SCHENKER vs SPIKE - A Word With The Quire, Boy!

September 16, 2001, 22 years ago

Special report by Carl Begai

schenker feature spike

Over the past few months, there has been a great deal of talk and speculation surrounding the aborted UFO tour, which was brought to a grinding halt during the UK leg thanks to guitarist Michael Schenker's reportedly erratic behaviour. The tour was halted following the Manchester gig, where Schenker appeared on stage sporting a black eye, with the words "Spike Did This" written on his forehead. During the course of the show he provoked both singer Phil Mogg and and the audience, telling them to "go fuck themselves" and flipping them the bird. On a recent promo tour through Germany for the new Quireboys album This Is Rock 'N Roll, singer Spike shed light on the incident, an incident he calls "bizarre."

"I was backstage with Phil after the Newcastle gig," Spike begins, "having a drink, chatting. Michael Schenker has his own dressing room, and he bursts into our room screaming his head off, going crazy, then just walks out- We were just looking at each other, going 'What the fuck was that about?' Then he came back in a little while later and I was standing by the door, and he was yelling and screaming, and I said 'Michael, what the fuck is wrong with you? Calm down!' He turned on me, asked me who I thought I was, then he went to hit me. I had a broken leg at the time, but I managed to moved out of the way; he missed me, I punched him, and he just went down. He went crazy, shouting abuse and everything, and one of the guys that was there actually had to wrestle him to the floor like you'd wrestle a bull; Michael's a big guy."
"The next night, in Manchester, his eye was swollen up not just black. The guy selling the shirts actually taped a half an orange over his right eye in tribute to Michael."
"It was the most bizarre thing. I think it was just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I think he just lost it for a while. I have no bad feelings towards him, but you don't fuck with me when I'm in my home town, you know? I think he got a little more than he bargained for. The thing was, I had a broken leg, and I broke my finger on Michael's face. The hospital must have thought I was a fucking nutcase, because when I went back the doctors asked 'What're you doing back here? Did you hurt your leg again?' and I showed them my busted finger."
"But, as far as I know, Phil and Michael have patched up their differences, so maybe a new UFO album will happen. I hope it does, because I have to say that the show was fucking great."


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