SCORPIONS frontman Klaus Meine is featured ina new interview with Jeffrey Easton at Metal Exiles. An excerpt is available below:

Metal Exiles: With the final album in Sting In The Tail, you now have bookends on your career with Lonesome Crow as your debut. From the start with Lonesome Crow to the end with Sting, what do you think of your progression as a band do you think that progression saved your careers?

Klaus: "With Lonesome Crow, we were just a young band trying to find our way, trying to shape an artistic style to find the Scorpions DNA. There was a ballad with 'In Search Of Peace Of Mind' and a psychedelic rocker with the title track, 'I’m Goin’ Mad' was a great rocker with Michael Schenker playing great solos. We were just a young band with talented guys with no idea on where to go from here. We brought in Uli Roth who had a Hendrix influence and Rudolf and I became a songwriter team. When Matthias Jabs joined the band, we found our style, fast riffs but great melodies along with the power ballads. I think, from Lonesome Crow to Sting In The Tail, we influenced many musicians. This is our legacy, to leave many rock classics like 'Rock You Like A Hurricane' to 'Wind Of Change', which became the soundtrack for the end of the Cold War. Our final final album shows that The Scorpions still burn for the passion of Rock N Roll and we love it. We are still a live band and many of the songs on the new album can be played live. With this record, we want to go out on the road and nail it every night."

Metal Exiles: What will you do when the last tour is over?

Klaus: "Pick up the pieces, I do not know. Right now, it does not make sense to make plans for the end. We are young at heart but when we come home from this, we will be 65 but we can say we have been all over the world and have fans from every country. You cannot ask for more than that. There will hopefully be another challenge in the book of life, I never did a solo album in all of those years. I am sure life will not be boring and the golf courses of the world will not see us too soon."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

The Scorpions' North American leg of their Get Your Sting And Blackout farewell world tour will hit the following dates:

June

18 - Holmdel, NJ - PNC Bank Arts Center *
19 - Columbia, MD - Merriweather Post Pavilion *
22 - Wantagh, NY - Nikon at Jones Beach Theater *
23 - Gilford, NH - Meadowbrook Amphitheatre ****
25 - Quebec City, QC - Pavillion de la Juenesse *
26 - Montreal, QC - Bell Centre *
27 - Toronto, ON - Molson Amphitheatre *

July

1 - Detroit, MI - DTE Energy Music Theatre
2 - Milwaukee, WI - Summerfest
5 - Pittsburgh, PA - Amphitheatre at Station Square
8 - Sarnia, ONT - Sarnia Bayfest Festival *
10 - Nashville, TN - Bridgestone Arena
13 - Sturgis, SD - Sturgis Motorcycle Rally
16 - Miami, FL - Bayfront Park Amphitheatre ***
17 - Tampa, FL - Ford Amphitheatre ***
19 - New Orleans, LA - Mahalia Jackson Theatre ***
24 - Oklahoma City, OK - Oklahoma City Zoo Amphitheatre *
26 - Albuquerque, NM - Hard Rock Casino Albuquerque Presents The Pavilion ****
27 - Phoenix, AZ - Dodge Theatre ****
29 - Ontario, CA - Citizen’s Business Bank Arena *
31 - Los Angeles, CA - Nokia Theatre *

August

6 - Roseburg, OR - Douglas County Fairgrounds **
7 - Ridgefield, WA - Amphitheatre at Clark County **
17 - Denver, CO - 1st Bank Center *

* with CINDERELLA

** with DOKKEN

*** with RATT

**** with TESLA

***** with VINCE NEIL

Additional dates will continue to be announced soon.