DC9 At Night’s Darryl Smyers recently conducted an interview with SCORPIONS guitarist Rudolf Schenker. In the interview, Schenker talks about the band’s final tour, Scorpions' success, playing the hits, and more. Excerpts from the interview are below:

DC9: Will this really be the final tour? Some bands like The Who seem to have had a least a dozen 'final tours'.

Rudolf Schenker: “Look, we made the decision to retire. It was an instinct. We just had the feeling that it was the right time. The new album (Sting In The Tail) is a good way to go out. I think the new album really got to the essence of The Scorpions. After over 40 years, things get difficult. We tried to adapt to the music business-even changed our sound up a bit on a couple of albums. But it's better to be back and to end with our old sound. Klaus (Meine) and me, we are both 62. We have another three years for this last tour and we know that we can still deliver. We have a great set list and a fantastic production. We've sold out shows from Moscow to Prague and we are looking forward to seeing big crowds in the states. When we finish this tour, Klaus and I will be 65. To go onstage again and sing ‘Bad Boys Going Wild’, well, it sounds stupid. It's better when you can control the situation. It's always difficult to make these big decisions. We know that we are all not getting any fitter. Right now, we can still deliver at 150 percent. In five years, I don't know.”

DC9: The band has been around, in some form, for 45 years. In that time, you've sold over 100 million albums. How do you account for the band's success and longevity?

Schenker: “We're Germans and, if you can make it out of Germany, you can make it. You have to find the right people. You have to have the right chemistry, to be strong enough to deliver the goods in foreign countries. We played a style of music that is normally associated with England, not Germany. You have to be better than other English and American acts and I think we did this. Plus, this band is composed of a bunch of friends and we've always spread an idea of friendship. When I first heard LITTLE RICHARD, that music gave me a feeling that there was something to live for and perhaps our music had that same effect on some people. When I saw THE ROLLING STONES and THE BEATLES in Germany, I saw four or five friends playing together. That gave me my vision. The Scorpions have tried to make the right decisions. I think the writing team of Klaus and I, wrote some outstanding songs. We didn't want to be a German band. We wanted to be a global band. I think we were positive role models for a lot of bands. I remember when BON JOVI came with us to Japan, they were willing to listen and then they found success. It's all about vision and friendship. If you put it all together, you have a great career for forty years.”

DC9: You said you were excited about the set list for the current tour. Does a band like The Scorpions owe it to the audience to play the hits?

Schenker: “Of course. Now, the set lists are a bit different when we play Europe. We play all the hits plus three songs from the new album. The feedback on our website has been very positive. Klaus did have the flu for a couple of shows and his voice was fucked up, so we had to shorten the list a bit. But now, it's back to two hours of our best music. It's a party, with big '80s production values.”

Read the entire interview here.