Interview: "I think an official Michael Schenker Gibson model will make a lot of people happy"

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Michael Schenker is the German virtuoso who was instrumental in taking the hard rock sound to new limits in the '70s, building on the foundations laid by early greats such as Jimmy Page, Tony Iommi and Ritchie Blackmore, upping the attitude while cranking up the gain. To put into perspective, by the time Edward Van Halen burst onto the scene with his band’s game-changing debut of 1978, Schenker had already released two full-lengths with Scorpions and another four with UFO. 

However, there are many similarities shared between the two guitarists, from how they evolved the six-string in terms of technicality to how they brought a brazen sense of fun to the instrument in ways few had ever dared to. It’s almost as if both players were nonchalantly laughing through their guitars, making it look effortless and unpremeditated, shrugging off any inclination for grand designs and shooting – as we all hope to – straight from the hip.

This year the guitarist is celebrating the 50th anniversary of his first album with UFO by rerecording select tracks from his original five-year stint in the band, which famously produced some of their biggest hits. The album My Years With UFO (out 20 September via earMUSIC) is no exercise in nostalgia for a quick cash grab, however. The new versions of these tracks sound most impressive indeed, with more detail and production sheen to showcase Schenker’s riffs and leads at their full potential.

Then there’s the long list of high-profile names guesting on its tracks, from Guns N’ Roses pair Slash and Axl Rose to Europe’s Joey Tempest and John Norum, as well as the likes of Dee Snider, Joel Hoekstra, Biff Byford and Joe Lynn Turner. For Schenker, it’s a celebration of the music he penned early on in his career, roping in some famous friends to reimagine them for the modern age, and in the process bringing these legendary anthems to younger generations…

“It’s the 50th anniversary of my first album with UFO, which was called Phenomenon and came out in 1974,” he tells MusicRadar, down a crackly line from across the pond. “I joined the band two years before that and we recorded the album in 1973. It’s been 50 years since the release, so I felt it would be time to celebrate that.

“Another reason I wanted to re-record these songs was to re-educate people about it all, especially the newcomers. We have a lot of younger fans who have no clue or idea about these songs. I wanted to give them the information they needed.

“The Strangers In The Night live album, which came out in 1979, is basically a ‘Best Of’ and most of the songs were written by myself," adds Michael. "So I wanted to promote all this music I’d written. I also took one song written by [original bassist] Pete Way, Too Hot To Handle, and recorded that in memory of him and [keyboardist/guitarist] Paul Raymond.”

Doctor Doctor is a song you are really known for. It’s interesting how some of the D Aeolian licks at the beginning of the new version differ to the original...

“It’s funny, there have been times in the past where I’ve left that intro out. Sometimes I’d jam it with The Scorpions and Rudolph [Schenker] would say ‘Forget about the beginning!’ But jamming over the intro was always one of my favourite things to do. I love improvising over that kind of mood. I don’t know much about the scales, though, so maybe it’s better not knowing about what you’re doing! I just go ahead and do it. That’s my approach to guitar.”

Doctor Doctor is also famous for being the song Iron Maiden use as their intro tape before taking the stage... which can’t be a bad thing!

“It’s quite amazing, to be honest! They’ve also used that song on one of their video releases. I think it was a boxset or something like that, but that was the main theme.”

You managed to rope in a lot of exciting guests for this album. Getting Slash and Axl Rose to guest on two different tracks is not something many people have been able to pull off… 

“It’s a bit of a coincidence, just like everything else. Life is all about circumstances. Slash came into the studio in Frankfurt for recording. While he was getting ready, he told me that he’d mentioned the collaboration to Axl Rose and Axl said ‘I want to sing on this album too!’ So I told Slash to help make it happen.

“In the end, Axl ended up singing three songs – Too Hot To Handle, Only You Can Love Me and Love To Love – but he didn’t like his performances on the first two, so we decided to just focus on the latter. He did a fantastic version of that song, I really like how he sang it. All of the musicians on this album are fans and friends. It’s like I did for them what Led Zeppelin did for me. And it keeps going. Guns N’ Roses ended up doing things for the next generation. It’s a very natural thing.”

Slash is a big fan of yours – he’s always cited you, Joe Perry, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck as his biggest idols. Do you hear much of yourself in any of his work?

“There were two songs I heard because they were being played everywhere: Paradise City and Welcome To The Jungle. I liked both of them. Those guys loved our Strangers In The Night sound so much that they used our tape operator Mike Clink.

“It’s so funny, Ron Nevison produced Strangers In The Night but before that he was Led Zeppelin’s tape operator.  Then he became a major producer and Mike Clink was the tape operator. After that, Mike became the producer for Guns N’ Roses. Things keep passing onto the next generation!”

Joel Hoekstra guests on Natural Thing. What do you like about his style?

“I never really knew about him until I was in Los Angeles and he came up to me in a shop, saying that he was on his way to play with Whitesnake somewhere. And then later, I saw something on YouTube where he was playing, which is how I started to become more aware of him. I noticed he’d done things with Jeff Scott Soto and other people I knew.

“It’s funny, at the end of his solo on this new version of Natural Thing, he sounds like he’s playing a saxophone! It’s really weird, enjoyable and different. I don’t know how he played like that. There were many surprises making this record because I haven’t listened to music in over 50 years. I don’t really know what’s out there. Through this album, I’ve been getting introduced to newer players and singers I wasn’t really aware of before.”

John Norum brings his inimitable bluesy magic to Lights Out…

“He just played like John Norum! He’s a fan, of course, and was just being himself. It felt like celebrating this music with fans and friends, and they were able to do whatever they wanted to do. That was the whole purpose of it.”

The tones on the new album are notably fresh and contemporary. What did you use?

“I was actually playing my Gibsons on this album, for the first time in a long time! I’ve kept changing amplifiers over the years, but not the models, it was always the Marshall 2205 JCM800s. But people keep stealing my amplifiers, which forces me to go out and look for new ones.

“The one I was using on the UFO Strangers In The Night record was a JMP that had actually been given to me by my guitar tech when I joined the band. It broke down in 1983 when I was in America, and from then on I started playing the 2205 model. Which apparently is something I helped design in 1980... somebody told me this, I didn’t even know. So it’s no wonder I liked the amplifier, I helped design it!

“I’ve been playing various 2205 models since then, but many have been stolen from me in different ways. There are all kinds of stories. But I keep finding new heads and the amp you can hear on this record is one I’ve been using for the last 10 years. I’ve been lucky so far with it!”

It’s interesting what you said about using Gibsons. They’ve been signing up a lot of artists in recent years, from Dave Mustaine and Jerry Cantrell to Mark Morton and even Brian May. It makes us wonder – though you’ve been a Dean endorsee for many years, is an official Gibson Michael Schenker signature in the works?

“Oh yeah! I have a deal with them and we’re supposed to be coming up with a Michael Schenker signature. Usually the company designs something and I approve it. But this time I had an idea and sent it over just a few weeks ago. Now I’m waiting for them to finish it and surprise me with this new model."

You’ve helped sell more Deans than pretty much anyone else out there, but you helped popularise the Gibson Flying V at the beginning of your career...

“Yeah, and I did it all for free (laughs)! I think an official Michael Schenker Gibson model will make a lot of people happy. I’m looking forward to seeing how it ends up!”

You’re also very well known for using a half cocked wah sound to cut through. Have you ever tried using a pedal that does it automatically, without the foot controller?

“I like having my Dunlop Cry Baby under my foot. The early Vox and Cry Baby components eventually wore out and started sounding strange. They weren’t good once they broke down. But eventually somebody at Dunlop figured out a way to use a different component that didn’t break, and they also started adding in all these good extra controls.

“I know there are pedals that create the half cocked wah sound at the click of a button, but I like to have the controller under my foot because I can fine-tune perfectly for whatever I’m playing. It’s not always the same position that is good for the same string. There are little changes here and there, it depends on what fret and what string you are on to get the right kind of nasal sound.”

Back in the day, you moved the wheel inside to take off the extreme and harsher trebles...

“Yeah! I must have been about 15 years old. I saw Mick Ronson playing this wah wah pedal and thought ‘I have to get one of those!’ I found one but it sounded horrible – all trebly, squeaky and scrappy. It was anything but warm. I’m not a technical person but I have a very visual mind, so I started to wonder what it looked like inside. I knew it wouldn’t be too complicated.

“So I opened up the wah and saw it was just a wheel, like a clockwork thing. I took the range a little bit back to get rid of that horrible piercing sound and dial it in so that as soon as I clicked the pedal on, it would be one of my favourite sweet spots. That’s the sound you can hear on the UFO song Try Me. I moved the wheel so I could get that one sound straight away, using the wah more like an equaliser.”

Looking back over your career, what would you say is the most technically challenging solo you’ve composed?

“I don’t think of myself as a technical player. Everything I’ve done, since I was nine years old, was based on development. I always want to move forward and see that fretboard grow bigger and bigger. I want to discover tones and ideas that create a goose-pimple effect. I developed my technical abilities by just using my hands, which is probably the wrong way.

“I don’t play technically, I just fish for great notes that have a great chemical reaction. As a consequence, maybe because I’m playing everything incorrectly, I’m able to do things that others can’t – especially if they play everything perfectly with all the correct hand positions. Maybe they can’t get the same kind of feel and sound I get because they don’t go about it the wrong way in order to get there? If everybody learns the same thing in guitar school, they can all end up sounding the same.”

You’ve often described your creative process as something that’s quite innocent and almost childish in ways…

“My approach to music is all about self-expression and I’ve been doing it for 50 years by staying away from other people’s music. I’m looking for my own combinations of tones and notes to create something special, something that could only come from me. It’s hard to say which solos of mine are more technical, because that’s not how I think. I do it all naturally and don’t know what’s easy or difficult to copy.”

If someone had never heard Michael Schenker play guitar before, what solo would you sit them down to listen to?

“Maybe something like Only You Can Rock Me. For my career, it would be a bit like choosing what Stairway To Heaven means for Led Zeppelin. Then Rock Bottom would be more like choosing a famous lead break for Jeff Beck, something like Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers, because it’s very adventurous and goes through all sorts of phrases and styles. It goes from slow to fast to more aggressive.

“The Only You Can Rock Me solo is a very clear and melodic commercial statement, one that anybody could enjoy listening to. But Rock Bottom gives a pretty good overall picture of who I am. Those are the two I would choose.”

How much has your tone evolved over the years?

“I’m the kind of person who lives for today and doesn’t live in the past. I’m only ever thinking about now and tomorrow. Time changes – 50 years ago, you might have had a car that looked great but now it looks silly. Everything changes constantly. What sounded great back then was fantastic, but now things are a bit different. It’s strange how that works.

“Things get created in the moment, in the set of circumstances that are available then. Those things influence how you get heard. After 50 years, everything sounds different and what you do will have a different kind of impact. The comparisons are also different because of what has come out in the time since then.

“For instance, I remember hearing Jimmy Page for the first time and the things he recorded sounded amazing, but they might sound a bit silly now. The same goes for Tony Iommi. If you listen to Paranoid, it was such a great solo for its time because there was nothing else there. But if I listen to it today, it sounds silly and very strange.

“If I listen back to my recordings from the beginning of my career, they almost sound undeveloped, you know? It’s easier when there’s nothing to compare to. A vintage car that once really stuck out won’t be able to compete with the cars made today.”

Which of your riffs are you most proud of?

“I don’t really know the difference between a good riff and a bad riff! To me, any riff I came up with is good because it’s how I was expressing myself at the time. There are many riffs I’m proud of from the middle years when nobody was listening to me, because I wasn’t playing trendy music!

“Those are still great riffs as far as I’m concerned. I wouldn’t have recorded them if I felt any different. I’m not a trend player. I won’t copy things for the sake of getting attention. I just love to focus on the ideas in my head and in my heart, coming up with things in the now to make a contribution to the world.”

A lot of people might say the muted single note riffing from Into The Arena is up there with your very finest!

“Oh yeah! That’s a good one. I agree with you there. I can’t even think that quick, but Into The Arena is probably a good one to pick and definitely one of the more famous ones I’ve written. So you make a good point... maybe you can help me pick out some more (laughs)! That song has a lot of different elements to it, so I think I agree with you.”

A lot of metal guitarists cite you as one of their biggest influences. But outside of the harder and heavier sounds, you’ve always been able to bring it back to the blues. What’s the secret?

“Every person is unique. If you’re doing what you love doing, that’s the best thing you can do. No one has any obligation to bring anything back to the blues. It’s all about what you hear in your head. The things I think of are things nobody else can do... because in that moment I will make a decision that comes from me, instead of copying someone else.

“If you want to play in an orchestra, then sure, music school will probably be a good idea. It depends on what you are looking for. But if you want to play guitar in a unique way, you can only choose to be yourself. There is no good expression or bad expression... only expression.”

Kirk Hammett has borrowed heavily from the Schenker book over the years, especially in terms of how he mixes faster runs with more modal and melodic ideas...

“That’s something that came to me naturally. I remember saying to [Scorpions singer] Klaus Meine that writing a good song or solo is like writing for children. It’s all about being melodic and finding the right hooks.

“Do I ever listen to Metallica and hear my own licks? Not intentionally, but I’ve accidentally heard amazing songs by Metallica like The Unforgiven. They’re a fantastic band. I think Kirk is very good at the classical stuff. It’s maybe not so much to my taste when he plays electric lead guitar…

“To my ears, it sounds like me when I was 15 years old, when I was playing on [Scorpions debut] Lonesome Crow. People who copy that particular style will sound a little undeveloped because my vibrato wasn’t right. But some people liked how I played early on and copied that style. When I listen back to what I did now, it feels like a very different stage of my development to where I am today. It took me years to develop a more natural vibrato and get my guitar to sing the way I like it!”

• The album My Years With UFO will be released on 20 September 2024 via earMUSIC. Preorder here