In a new interview with AZCentral.com, Scorpions guitarist Matthias Jabs discusses his fateful audition for the band, their first US tour with Ted Nugent, surviving the '90s and why he doesn't see another farewell tour on the horizon. Read an excerpt below:

Q: You’ve been opening shows with “Going Out With A Bang”, which also opens your most recent album. Does it feel like a late-career signature song for Scorpions?

A: “Yeah. I mean, first of all, it’s a great opening song and a song from the latest release. And not too many bands can say that they have a relatively new album on the market while celebrating their 50th anniversary. It’s 52 years for us. And of course it won’t go on forever but after announcing the farewell tour in 2010 and playing around the world for two years, we noticed during that tour, really, that the announcement came way too early and we are still having too much fun. The fans don’t want to let us go. The promoters don’t want to let us go. We get offers now for 2019 and it’s hard to say, “Yes, guaranteed, we will be there.” We are a bit more careful about all decisions regarding the future. But so far, it’s all very good. We are in great shape. The shows go very well.”

Q: You mentioned the farewell tour. When you decided to do that, did it feel like you could walk away from it?

A: “It was all influenced a bit by the manager we had at the time. We were asking each other, while traveling a couple weeks into the tour, ‘Who had the idea?’ And we found out nobody in the band had the idea. I was thinking, ‘OK, my colleagues are a bit older than I am, seven to eight years.’ But I was asking and, ‘No, not me.’ We found out it was more pushed by the manager. We thought, rationally, it might be a good idea to say “bye bye” while we were still in the best shape, leave the scene with the best impression and be remembered as a band that runs around like crazy. But seven years later, that still goes as well. We still run around like crazy.  And we don’t look that much different. So we postponed the end of everything and now we don’t know. We learned also that there is no point in saying, ‘This is the very last concert!’”

Read the full interview at AZCentral.com.

Scorpions, with special guests Megadeth, are out on the Crazy World North American tour. A video trailer and remaining dates below.

October
4 - Oracle Arena - Oakland, CA    
7 - The Forum - Inglewood, CA    
8 - Talking Stick Resort Arena - Phoenix, AZ    
11 - Freeman Coliseum - San Antonio, TX    
12 - Pavilion at the Music Factory - Irving, TX    
14 - BB&T Center - Sunrise, FL    
15 - Amalie Arena - Tampa, FL, US

(Photo - Marc Theis)