It was 1984 - the Heavy Metal Hurricane visited Toronto's CNE Grandstand stadium on a hot n' sweaty day in August - the 17th to be exact. I was a pimply-faced kid that decided to hop on the bus from a Northern Ontario town and witness one of my first live shows. I can't remember much - 25 years ago! And there were no substances involved in my early musical "career". But I do recall running to the front of GA area, literally about two feet from centre stage and grasping onto the security barrier with a high school buddy of mine. We were locked and not loaded ... locked in for KICK AXE, HELIX, QUIET RIOT and of course the hurricane itself, German hard rock icons the SCORPIONS. The feeling was indescribable. Seeing our heroes eye-to-eye - mere spitting distance away! We did the 'Heavy Metal Shuffle', fist-pounded 'Rock You' and screamed 'Bang Your Head' with the 25,000-strong. Our vision was so close that a photographer was begging for our spot. No bloody way. We've earned this turf and there we stayed - no piss break, beer break, nothing, for hours. My ears bled for days. Of course the highlight was these five Hanover lads that had gone from clubs to massive venues in a few short ears. Their music resonated throughout North America. Massive MTV and radio play pushed the band to greater heights and they were seemingly unstoppable. They weren't a guys band, they were everyone's band. And very few can match the output - which has resulted in more than 100 million albums sold worldwide - Germany’s most successful international music export.

Fast-forward 25-plus years and the Scorpions are retiring. And former drummer Herman Rarebell (real name Hermann Erbel) isn't. Herman Ze German - who was with the band from 1977 until 1996 - fondly remembers the heyday as he penned the lyrics for some of the most classic songs of the band’s entire history, including 'Rock You Like A Hurricane,' 'Make It Real,' 'Dynamite,' 'Blackout,' 'Arizona,' 'Bad Boys Running Wild,' 'Don't Stop At The Top,' and 'Tease Me Please Me,' among countless others. But he was content to leave it all behind, even suggesting to the band their current drummer James Kottak. But the venom from his sting remains as toxic as ever while he promotes his latest skin-pounding affair, the solo record appropriately titled Take It As it Comes, out now via Dark Star Records.

Rarebell took the time recently to chat with BraveWords.com about his daring new musical (ad)ventures in this digital era and of course fondly looking back at his illustrious career in the eye of a hurricane!

BraveWords.com: So how are you spending your time these days? Take It As it Comes is hardly a brand-new record, it’s been out for a while now.

Rarebell: "Actually, it was released in Germany in 2007 by Mausoleum Records and then I tried to get a record company in America, but it was not possible to find the right company until this year in March, Dark Star Records from Chicago. And they loved the record just as much as I did, so in America this is a completely new record. Because there’s no point in paying thirty-eight dollars for an import record if I can give it to my fans here for twelve dollars or for ten dollars. I think it would be very unfair to have everybody pay that amount and you only can get it by Amazon Europe."

BraveWords.com: The industry has changed quite a bit these days, and it doesn’t seem like the fans necessarily need to pay those high prices. I’m wondering how you’ve been able to adapt to digital music business model.

Rarebell: "What I did, I got a record company. We started pressing here in America, now we can offer the records for a normal fair price. I think Amazon sells it for $12.99 and I think there’s even a special offer right now from the record company, where they put my audio book, My Life As A Scorpion, plus the new record, Take It As It Comes, plus a hand signature autograph card for twenty dollars, and I think that’s a really fair deal."

BraveWords.com: Well, there’s been a lot of bundling and special packaging like that because of the digital phenomenon. You must be selling a lot of these bundles at your shows as well.

Rarebell: "Well, the thing with the show, my plan right now is to introduce this music to the American public, make a radio tour and do some TV. Also I have a lot of press to let everybody know this record is out, check it out, see the reaction. Because if I have no reaction, there's no point of me to come and tour. If I have a good reaction, I will come out and tour either in October/November or I come in January/February. That depends on the agent and how long it takes. Also the guy who’s gonna promote me to get ready for this tour."

BraveWords.com: You obviously have such a wonderful history with the Scorpions, and when your fans think of you creating new music, then that name the Scorpions obviously comes to mind. But when you listen to Take It As It Comes it’s a pretty varied affair. What kind of picture did you want to paint of yourself when you had another solo record in the wings?

Rarebell: "Well first of all my philosophy is on this record I’m not only the drummer on there, I also sing a few songs which is new for Herman Rarebell. I sing 'Take It As It Comes', 'Heya Heya', and speak a new version of 'Rock You Like A Hurricane'. Being the producer on this album, I had actually the pleasure of choosing a dozen tracks out of sixty. I said to all the musicians in my band, I said, 'look, I also want to hear the songs you guys did. I want to make sure you guys are also happy, you’re coming on the road with me.' So they played me their material. I picked out of that material what I thought were the best songs, to make sure there was no album filler. I think like this: If you were a listener on the radio and you hear a song, either you say, 'this is a shit song' or you say 'I love this song. I want to go home now and download it.' You never asked who wrote it, you just like the song or you don’t like the song. So for me I don’t have to prove my drumming anymore to people. Okay, I put on the record 'Wipe Out' and I put 'Drum Dance' on there. They are two really good songs for drummers to listen to see how fast I can play or what I can do on the drums, but on this album I really wanted to be song-orientated and put songs on there which have the potential to actually go on the charts."

BraveWords.com: I was happy to see that your 'Wipe Out' cover (originally by THE SURFARIS in 1962) was on this record as the song is difficult to find.

Rarebell: "There was a version on the 1984 album Herman Ze German And Friends. The one with Don Dokken (DOKKEN), Jack Russell (GREAT WHITE) and all those guys. On that record, there is 'Wipe Out' without the drums. The record company at the time, Capitol, said to me, 'we don’t want the drum solo on there, it is too uncommercial. Please give us a version without the drum solo,' so the engineer had to cut that out. But I found the original version, and this is the original version I put on there. I love this version. I think it has much more fire and balls than the other one."

BraveWords.com: Well as you’ve been mentioning, you wear many different hats on this album, and it’s not really a full-on, hard rock, heavy metal record. Where’s your head-space these days when it comes to creating new music?

Rarebell: "Well the thing is you cannot create a 1984 heavy metal album again. This is what I dislike about most bands who are from this era, to play the same kind of music. You have to progress and you have to find at least something, you at least have to try. For me it was no point to go in that direction. The Scorpions are the Scorpions and one of the greatest rock bands on this planet and will always be like this. For me on this record, I wanted to do musically different things. As you can hear, I put the saxophone in the hard rock song like 'Don’t Lose Your Trust'. And a song like 'Take It As It Comes' can reach, in my opinion, not only the hard rock audience, but can literally reach people who listen to all kinds of music. This is my aim also; to approach all people."

BraveWords.com: Well I must admit that the 2010 version of 'Rock You Like A Hurricane' is daring to say the least. How has the reaction been to it?

Rarebell: "It has actually been from 'fantastic, Herman, unbelievable' to 'how dare could you do this!' My answer is very simple: Don’t forget I’m one of the creators of those songs, together with Rudolf Schenker and Klaus Meine. We did this song, it was our biggest hit so far, and none of the other two had a problem when I said to them I want to do a kind of a speaking version. I’m a big RAMMSTEIN fan, this made me do it. I said to myself, 'it would be interesting to go in that direction and just speak it.' And then I had to write, of course, another complete verse, because speaking it I needed twice as many words because of the speech. You know what I’m saying. The second verse is completely new. And when it came to the solo, I said to my wife, 'no point to copy my peers. We’ll try to do something completely as take it down, just like before a storm breaks loose or hurricane breaks loose, so go really quiet and then let the storm come out.' So this was the other thing which we changed against the original."

BraveWords.com: You’ve done lots of press and lots of media with this particular record. Do you miss being in the spotlight?

Rarebell: "Well let’s put it this way: I’ve been out of the spotlight now for nearly fifteen years and I became pretty bored at home sitting there twiddling my thumbs. It’s time to go out again and party again and play music again."

BraveWords.com: And how do you think you’ve been evolving as a drummer during these fifteen years? Have you been keeping up your chops?

Rarebell: "This is one of my habits. I get up in the morning, I play every day for one, one and a half hours, just to keep my hands fit, keep my arms and my legs and everything fit. I think it’s very important to practice on the drums because if you don’t do it, your hands and feet become stiff."

BraveWords.com: Can I ask you what you play?

Rarebell: "Oh, I’ll tell you what I play. I play to my own compositions then I hear the beginning of 'Rock And Roll' from John Bonham (LED ZEPPELIN) and I go, 'hey, you always wanted to learn this, now it’s time to do it, and now you have time to do it also.' And then I go and listen to a jazz drummer like Louie Bellson. I listen to the double-bass drum stuff he did, I can jump to Buddy Rich and then end maybe with Keith Moon (THE WHO) and Mitch Mitchell (THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE).

BraveWords.com: So I don’t have to ask you what drummers you’re fond of.

Herman: I forgot one guy, Ginger Baker (CREAM).

BraveWords.com: If there was one drummer that you could copy or you could walk in their shoes, who would it be then?

Rarebell: "Well, I tell you what, I don’t think John Bonham could be copied, but I think I can play a lot of the stuff he played with Led Zeppelin."

BraveWords.com: Are you proud of where you sit in the world of famous hard rock n' roll drummers?

Rarebell: "Well, of course, who wouldn’t be? I reached all my dreams, I played with the Scorpions on ten tours around the world, we sold a lot of records, we became world famous, I think it’s a good thing. This was my dream when I was a kid."

BraveWords.com: When you left the band, I guess it must have been a pretty hard decision to walk away from all that fame.

Rarebell: "Well, look, there were two things: to walk away from fame is not a really big decision, because fame is just a thing that stays with you for a while. Fifty years from now, nobody will remember I was here and nobody will remember you were there, okay, to talk about fame upfront. But it was easy for me at the time because I did it for twenty years with the Scorpions, I reached all my goals, and then came a new challenge to do this record company with Prince Albert of Monaco. And when he approached me doing this, I said yes because 'it’s time to do something new.' Just like you make a decision in your job, maybe tomorrow I don’t want to be a journalist anymore, I’m going to now go into science or do something else. That could happen to you very fast. And as you can see, the Scorpions themselves have decided now to call it a day. They’re on their farewell tour. So even if I wouldn’t have left ten years ago, I would have been forced to do something anyway."

BraveWords.com: Do you believe that they will actually retire?

Rarebell: "Oh, absolutely. I know for sure that Klaus Meine definitely will retire. I think Rudolf will go on, I think Mathias (Jabs - guitar) will go on, I think James Kottak (drums) has his own band already called KOTTAK, so he's already doing his thing, so sure, everybody has to make their own decision what he wants."

BraveWords.com: Do you have much contact with the band, any friendships that you’ve kept over time?

Rarebell: "Well we have this friendship since the beginning because I didn’t leave on bad terms. It was me who decided I want to go. They said to me, 'do you have a drummer in mind who can replace you?' It was me who suggested James to the band. I said, 'I think you should get this guy, I’ve seen him play at the Monsters Of Rock tour.' So I said he can do my job no problem, so this is how all this got together. So for me, when we do a best of album we have to be in contact anyway to decide the songs. So this is usually the occasions where we meet, or a year ago we played in Greece in Athens at the stadium. The reunion show (Wacken Open Air - August 3, 2006) I was invited, Michael Schenker was invited and also Uli Jon Roth. So I do think it will also happen in 2011. I was called already. I have no idea when or where. All I was told: 'In 2011, we’re thinking inviting you and Michael and Uli to some of the shows on the farewell tour.'”

BraveWords.com: So in 2011 you’ll be part of their farewell tour?

Rarebell: "I don’t think I will be part of the whole tour. It will be an occasional gig here and there. Just like we did Wacken and just like we did a gig in Athens last year, with Michael, myself and Uli."

BraveWords.com: Well I was at the gig at Wacken and it had to be one of the most memorable shows I’ve ever seen in my life. It was truly incredible. It was the perfect set-list for a fan and you guys were on fire. It was really a beautiful moment in hard rock history.

Rarebell: "Yeah, I agree with you a hundred percent, and to do the same thing again last year in Athens - I think we will do this thing again in 2011 in America, but I have no idea how many times or when this will be."

BraveWords.com: I’m just wondering because there’s been a lot of media attention with the Scorpions and their retirement. You were an important component to take them to the top. There’s no hard feelings at all? Any time you think, 'damn, I’d like to be back in that spotlight,' because they seem to be on top of the world again.

Rarebell: "Well, I think the new album (Sting In The Tail) is a very good album. The music on this new album is what the Scorpion fan expects from the band. The album is, for me, a continuation of Blackout or Love At First Sting. It has the same character, the same timeline, and you can see how successful the band is right now because of this great album. And this shows you again, this is what the fans wanted to hear. The same goes for AC/DC or IRON MAIDEN. If they give their fans music they’re not expecting fans don’t buy the music. And for me this was the right step in the right direction. This was the biggest surprise to hear now that they want to call it a day and call this the farewell tour. Especially after having an album out like this, I would have thought, 'okay, now’s the time to continue,' especially coming back in the limelight now."

BraveWords.com: Yeah, it sounds rather strange. I’m not saying that they’re lying to their fans, but I can see this farewell tour lasting a long time.

Herman: "No, I can tell you right now they really want to call it a day. If a farewell tour is three or four years long, you know, what can I say?! (he laughs)"

BraveWords.com: When you look at the Scorpions catalog there’s just so many incredible moments when you look back at the mid-to-late seventies, the explosion in the eighties and the 'wind of change' in the '90s.

Rarebell: "I was a lucky boy here, I was in the golden years. I joined on May 18th, 1977 and I left on April 18th, 1996. So I had definitely the twenty golden years there."

BraveWords.com: Unbelievable. There’s not too many people that have that kind of resume. What kind of memories stand out from the mid-to late-seventies just before the band truly hit it big in North America?

Herman: What sticks out of my mind is that when I lived in London from ’71 to ’77, Michael Schenker was the one who suggested to me, 'go to the audition, my brother’s band the Scorpions from Germany are looking for a drummer.' I went to that audition and they took me and there was another forty, fifty drummers there. Everybody had to play three songs, that kind of thing, and then of course the famous 'don’t call us, we’ll call you' and they really called me the next day and said, 'if you want the gig you can have it. You have to come with us to Germany.' I said, 'well, hang on, you know.' I wanted to take my drums with me, I needed a visa, I had to tell my girlfriend that we were going to Germany. All those moments made a big impression before we became big, and then when I came to Germany we started immediately in the summer of ’77 to record this album, Taken By Force. After this we had an invitation to go to Japan and suddenly our album is gold in Japan. We celebrated in Japan like superstars, like screaming fans, like THE BEATLES, all that stuff. All this left an amazing impression, and then American management became aware of the band in early ’79 and Leber-Krebs Management - who had at the time AC/DC, AEROSMITH and TED NUGENT - said 'why don’t you come over' and the first gig we did was in Cleveland, Ohio, ’79. At ten o’clock in the morning we played before THIN LIZZY, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Ted Nugent and JOURNEY. What a bill!"

BraveWords.com: Absolutely unbelievable.

Rarebell: "Then we toured all through the eighties, we became bigger and bigger and bigger. We made the album Lovedrive, which became gold because it had the great cover with the chewing gum, you remember?"

BraveWords.com: (Laughs) How can anyone forget!

Rarebell: "And this cover, I suggested to Klaus at the time, let’s go to London where I lived before, and we went to Hipgnosis because Hipgnosis made covers for Led Zeppelin and PINK FLOYD - Houses Of The Holy and Wish You Were Here. And I said to him, 'well, we’re from Germany, why don’t you make us a cover and the title is Lovedrive.' And he came up with this and we all fell in love with it immediately. He also made the cover of Animal Magnetism."

BraveWords.com: Were you friends with Storm Thorgerson then?

Rarebell: "Yes, absolutely. Storm Thorgerson, crazy guy."

BraveWords.com: What kind of input did he have in those two records?

Rarebell: "Well he used to come with about ten, fifteen different ideas, and he’d put them already in the same shape like a vinyl cover was, and then he showed us the ideas. And immediately when we saw the idea for Lovedrive, the chewing gum, all five members said 'this is it!' And the same was happening when we saw again Animal Magnetism. Then you have an album cover, the next one was Blackout, was with the two forks in the eyes. I think that album cover was a killer. But it was not Rudolf Schenker on the cover, it was Gottfried Helnwein, the artist who made it is the guy on the cover."

BraveWords.com: I think a lot of people make that mistake because it looks almost identical to Rudolf.

Rarebell: "But it’s not Rudolf, it’s Helnwein, the artist. The next one was done by a guy called Helmut Newton, one of the greatest photographers, who made the album Love At First Sting. Then the next cover was live, World Wide Live, which I think was done by the record company. The same goes for the last album we did, Savage Amusement. And then you know the era with Dieter Dierks was over, we went on to go take as a producer Keith Olsen, who produced the Crazy World album with the big hit 'Wind Of Change' on it. And after this I did another album with Bruce Fairbairn, Face The Heat."

BraveWords.com: Well there’s a string of records there that the Scorpions could do no wrong, and there’s very few bands in not just hard rock history, any kind of musical genre that can’t match everything from Lovedrive all the way up to arguably Love At First Sting, right?

Rarebell: "Absolutely."

BraveWords.com: And when you guys were creating these records, as I say you could do no wrong. There was no end in sight.

Rarebell: "Well, I think like this: I think that Klaus Meine and Rudolf Schenker and myself were a really good songwriter team, and if you look at the history of the songs we created together - the big one, 'Rock You Like A Hurricane', then you have 'Blackout', 'Make It Real' which I did with Rudolf, or you have songs like 'Dynamite'. Those songs speak for themselves, you know, there’s not much to say about them because they really made rock history. And I think you never can turn back the clock. Everything in life has its time and I think this goes also for bands. And at one point with every band, the energy and the creativity have reached its highest point. I mean, it’s a very hard thing to write another 'Rock You Like A Hurricane', I can tell you."

BraveWords.com: Now it seems like you personally kept your head through all this. The fact that you can remember all this stuff says a lot about your personality. I think all the Scorpions members really kept their head on. There were no overdoses. You never really hear about any self-abuse like that.

Rarebell: "Well, no, I never believed in destroying myself with drugs, it makes absolutely no point. Of course I used to drink a lot, but also I learned that lesson. Nowadays I drink two glasses of wine with dinner and I’m pissed, you know? (Both laugh.) And before, I had to drink two bottles to get in the mood."

BraveWords.com: I want to leave you with just one final question. What’s in the future, what is left for Mr. Herman Rarebell to conquer?

Rarebell: "Well first of all I’m not going to retire and I’m not going to say farewell. I feel much too young, I have much too much energy. I will now promote this album. I will see how the American public reacts to this, then I will take my band and play those songs live to the public, and hope one of those songs goes in the charts so I can continue playing until I really drop."