Following that tour, Michael put together a new MSG album called The Unforgiven and will begin touring shortly for it (starting right here in Seattle!).  Obviously not one to rest, he did have a few minutes to answer my questions.  Despite my nervousness in talking to such a legendary musician, Michael was very accomodating…

I haven’t had a chance to check out the new album yet.  Could you give us an idea of how it compares to previous MSG albums?
Well, there are different musicians on it, but other than that….  Different musicians, different circumstances, different year, different producer – that’s usually what makes a difference on my music.

Who did you work with on this one?
Mike Varney [was the producer].  I worked with Ron Nevison on the last three recordings, and I wanted a break.  I heard the Mogg/Way production, which I quite liked, and Mike Varney had approached me a few times in the past.  When I was ready to do a new Michael Schenker Group album, I checked to see if he was available, and he suggested the new singer to me, Kelly Keeling.  He sent me a tape, I listened to it, and the vocals were great, especially on a couple of songs.  I told him to make sure that he’s going to sing at that level and that there is not too much screaming – more singing than screaming.  He also suggested a bass player, John Onder, and the other two guys were still with me from the last recording.  And together, we recorded The Unforgiven.

When was the last album released?
The one before was The Michael Schenker Story Live, the 25th anniversary of recording.  That was in 1997 and before that was Written In The Sand in ’96, which was a studio album.

Did Written In The Sand ever get released in the States?
What happened is I have Michael Schenker Records, my own company, and I have released most of the previous things, from about ’92 onwards, through my own company.  Eventually, I may get it out to the stores. The Unforgiven, I wanted that to be available to record stores, so all the other stuff since ’92, it’s a mixture of ways of getting it:  through mail-order, at my concerts, and on the web (check out http://www.michaelschenker.com/ ).  Once in a while, I will do it the old way, but in general I’m quite happy selling it through my own company – it’s a lot of fun to do it that way.

How do you feel you’ve changed and progressed as a guitarist over the years?
I’m not very good at analyzing myself, because I don’t really keep any track of what happens to me.  I just kind of express everything I do based on how I feel and what I think is right.  But I do practice every day, so I guess maybe I have become smoother, maybe more control, better vibrato.  But those things change so slowly, you know, like you don’t see hair grow unless you take a picture and a year later you see the difference.  You can maintain the form and get better, but not necessarily so people notice.

Do you find it harder or easier to write songs now?
I always write my songs the same way and have never really had any problems with the way I do it.  I practice every day and when something kind of sticks out, while I am improvising and practicing, that is something interesting and useful for a new record, then I put this on a cassette recorder.  Usually they are just five or ten seconds long.  When it is time to make a record, I listen to what I have accumulated and, if something inspires me when I listen back to it, I will get inspired to write something additional to it and develop the first part of the song, the musical part, then I give it to the singer.  He adds his melodies and lyrics to it and that’s when the song is basically done.  I have actually been writing like this for many years.  So, because I am a consistent person when it comes down to music, I always have something available.

You’ve always had a very distinctive guitar sound and I was curious if you have changed your set-up much over the years?
No, it’s still a 51 Marshall and a Gibson Flying-V, but technology changes.  You will find an amplifier and then it breaks and you have to find a new one, kind of starting all over again until you find one that you like.  Just because you’ve played a Marshall doesn’t mean you’ve played them all, they all sound a little different.

The last album of yours that I have actually heard is Walk On Water.  Were you happy with how that one turned out?
Yeah, it was a great record, it was perfect.  After Strangers In The Night, it fitted right in there.

The opening night of last year’s short-lived UFO re-union tour got cut short for some reason.  What exactly happened that night in Palo Alto?
The sound on stage was so bad, it wouldn’t have done anybody any good to continue.  I was confident that Palo Alto would be a great show, based on the shows on ’95, and I didn’t ask many questions.  But, when we were playing, I was absolutely shocked by the sound on the stage.  It was so bad, I didn’t know what I was playing to, things were bouncing back from the wall – it was just total chaos.  When we broke up the show and I checked out what happened, I found out that the whole monitor system was different, and they did so many stupid different things there, and I said, ‘If you want us to do this proper, then I expect you to do this proper.’  They kind of apologized and put it together the way it was supposed to be and everything was fine.

Where exactly are you located these days?
Phoenix, Arizona.  When I started my company in ’92, I decided there were too many earthquakes and mudslides and riots, all the bad stuff going on in Los Angeles, and I wanted to get away from all that.  I looked on the map at what the closest place was to Los Angeles, in case I needed to be there for any reason, but still far enough away from all the stuff going on.  So Phoenix looked like the place and I had no idea what was going on here, so I just went and it was a very important thing as I found out later on.  It’s very peaceful here, you can just develop without people interfering.  If you have a vision or an idea, you do just fine here.  It was just a great place to develop from scratch again, set up all my things and be creative.  At this point, I’m working on building a recording studio here, first class, where I will in the future do all my recording, which is the next step to be even more independent so I can stick with the music I want to play, rather than being distracted by the scene.

Can you tell me a bit about your upcoming tour?
Yeah, we start on the 29th of April in Seattle [at the Ballard Firehouse].  It’s a US tour and then somewhere around July or August, we carry on in Europe.

What kinds of music do you listen to in your spare time?
I don’t really focus on music.  My wife listens to pop music or whatever you want to call it, but when music is on it’s just on in the distance.  I try to stay away at least from the music I play, rock music, as much as I can so that when I do write or perform or go to the studio, when I play my own music to keep it fresh and exciting for myself, to keep the fun aspect up.  It’s a bit like, if you eat too much chocolate, after a while it becomes a bit boring.

Is there anything musically that you’ve always wanted to do but haven’t had a chance to do yet?
I want to have my own studio and then I can do anything that comes up.  Who knows how crazy or how just straightforward it carries on, I have no idea.  I haven’t been in that situation, so we’ll have to wait and see.

The first concert I attended was MSG opening for Ted Nugent back on the Built To Destroy tour.  Looking back, what are your recollections of that tour?
The Built To Destroy tour was when my second wife was pregnant, and I remember that was also the tour when MSG broke up, the Michael Schenker Group with Gary Barden.  Gary got out of control towards the end, but there were a few good concerts.  I remember one concert, I had a similar problem with the sound, I had no control and was very frustrated – I think it was in Albuquerque or Tucson, somewhere around here – and I smashed up my guitar and we had to cancel the show.  I had a great concert in San Francisco.  I remember we played two nights, one night was really good and the next night, my equipment all broke down.  I think we also played in Chicago where we did the last show [at the venue] because the place fell apart when we played.  It was overcrowded and it was an old building.  Where did you see us?

In Portland.  I’ll definitely have to check out your upcoming show in Seattle?
Yeah, I think we play in Seattle and then we come down through Portland, do the whole West Coast and then come out towards the Chicago area.

What kind of set-list do you play these days?
I haven’t really focused on the set-list yet.  The last live thing we did was like two hours and fifty minutes long – I’m not going to do that again.  That was for the 25th anniversary recording, so it was an exceptional thing.  This tour is going to be for The Unforgiven, so we’ll play a few off that, but it will basically be a short version of the Michael Schenker Story Live, which includes Scorpions, UFO, MSG.

MSG will be performing April 29th, 30th and May 1st at the Ballard Firehouse and you are well-advised to check out at least one evening.