way, would have told me that that he actually heard something Eddie did, you know, earlier, that because it looks like Eddie was actually a bit influenced by me. And there was a melody line or some several things that he did that sounded like me and people were actually saying, wow, you know, it sounds like Mike Schenker. But the thing is he took it in the next five years, he took it so far forward that I was blown away by how he what he did, you know, and his drummer is a brother being a drummer. So it's in a family gene that his sense of rhythm, his sense of melody, his sense of sound tone quality, the way he actually entertains was so complete. He's the best. Yeah. And on that note, the new album, Immortal, we're going to be released on January 23, 29, 2021 via Nuclear Blast. I've heard it sounds amazing. Thank you so much for joining me on the show today, Michael. Always a pleasure. And I wish you all the best and all the success. And hopefully this cold thing will be over soon and you could go on tour. Thank you so much. Thanks for the interview and see you soon. Keep on rockin'.