Uli Jon Roth looked back on his Scorpions career in a recent chat with the Mike Nelson Show. He joined the band in 1973 to replace Michael Schenker as the guitarist and soon began rehearsing with Rudolf Schenker.
Rudolf had some ideas about the band’s new sound, but Roth wasn’t on board:
“And then I said, ‘We need a singer.’ He said, ‘No, Klaus [Meine] doesn’t want to sing anymore. Why don’t you and I? Maybe we should be the singers.’ And I thought, ‘You’re completely out to lunch. Both of us can’t sing. We both suck, you can’t do this. Please call Klaus Meine.’ Who had a million-dollar voice, even then.”
He recalled:
“After a couple of rehearsals, I got through to Rudolf and he did call Klaus. Klaus came, he liked what he heard, and then we had the new Scorpions. And the rest is history.”
The Guitarist’s Exit From The Lineup
Uli Jon Roth left Scorpions in 1978 due to artistic differences. He shared in a previous interview with Vintage Rock Pod that the Electric Sun stuff would not happen if he stayed with the band.
The guitarist explained whether he had any regrets about exiting Scorpions by saying:
“No. I would’ve gone mad had I stayed, because I had so many other things to say, and they needed saying. It was an easy decision and it had to come and I had to make it. It was just a natural progression.”
He and his former bandmates didn’t lose contact, though:
“We’re very much on friendly terms. Nothing has ever changed in that, even though we were a great unit when I was in the band. And to this day there’s a family feeling whenever we meet. And I guess that will never change.”
Roth also noted that a reunion was unlikely in the near future since Scorpions had their own plans. The group will kick off a set of Las Vegas dates on April 14.