By Greg Olma

Herman Rarebell is best known for his association with Scorpions. For over two decades, he sat behind the drums, co-wrote songs, and was a very active and visible member of the band. On the other hand, Herman Rarebell, was also the brains behind the Herman Ze German project, on which he simply had some rock'n'roll fun with his good friends. As an experienced performer and songwriter, Rarebell, had no problem juggling two projects, even at the height of Scorpions' career. Once he left the Scorpions, his profile on this side of the Atlantic was less visible, but he was certainly very active on the musical front in his native Germany and Europe. Whether it was making music or acting behind the scenes, Rarebell, made himself busy and active. His legacy is well documented on the records, and his songs still played on the radio. Tracks like "Rock You Like A Hurricane," "Blackout," or "Bad Boys Running Wild" are still radio staples, and key tracks of the Scorpions' set-list. Rarebell will forever have his trademark printed on those songs, and many other less popular but equally impressive songs.
Now, many years later, Rarebell had revived his Herman Ze German project and released a new CD Take It As It Comes. Although it seems that he has been laying low for the past decade and a half, the truth is quite the opposite. He has stayed busy on many projects and kept busy, just not in the United States. I had the pleasure of sitting down with him and discussing the past, present, and some future projects.

The “Herman Ze German” concept dates back to 1985. What inspired you to bring it back?
Herman Rarebell: Basically, I think the time of rock n’ roll is happening again. When you put on the radio, you hear all those classic rock songs again. I think, for me, I had all those good songs so the American public has to hear those songs because they’re great rock songs. I’m very happy so far that it’s getting a good reaction. That was the main reason [for me] to come back and do this album.
How long did it take you to get this project organized and recorded?
It took actually several years because I involved a lot of musicians, also different writers, and my wife was involved with me for the first time on saxophone. I think she did a very good job. Then I worked with a long time friend Thomas Perry. I found a new lead singer for my band Stefan Erz who lives in Munich.
He sounds like Bon Scott.
A lot of people say he sounds like Axl Rose. I think that is a really good mixture.
Who were the people that were involved in making this possible?
First of all, on this album, a long time friend of mine Thomas Perry who is a great guitar player, keyboard player, and really good singer. He got involved. My wife [on] saxophone obviously. It was really good to have her in the band. The new singer Stefan Erz who I found in Munich. As you know, I sing three songs myself. A bass player from Stuttgart, Germany under the name of Jens Peter Abele who I did the song “Heya Heya” with. These were the main musicians who got involved. There were another two guitar players who played solos on there; Winnie Thomaschewski and also Wiggi Raab. Basically I produced and I played drums, of course, on there.
The title “Take It As It Comes” is almost like a life philosophy. Can you explain more about it?
Absolutely. This is my life philosophy because you have to take it as it comes nowadays. For example, if you go out now after this interview down the stairs and they rob a bank across the street, and you are in the shooting line, there’s nothing you can do about it. Life can literally be over in the blink of a second as I say in the lyrics so we should all look at life as a great gift and think positive about it. I know we have a recession and everybody is moaning [about] how bad they all feel. Hey, you want to know what bad is. Just go to Africa for one week. Then you’ll feel really good when you come back, believe me.

How did you get involved with Dark Star Records? After all, you’re based in Germany and the label is in the U.S.
I’ll tell you what happened. Last year, I played in Oklahoma [as] Herman Ze German and Friends. One of my friends is James Jackson, the lead guitar player from Strikeforce. He played with me last year and he’s also going to play with me in the live performances back here in America. He will be my lead guitar player so he said to me “Herman, I found you a record company. They’re called Dark Star Records and they are out there in Chicago. I think they are really good especially in distribution. They are everywhere and I think they could do a good job for you.” So I went with the guys. We got on very well. It was the same language; the same vibe. So I said to myself “these are the right guys for you. Go for it.”
After you left the Scorpions, what was it like to adjust to a more regular lifestyle?
It was wonderful, waking up in [my] house every morning. You know, when I came back from the Wind Of Change Tour, the Crazy World Tour, the tour was 18 months long. When I came back to my house, I couldn’t find things anymore because I simply forgot where I put them. That’s what it does to your brain. Suddenly, not touring anymore, [I was] waking up in the morning and not thinking “where are you?” and “where are you going to be tonight?” All those things came at a really, really good time.
Were you involved in music during that time?
Yes, absolutely. I made a record company in Monte Carlo with Prince Albert. We called it Monaco Records. We had a company for five years and the first artist we signed was Thomas Perry who I’m still working with nowadays. We had really good artists. We produced them. When we wanted to sell them to Sony or Universal, or Warner Brothers, they all became bankrupt and broke. Suddenly they had no more money because of the internet coming in. So we also got bankrupt. We closed the company in 2001. Then a made thing with Ronnie Wood from the Rolling Stones called “Art Meets Music” where we showed his paintings on big screens and we played live to it. That was a fun thing to do. We had dancers in the band. It was more like a show thing. It was a mixture between a rock musical and live performance of a band. That kind of thing; with paintings there and dancers. Then I got together with three drummers, Pete York from The Spencer Davis Group and Charly Antolini who is a great jazz drummer, a bit like Buddy Rich and those guys. We called this band “Drum Legends” and it worked really well for one year. Then after one year, Pete York got an offer from Helge Schneider who is a really big star in Germany, like Bruce Springsteen in America. So he left, Charly went back to playing jazz with an orchestra, and I was standing there [wondering] “what am I going to do?” I said to my wife “you know what, it is time to do the next Herman Ze German and Friends”. Make a killer album and make sure we only have the best songs on there. No album fillers. And then we [should] go and introduce it to the American public. I produced this album for America because I know you guys here appreciate good rock. Here is the land of rock n’ roll.
Do you have any regrets leaving the Scorpions?
No, it was my idea. I got James Kottak in the band. It was me who said “this is the guy you should take”. At that time, after 20 years, it was time to do something new. I also felt at the time [that] in the 90’s, grunge came in and the music scene changed drastically. Suddenly it was grunge. It became more and more of that music on MTV so rock completely disappeared from MTV. There was no more Aerosmith, no more AC/DC, no more Scorpions, [and] no more Van Halen. A new format completely took over. I said to myself “it’s now time to so something else”. Then when the offer came from Prince Albert to do the record company with him, I said “OK, for me, this was the sign” to do something different. As you see now, the Scorpions are doing their farewell tour. Even if I had made the decision to stay on with them, now would have been the day where I would have to call it a day and do something new.
Are you thinking about doing some shows with the Scorpions now that they are doing a farewell tour?
What we did over in Europe, we did so called reunion shows in Wacken with Uli Roth and Michael Schenker and myself. We did it last year again in Greece. There are plans for 2011 to do some outdoor concerts [with] this same line-up again; with special guests Michael Schenker and Uli Jon Roth. These are all in the plans. Meanwhile, I’m getting my own band ready to go on the road. I’m planning to tour America very soon. So as soon as this promotional tour is done and I introduce my music to the American public. Then people will know Herman Rarebell has a new album. I think a lot of people will be happy when they check out the album because I think we delivered some good hard rock and heavy rock. And then I think I will introduce that band to the American public.
How is Herman Rarebell as a solo artist different from Herman Rarebell the drummer from the Scorpions?
First of all, obviously when you are doing your own solo stuff, you can do what you want. Like on this album, I am the producer and we had about 60 songs to choose from. Stefan brought me 20 to choose from. So I picked [which ones I liked]. Thomas brought me some songs; my wife showed me some songs. Between all those possibilities, I picked the ones that were good to me. Also, it was a big thing for me and a challenge for me to do “Rock You Like a Hurricane” again. It was a big challenge for me. The difference of Herman Rarebell as a solo artist and producer is that I can do what I want but with the Scorpions, you have five equal members where everything has to be voted democratically. In other words, maybe you won’t get your favorite song on the album because maybe other people want their favorite songs on the album. This is basically the reason people do solo albums.
Can you tell me about your very first album Nip In The Bud and how it eventually transformed into the Herman Ze German project?
Well, I’ll tell you, the original album Nip In The Bud were the people who created this 3 piece band and the singer in that band sung all the songs. When I took the same album to America, it had a fantastic appeal to the American audience. When I played it to Don Dokken, for example, he said to me “I would love to sing this song. I can show you that when I sing this song, it will be killer”. So I said, “OK, lets go into the studio” and it was killer. He sang “I’ll Say Goodbye”, “Destiny”, and “Hard Sensation”. Then I said to myself that this is a great thing; why don’t I have on every song a different singer. So I got Jack Russell to sing one song; Steve Marriott from Small Faces sings one song. I got Juan Croucier from Ratt playing the bass on the there and Charlie Huhn sings a song called “Do It” from Ted Nugent’s band. It was a very good thing. On this album, as you can see, these are all very individualized songs where you don’t need to look at every song for a different singer. I think Stefan Erz did a very good job and I think I did a good job on the songs that fit me; all the songs that had the lower keys like “Heya Heya”, “Take It As It Comes”, and “Rock You Like a Hurricane”. I can’t reach those high notes that Stefan Erz can reach or Klaus Meine can reach.
Any last words for your American fans?
First of all, I would like to say “Thank You” for being really faithful all these years by playing Scorpion’s music and listening to it. I can see it alone on “Rock You Like a Hurricane” because I’m one of the writers. I can see on my publishing statement that that song is played on a 1000 radio stations consistently. That makes me very proud. I would like to say “Thank You” and I will deliver some great rock in the future. I will come play live and I hope to see all of you when I do the live shows.

Links:
http://www.hermanrarebell.com/