Scorpions lose their sting, record final album
Written by on January 24th, 2010 in Latest News.
Rudolf Schenker, Matthias Jabs, Klaus Meine, James Kottak and Pawel Maciwoda of the Scorpions pose backstage at a charity concert in 2006 in London, England. The band will launch a three-year farewell tour in May. (Jo Hale/Getty Images)
German rockers the Scorpions say they will be launching a farewell tour this spring, ready to exit the stage after a 40-year run.
The band announced on its website Sunday that “we agree we have reached the end of the road.”
The band — with hits such as Still Loving You, Rock You Like a Hurricane, No One Like You and Wind of Change — was founded in Hannover in 1965 by guitarist Rudolf Schenker and drummer Wolfgang Dziony, who left in 1973. Singer Klaus Meine joined a few years later.
The band, which has sold more than 100 million records, has gone through a merry-go-round of four bassists, six drummers and two guitarists.
Current members include Schenker, Meine, Matthias Jabs (guitar), Pawel Maciwoda (bass) and James Kottak (drums, percussion)
The band thanked their fans and said their March release, Sting in the Tail, would be their last.
“While we were working on our album these past few months, we could literally feel how powerful and creative our work was … We end our career with an album we consider to be one of the best we have ever recorded,” said the statement.
In May, they will embark on a three-year concert odyssey around the world, spanning five continents and starting with a concert in Leipzig.
So far, other dates plotted include Switzerland, France and Russia with more to be announced.
“We’d rather go out with a killer album and follow our hearts. We achieved everything you can achieve with a rock band,” Meine told German paper Bild am Sonntag.
