Michael Schenker: “My Years With UFO is ultimately a celebration of the songs I wrote – I could have even titled it My Songs and My Years With UFO.”

Legendary guitar virtuoso Michael Schenker is an iconic figure in rock, rising to fame in the 1970s with the Scorpions and later as a key member of UFO. Celebrating his UFO days and songs, Schenker honors this period with his new album, “My Years with UFO”, featuring 11 classic tracks—including ‘Doctor Doctor,’ ‘Lights Out‘ and ‘Rock Bottom‘—reimagined with rock legends like Axl Rose, Slash, Joe Lynn Turner, and Dee Snider. The album also signals the start of a new trilogy: the second part, titled “Don’t Sell Your Soul,” recorded under the MSG (Michael Schenker Group) banner, was announced at Wacken Open Air in July 2025 and is scheduled for release on October 3, 2025. But let Schenker himself share more about his recent projects and what’s next for him.

MY YEARS WITH UFO

First of all, you recently wrapped up your five-week European tour, concluding in Switzerland last week. How would you briefly summarize that tour?

Michael Schenker: It was fantastic and very enjoyable. That’s enough to say!  “Laughs”

It was a very special tour because you were playing only UFO songs from your 1970s era with the band.

Michael Schenker: No, no, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. It was Michael Schenker songs. That’s why I could have called the album “My Songs and My Years with UFO”. Many people are actually under the illusion that I’m just a tribute; they even call me a good tribute act. They don’t realize—they’re not knowledgeable enough to understand—that these are my songs. So that’s a bit of the situation. When people ask me, besides celebrating my 50-year career, I’m also celebrating my time with UFO—that’s what it really is. The connected part is about informing or re-educating people, even fifty years later, about what actually happened back then. Because when I was born, if I go back fifty years from that point, that was a time I have no memory of.

So, My Years With UFO is your first full tour, playing exclusively your UFO songs from that period. Did revisiting that era carry any special emotional meaning for you?

Michael Schenker: Well, it’s the 50th anniversary of my years of developing, which happened in UFO, and a little bit in the Scorpions, but that was only for one album. But with UFO, it was really the beginning of my professional development in guitar playing, songwriting, etc. So, every year was special. Every year was a development. Every year was something new. I mean, all the way up through ’78, when we did “Strangers in the Night”. That was an incredible live album featuring the songs I wrote for UFO. And they meant the most, because it was from 1972 up to ’78, and nothing much happened with the band afterwards, and nothing much happened before. This is what my entire situation is about. It is not so much about celebrating my joining UFO—of course, that is also part of it—but more about celebrating the songs that I wrote for UFO in those years.

Over the years, you’ve often said you look forward, not back. After this tour, does that mean you’ll let the UFO songs rest and move on, even though they’ve always been a big part of your show?

Michael Schenker: Well, first of all, I played those songs first when I was actually creating them. Then I left UFO and briefly joined the Scorpions to conduct myself, but soon I continued with pure self-expression. I understood that I don’t need anybody else around me. I just want to express myself, for no other reason than that I think it’s what I really enjoy doing. So, after many years have gone by, and with a lot of self-expression, you know, there was always this temptation to maybe go in the wrong direction — like getting blinded by money, by fame, by things like that. But I did not. Which means, basically, I stayed very, very strongly rooted in what my vision is. And so I stuck with it, and I am up to this day. Now, we have reached the time for celebration. And when you have celebration time—yes, then all the work is done, and now you can look back.

Do you plan to keep playing these UFO songs on upcoming tours, or will they be on hiatus after this tour?

Michael Schenker: I never played them in the first place, so how can it be enough? ‘Laughs.‘ The main thing is that I’m 70 years old. Maybe I have another ten years to do things. So, what do you think? Am I going to neglect? Those were my developing years that gave me my signature in rock music and influenced generations of guitar players. I did the work and the vision—I did—and I followed through at this point in time, because I never overexposed anything. The only thing that gets overexposed is commercial art supported by money. That’s the only thing that gets overproduced.

What I have done in my life never gets overexposed. Phil Mogg is still overexposed with his band, but that’s fake. That is just his vocals; the music was written by me, not by the people he was singing to. In other words, another misconception is that people somehow have this funny trend of making the lyrics more important than the songs themselves — the very music that inspired the singer to come up with the melody and the vocals in the first place. I am not a singer. I am not a lyric writer. I am the person who is the motor and who gives the beginning of the inspiration, which means there is nothing. If you stick together a guitarist and a singer, there is nothing. There is nothing until the guitarist starts playing. Then the singer starts singing. The singer is waiting for an easy contribution because he is already inspired. The guitarist has to start the motor with nothing. So, here’s something to think about. That’s why I’m so particular about my songs with UFO. It’s the music that I have written. You can have Phil Mogg carry on playing that energy for the next 50 years and destroy it, because there is nothing other than his vocals, which were already inspired by the music I wrote. He is not the original; he is just an inspired person. I was the original person who inspired him. That’s how I see things.

I saw two shows on this tour—Time to Rock Festival and Helsinki—and both were fantastic. The band played tightly and captured the spirit of the UFO songs. Did you consider including any ’90s UFO tracks, like the songs from Walk on Water?

Michael Schenker: No, because this tour is about my developing years—from ’72 to ’78.

ERIK GRÖNWALL AND FINDING NEW TALENTS

One highlight of this tour was, of course, Eric Grönwall’s vocals. Over the years, you’ve consistently found talented new singers for your band, and Eric is an excellent example of that. How did your collaboration with him start?

Michael Schenker: I was basically looking for singers for “My Years With UFO”, and Michael Voss played me a song by Eric— I think it was “18 and Life” or something. It was a good rock song, and he sang it so beautifully. I said to Michael Voss, ‘Let’s put him on the “My Years With UFO” album.’ And he ended up singing “Mother Mary” with a heavy guitar backing.

I spoke with Erik in Helsinki, and he mentioned that after this European tour, he will only perform the two shows in Japan before leaving the band—at least for now. Since he’s also singing several songs on the upcoming Don’t Tell Your Soul, can we expect more collaboration in the future?

Michael Schenker: How do you know that? Laughs, I mean, unless you make a ten-year plan, I don’t have a ten-year plan. I only have what I have today. Eric reminded me, ‘Oh, Michael, this is the last show today. See you in Japan.’ I said, ‘Oh, yeah, okay, Eric, I’ll see you in Japan.’ It’s like this—I don’t even know. If you try to remember and know all the things that may be coming up… I mean, the main thing is here and now, you know.

Like I said, you really have a talent for finding great personalities, musicians, and vocalists for your band. You always seem to achieve great success with them.

Michael Schenker: Yeah, I’m wondering if I’m finding them or if they’re finding me. I’m not quite sure yet! ‘Laughs’

As you said earlier, since you are the guitarist, the vocalists follow your inspirations.

Michael Schenker: Okay. ‘Laughs’

DON’T SELL YOUR SOUL

Let’s talk about “Don’t Tell Your Soul”. I heard that during some interviews last year, you mentioned releasing three albums over the course of three years. “My Years With UFO” was the first one, released last year, but “Don’t Sell Your Soul” seemed to come out of nowhere. I only found out about it when you announced it at Wacken, so it was a really well-kept secret.

Michael Schenker: Yeah, it’s a great album. Basically, I made three albums—I signed a three-album deal with earMUSIC. I’ve never done that before, and I will never do it again. But it was done for a reason: to make a statement. The problem was that everyone who clicks on Michael Schenker seems to think I was born musically in the ’80s. They never get any information about UFO or Scorpions, because they only see Michael Schenker from 1980 forward. But I was musically born in the ’70s. So, when the 50th anniversary came up, I wanted to break out of all of that in the best possible way—to re-educate people. That’s why I’m so particular about the UFO songs. It’s not just about celebrating UFO—it’s about celebrating my songs with UFO and my time joining the band.

But I also have a second life: I was born musically in the ’70s, and I have a second life being born in the ’80s as Michael Schenker. And then there’s everything else I’ve done: dozens of albums—acoustic, electric, instrumentals—you name it. With these three albums, I wanted to showcase fifty years of my music and let people know who I really am. The three albums are: “My Years With UFO”, “Don’t Tell Your Soul”, and “Freedom of Expression”. The first covers the UFO style—my developing years. The second is about the energy of the Michael Schenker Group during the ’80s. And the third features acoustic and electric instrumentals under my own name, Michael Schenker.

“Freedom of Expression” was initially supposed to be an instrumental album. But when Michael Voss kept singing so beautifully that I said, ‘Michael, this is just too good to release as an instrumental album.’ He sang naturally; his voice was soothing and fantastic. We tuned the guitars to 432 Hz, the same tuning used on Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon”, which is said to be the vibration of the universe, rather than 440 Hz. Herman Rarebell played the drums, his wife played saxophone—so many special little elements came together. At the end of the day, I thought, ‘Wow, what a special album.’ It has become one of my favorite albums.

Speaking of “Don’t Tell Your Soul”, I have to say that after a few listens, it’s a really great Michael Schenker album. And as you said, you wanted to capture the feeling of the ’80s. I think you did that really well—the songs are bright, upbeat, and catchy. They remind me a lot of the McAuley-Schenker era albums. Do you feel the same way?

Michael Schenker: Yeah, but I didn’t want to create the ’80s because Michael Schenker is timeless. There is no ’80s, no ’90s—just everything that my body experiences on this planet. It’s not about the ’70s, ’80s, or ’90s. It’s whatever I’m living through while I’m on this planet because I self-express. I don’t follow trends. So, the ’80s? I’d say, okay, this is what I did in the ’80s, but it has very little to do with what others were doing at the time.

Right, right. But it has that ’80s vibe positively, I have to say.

Michael Schenker: Maybe, yeah.

I’m curious about the cover art for Don’t Tell Your Soul. The music is upbeat and catchy, but the cover looks quite dark. Can you share the idea or concept behind it?

Michael Schenker: The cover is like a warning. It’s not dark—it’s a warning sign. It’s very, very… what do you call it… almost therapeutic. It’s meant to help people wake up to something better. If you like doing something that gives you joy, please do it. Don’t give it up for money or go in a different direction to do something you don’t enjoy, or you’ll find yourself trapped in misery. That’s what this album cover represents.

TOURING PLANS

After the US tour, you have two shows with Erik Grönwall in Japan, and then the second part of the European tour begins in February. Do you have any more details about that tour yet?

Michael Schenker: Yeah, I’m looking forward to that. It’s going to be with Lia on vocals.

Okay. So, is that tour still going to be the UFO years or something else?

Michael Schenker: No, it’s just an extension for “My Years With UFO” tour because we didn’t play all the markets yet. So, my agent, because it was so successful, asked me if I would be willing to do an extended extra tour of markets that we haven’t played yet. And I said yes. And it’s going to be with Lia, and that is our, what we’re going to call it, “My Years With UFO Part 2” -tour, I guess, but it’s really not exactly, it’s more like additional shows than what we did before. So, it’s not a repeat, but we are playing markets we haven’t played before.

At Wacken, you performed the title track of “Don’t Sell Your Soul”. Do you plan to include more new songs in the set list for upcoming tours?

Michael Schenker: No, a new thing I thought was enough, but maybe we’re going to add the next MSG thing as well, as what we call it, like we do right now. Perhaps we’ll do something similar to the next thing that comes out, as it’s scheduled for release in April. By that time, the album will have already been released. So, you can never really plan things ahead perfectly. You just have to wait and see how things develop.

THINGS IN LIFE

Time for the final question: you turned 70 in January and also married your long-time girlfriend—congratulations on both milestones! But having been in industry for so long, have you ever thought there might be more to life than just touring and releasing new albums, how much do you think about the future?

Michael Schenker: No, I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. There could be a nuclear attack, and we’d all be gone. I have no clue. I’m just sitting here today, and that’s all I can deal with. ‘Laughs’

Yeah, that’s the best answer—because you never know

Michael Schenker: No, you never know.

Hey, I believe we’ve gone over everything, Michael. Wishing you all the best, and I look forward to meeting you again in Finland in the spring.

Michael Schenker: Okay. Keep on rocking!

Take care.

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