Scorpions guitarist Rudolf Schenker recntly spoke to Steve Smith of The Boston Globe about the band's 50th Anniversary, their new album Return To Forever, and a farewell tour that was set initially set to conclude at the end of 2012; an excerpt follows:

Return To Forever started out with the band digging through old material abandoned during the peak of your radio, TV, and chart success. How did things change when you realized that your 50th anniversary was at hand?

"We were working on the old DNA of the Scorpions, so we were really into this vibe. Because we’d worked with our producer team from Sweden, Mikael “Nord” Andersson and Martin Hansen — Mikael is a great guitar player, and growing up in Sweden, one of the first albums he bought was In Trance, and he became a Scorpions fan — he gave us, with his partner, this feeling of the possibility of making this album very fresh. By thinking about this new album for our 50th anniversary, we thought we had to do the stuff from the bonus-tracks album even better — here and there a new chorus where the old chorus was not strong enough — and then we said we had to have some new songs."

This tour runs through the end of 2016. What’s next for you, then?

"My brother (guitarist Michael Schenker) is already very angry at me, because I said to him when we were on the farewell tour, let’s make a Schenker Brothers album. I haven’t played with my brother for a long time — maybe here and there on a Scorpions stage, like in Wacken, but not in the studio. I think it would be a great thing to do, and there’s a lot of people waiting for it."

To read the interview in its entirety, click here.

In other news, Scorpions, have partnered with Yahoo for their first global live stream performance on Saturday, September 12th, from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.  Fans can tune in at 9:10 PM, ET, to witness the Scorpions Brooklyn debut and enjoy a career-spanning set list of Scorpions' hits, anthems, ballads and vintage classics. The live stream will be available on desktop at this location, or through the Yahoo Screen App on mobile devices (iOS & Android) or connected devices (Apple TV, Roku, Xbox).

Scorpions are celebrating 50 years of rock with the release of their 19th studio album, Return To Forever (Sony Music/Legacy Recordings), on September 11th in North America. The album was released in Europe back in February. The 19-song collection will be available in various formats including digital, Deluxe CD, and vinyl. The North American configuration boasts three exclusive tracks alongside four bonus tracks previously available only in specific territories, full tracklisting below.

The first single, "We Built This House" was released digitally on July 3rd, and is available to fans as an instant-grat for the album pre-order, available at Amazon and iTunes. A new lyric video for the track can be seen below:

Scorpions embark on a 16-city North America tour this fall (dates follow), more information on the dates and new release can be found at the-scorpions.com.

"We have been overwhelmed with the amazing response to our new album across the globe and can't wait to finally release Return To Forever in North America," said Klaus Meine. "We have always had such a special connection with our incredible fans and are so excited to get them the new album and return to play live this fall."

Scorpions have also launched an official D2C store with exciting offerings for fans featuring brand new t-shirt and sweatshirt designs coupled with the CD and Vinyl versions of Return To Forever. Visit this location for more details.

Return To Forever celebrates a spectacular global return for Scorpions as the album is already available in many parts of the world breaking and remaining in the Top 10 in multiple markets including Finland, France, Germany, Greece (#1), Hungary, Japan and Switzerland, with continued chart activity in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Holland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.

When Klaus Meine (vocals), Rudolf Schenker (rhythm guitar) and Matthias Jabs (lead guitar) conceived this record, the idea was to revisit their past, recording updated outtakes and unfinished song ideas from their most famous 80's sessions. Mathias Jabs explains, "There had been quite a few unused songs over the years that were really good, but in the end didn't make the cut back then due to the limited space on vinyl. We focused on eight songs, which were partly finished which we then recorded from scratch. During the work, new song ideas were added. We were having so much fun we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of the songwriting process once again. And in the end, it turned out to be a brand-new Scorpions album after all."

Return To Forever includes first single, "We Built This House," - capturing all the elements that make for the signature Scorpions sound, luring verses with an anthemic chorus - purists will be thrilled! Additional selections include the sweeping "House Of Cards," "Eye Of The Storm" - a track, that transports a notion of the unbelievable dynamic and joy of playing, characterizing Scorpions' stage performances, and "We Built This House" where the band reflects the past fifty years - their philosophy and the lessons their unusual life taught them.

"In the end, it tells our story" said Klaus Meine. "We've built this house called Scorpions brick by brick and often quite arduously. From the first days in Hannover, the first concerts abroad, until this very day. We've weathered severe storms, but the house withstood everything, turned out to be weatherproof and stable. However, building the house was never just cumbersome, but joyful as well. The joy of music, the joy of having experienced and still experiencing it all, the joy of - and the thankfulness for - the fan's affection."

Tracklisting:

“Going Out With A Bang”
“We Built This House”
“Rock My Car”
“House Of Cards”
“All For One”
“Rock 'N' Roll Band”
“Catch Your Luck And Play”
“Rollin' Home”
“Hard Rockin' The Place”
“Eye Of The Storm”
“The Scratch”
“Gypsy Life”
“The World We Used to Know”
“Dancing With The Moonlight”
“When The Truth Is A Lie”
“Who We Are”
“Crazy Ride” (exclusive)
“One And One Is Three” (exclusive)
“Delirious” (exclusive)

The fact that the 50th band anniversary was coming up, hit Rudolf Schenker rather accidentally: "Not long ago I found an old cash account book of my mom's, in which she meticulously recorded the earnings and expenses of the band from fifty years ago. My parents had lent me the money for the first equipment back then, so they kept a of record of my earnings so I could pay them back in installments. Fifty years is a long time for a working band. Apart from us, only the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys and The Who have managed to do it. So the timing for the new album is perfect; We're celebrating half a century of Scorpions with the record and the upcoming tour."

Scorpions remain a band able to attract masses of new fans at any given time. A fact that surprises even the musicians themselves, as they gladly admit. "It's really remarkable", says Rudolf Schenker, for example, "how well and mostly unharmed we've survived those years, in which our kind of music seemed to have gotten out of style completely. When the grunge wave hit the shore, we simply went to Asia to tap new markets and gain new fans. We were able to continue playing and keep on winning new friends for our music."

Scorpions Return to Forever 50th Anniversary Tour, featuring longtime members Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker and Matthias Jabs, alongside James Kottak (drums) and Paweł Mąciwoda (bass), kicked off in May 2015 with dates in four continents. For these milestone shows, Scorpions have built a career-spanning setlist of hits, anthems, ballads and vintage classics. North American dates also feature special guests Queensryche; confirmed shows are as listed.

September
10 - Blue Hills Bank Pavilion - Boston, MA
12 - Barclays Center - Brooklyn, NY
13 - Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion - Gilford, NH
16 - Moncton Coliseum - Moncton, NB
18 - Molson Canadian Amphitheatre - Toronto, ON
19 - Bell Centre - Montreal, QC
22 - Lifestyle Communities Pavilion - Columbus, OH
23 - Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica - Cleveland, OH
25 - Caesar's Windsor - Windsor, ON
26 - Allstate Arena - Rosemont, IL
29 - Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre - Greenwood Village, CO     

October
1 - SAP Center - San Jose, CA
3 - The Forum - Inglewood, CA    
6 - Santa Barbara Bowl - Santa Barbara, CA
7 - The Joint, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino - Las Vegas, NV
9 - ShoWare Center - Kent, WA