SCORPIONS Guitarist RUDOLF SCHENKER: We Wanted To 'Make Bridges With Our Music'

In a new interview with Headliner Chicago, SCORPIONS guitarist Rudolf Schenker spoke about the band's enduring commercial success. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think that we, because we're coming from Germany, have a complete different view [of] rock and roll. We weren't born in England or America, where rock and roll was really born. We learned from our idols, and we said to ourselves, in Germany we want to go and make bridges with our music, show that from Germany they're not coming with tanks and making war; they're coming with guitars, playing love, peace and rock and roll. And I think this power in this basic foundation of this thought made the band very strong. We didn't make rock and roll not only for fun — of course for fun, but with a deep message behind it. And that's the very important point, and that's the reason why we try to build the right chemistry in all our years that we can live together and when we are on tour we have fun and we can talk still together and not only on stage. And that's, I think, a very positive point for the SCORPIONS and that's the reason why we still are 'rock believers.'"

SCORPIONS will return to North America on the "Rock Believer" world tour with special guests WHITESNAKE on the David Coverdale-fronted outfit's farewell tour.

Fresh off of their sold-out "Sin City Nights" Las Vegas residency, SCORPIONS will kick off a two-month-long Live Nation-produced run of dates on August 21 in Toronto, with additional concerts in Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, Dallas, and Denver, among others. In addition to WHITESNAKE, Swedish band THUNDERMOTHER will be joining the tour.

SCORPIONS' latest album, "Rock Believer", was released on February 25. The album was recorded primarily at Peppermint Park Studios in Hannover, Germany and was mixed at the legendary Hansa Studios in Berlin, Germany with engineer Michael Ilbert, who has earned multiple Grammy nominations for his mix work with producer Max Martin on albums by Taylor Swift and Katy Perry.

SCORPIONS originally intended to record the new album in Los Angeles with producer Greg Fidelman, whose previous credits include SLIPKNOT and METALLICA. However, because of the pandemic, some of the initial work was done with Greg remotely, after which SCORPIONS opted to helm the recordings themselves with the help of their engineer Hans-Martin Buff.

SCORPIONS' new album marks their first release since 2017's "Born To Touch Your Feelings - Best Of Rock Ballads", which was an anthology of new and classic material.

SCORPIONS' previous full-length collection of new recordings was the aforementioned "Return To Forever", partially comprising songs the band had in the vault from the '80s. It was the final recorded appearance of SCORPIONS' longtime drummer James Kottak, who was dismissed from the band in September 2016. He has since been replaced by Mikkey Dee, formerly of MOTÖRHEAD.