Scorpions buffeted by the winds of change

David Renzi

Friday, June 25, 1999 | 3:22 a.m.

First published Feb. 21, 1994.

Five years since the Berlin Wall collapsed and spawned 1991's "Winds of Change," their hopeful anthem for a better tomorrow, the Scorpions are singing a new tune in the wake of Bosnia, Somalia, the LA riots and hatemongers in the homeland.

"Face the Heat," the German rock band's latest release, is strewn with the type of end-is-near prophecy usually reserved for wall graffiti.

In the Garden of Eden, time is running out fast.

The party is over.

The ship of fools keeps on rollin' through a deadly storm, it won't take long till we collide.

Leader singer Klaus Meine, explaining the gloom and doom, says that inasmuch as rock music should reflect the climate of the time, these are pessimistic times.

"I remember when I wrote 'Winds of Change.' There was so much hope after the East-West conflict. We grew up with so many years of that and not far away from the wall," Meine said in a telephone interview from Germany.

"When it came down, everybody was dancing on it. Everybody was hoping for a better world."

But since then it has been one problem on top of another, says Meine, citing everything from neo-Nazi intimidation in Germany to global conflict.

"I'm not saying that I'm totally pessimistic. I'm not. I'm really optimistic. But to dream of a better world nowadays would sound very naive when you look at the reality," he says.

But Meine hastens to add that amid the overt pessimism is a ray of hope, the heartfelt "Under the Same Sun."

'Cause we all live under the same sun, we all walk under the same moon, then why, why can't we live as one?

The Scorpions had to face their own strife recently when longtime bassist Francis Buchholz left the band. A year and a half later, Meine still doesn't believe what happened.

"He decided, after 18 years, to become a businessman, I guess," he says of Buchholz's decision to side with the band's business manager, who was fired when the band got into "serious tax trouble."

"Francis decided to stick with him for whatever reason," Meine says. "Hopefully we will find out. He must be happy with his reason, but that whole scenario led to the point where we had to say goodbye to him."

He adds with incredulity: "He's probably the first rock 'n' roll guy, after so many years in a band at the top of its success, to stay with a tax adviser. That's a very rare story."

The album's title, Meine says, is a call for everyone to "face life" -- as he was forced to do when Buchholz left.

Meine views Buchholz's replacement, Ralph Rieckermann, as something of a godsend. He was the first bass player to audition for the job -- and the last.

"We are very lucky that way, because it's like he came from heaven," Meine says.

Rieckermann came to the band on the recommendation of drummer Herman Rarebell, who was producing an album on which Rieckermann was performing. A single jam session with the Scorps cinched the deal.

Meine isn't sure why the band, in its 23rd year, has retained its worldwide appeal -- "I guess, I hope, it's the music" -- but it still amazes him.

Last year in Bangkok, on the first leg of their world tour, the Scorpions drew 12,000 people inside and 3,000 "need tickets" people outside, he says.

"The success of the band is based on friendship," Meine says. "Talent and writing great songs is one thing, but the reason we're still together all these years ... is in the '70s, when we were looking for musicians, we never looked for the big superstar.

"We were always looking for real people. Of course, great musicians, but real people."

Consequently, he says, the band has always had good chemistry, fun performing and the ability to avoid complacency.

"Even after the huge success of the last album, we didn't say, 'Now we're on top of the world. This is our peak.' We like to look at a new album as being another challenge," Meine says. "We've always liked a challenge."