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Scorpions legend Herman Rarebell, drummer - and surprisingly one of the chief lyricists - on all the big Scorpions albums, has kicked retirement in the teeth, returning with a little something called Drum Legends. Drum Legends grew out of a hit show Peter York from Spencer Davis Group had chaired, called Super Drumming. Pete is Herman’s co-conspirator, and together, the plan is to link arms with a third guest drummer and put on shows all over Europe – and hopefully America.
“Pete would invite to the show all the famous drummers,” says Herman on Super Drumming, picking up the tale. “So it's the same thing we would like to do with Drum Legends. We would like to release a series of DVDs, where we invite and have different shows where we have a guest a drummer come along and play with us. So on the DVD you get Charly Antolini. He’s a very famous jazz drummer here in Europe (ed. praised by none other than Benny Goodman); he's like Buddy Rich over here. And we're thinking of making the next DVD with Ian Paice from Deep Purple. We spoke already with Ian, and he loves the idea. We also spoke with Carl Palmer from Emerson, Lake And Palmer. And as you can imagine, there are a lot of drummers who are still around who have time in-between their touring with their big bands. We're talking about all the old friends I have from the Scorpions days like Phil Rudd, or Nicko McBrain from Iron Maiden, Alex Van Halen, who could do a Drum Legends guest appearance in the show, which we would then film for DVD, as we did here. We have on our website now (www.drum-legends.com), three songs, and it gives you a rough idea what this is all about. And of course, when a drummer comes in, he could play his hit songs. As you can imagine, when Ian comes you can obviously play ‘Smoke On The Water’, but we’re going to make a drum version of it, together with guitar, make original stuff out of it, the same way I did with ‘Rock You Like A Hurricane’. And part of that you can see on the website. I would leave the song choices to Ian. But I think you have to choose the obvious songs people will demand. The same as when we play live, they're shouting ‘Hurricane’, as the most famous song Scorpions did, and probably the most famous song from Deep Purple is ‘Smoke On The Water’, without a doubt.”
‘Rock You Like A Hurricane’ is, in fact, virtually unrecognizable. Other songs are more plainly presented. But what a party, one that is introduced and explained by the guys while they cruise around in the sunshine on some big old sailboat, clearly enjoying their delayed retirement years. Obviously the guys are having a blast, as is their fill-out band, as this percussion army and friends play their heart out on a clear spring night in May of last year. Solos abound (the three together and individually), as do many real and varied songs. Humour and celebration is everywhere, with the band being introduced by a booming, “From the Olympian halls of percussion paradise, three gods descend tonight as we proudly present the Drum Legends!”
Continues Herman (Ze German – had to throw one of those in!), “With a name like Drum Legends, you have the obligation to put the drums up front, and that's what we look like onstage anyway; we have the three drum sets up front, and have the rest of the band around us or behind us, or on top of steps and so on. So in other words, we would like to feature all the star drum legends worldwide, and have them guest in future shows, which we’re going to do.”
“Of course my biggest hero is John Bonham,” remarks Rarebell in closing, asked where he got his booming, hard-hitting sound. “I think when it comes to rock drumming, that's an absolute master there. There are other masters like Ian Paice, and since Pete York has worked with Ian, I was very happy when he said yes to this concept. I also like the drummer from The Police; Stewart Copeland; I think he was a great drummer. Also Carl Palmer, Carmine Appice, Alex Van Halen, while one of my early influences was Ginger Baker… all those great songs he did with Cream.”
I know Scorpions toured with Pat Travers – what about Tommy Aldridge?
“Yes! Tommy's an old friend of mine. I've played many tours with him. I remember when he was with Pat Travers, amazing band, amazing guitar player - ‘Boom boom, out go the lights.’ It was a pleasure to see this every night on stage. And believe me, the same thing with AC/DC, Ted Nugent, Aerosmith. I really had a good time, I must say. I really met the best in those days (laughs).”
Head to the aforementioned website for a taste of this cool concept, and for those of you in the rock ‘n’ roll business, leave any suggestions you might have for getting the band a US and Canadian tour – the guys are eager to pound the daylights out of audiences this side of the pond.