MICHAEL SCHENKER 'Explains' Disastrous U.K. Tour

Guitarist Michael Schenker (ex-UFO, SCORPIONS) has issued the following statement regarding the MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP's recent U.K. tour fiasco:

"To my true fans - this is what happened:

"When we started the U.S. tour everything went well I think 11 shows but than it all fell apart. Our tour manager left the tour. He had problems with our agent. Our bodyguard took over and then broke down too. Franky [Rummler], our bass player, came to me and said he is trying to run away with our money. So I shouted, 'Someone call the police,' at that point he had put the safe back. By the way, all of this happened in our tour bus. It started to get really bad. My girlfriend asked me if my tours are always like that. I said no but for some reason it is happening. It really only happened once before, and that was when we had to cancel in Pala Alto in 2001.

"Back to 2007, we were also waiting for our working visas for which our agent had taken $4,000 out of our advance monies. Now our bodyguard left the tour as well because he hadn't been paid by our agent who was holding all advance monies from the venues. Our bus company had not been paid either and were warning us that they would pull out too, if they don't get paid soon and the band hadn't been paid either.

"However, Wayne [Findlay; guitar] took over as the tour manager and when I looked at everything. Our situation, having lost our tour managing team, performing with out work permits, which I knew by than we would never get because our agent said that we wouldn't really need them that we could just say that this is a promotional tour or that we had spend all monies on expenses. That is totally crazy. What would the immigration have thought about all the money that I would have brought in? It was clear to me that our agent wanted to keep the money for the permits and that we would never get them. It was also clear that some people would have ended up without getting paid by the end of the tour even if I would have paid for the permits it would have been totally unacceptable to continue the tour under these conditions especially without a tour manager.

"So I paid $11,000 out of my own pocket to pay everyone off including the bus company and I told the band, 'Go home before you get arrested.' So we left the US. At that point I was pretty upset and began to drink more then usual.

"We began our U.K. tour. Without our usual crew, I don't know why, and we had no keyboards and no guitars. One problem rarely comes alone. It sucked.

Also what happened to:

* Frome - August 1
* Stourbridge - August 3
* Nuneaton - August 4
* Cardiff - August 5???????

"Did it get canceled by the promoter? I don't know. To make this disaster complete, I had $7,000 stolen and basically got stranded in London. My girlfriend was in Japan, the band was at home and I was spending my last pounds in London until I was down to two pounds. I called the promoter to pay for my train ticket to Peterborough. I got the ticket and traveled with my last two pounds. The next show was supposed to be Peterborough, NO band. I decided to do a signing session and played on my own. The band arrived at some point by than I was drinking even more out of total frustration. I ended up drunk on stage and that was the end of it and that's what happened.

"I am very upset about the cancellations and I hope that we can try again on a more professional level. I tried my best.

"And by the way, I had NO argument with my brother."