MICHAEL SCHENKER (OKEJ MAGAZINE #22, 1983)

OKEJ was more or less the only music magazine in Sweden during the 1980’s and almost 90% of Swedish youth read it and then talked about in school. Are you interested in the OKEJ magazine phenomena, read more here!

MICHAEL SCHENKER

Hard rock for guitar maniacs!

Michael Schenker should have all the conditions to reach the top. He has experience and knowledge, he is a god-given guitarist and he is admired by a whole army of devoted fans. So what's wrong? The answer is that Michael is an eccentric little man who has difficulty keeping up with his colleagues!

Ask Graham Bonnet, Paul Raymond or any of the other musicians Michael left behind.

Or ask the people at his record label, who are far from always in control of who happens to be playing in the group at any given time. They all know that Michael's mood is erratic and changeable, they all know that he can think of firing the whole band or leaving the studio himself with murder in his eyes and slamming doors. A stressed man with a fierce temper, that is.

PRESSURIZED PROGRAM

It's all because he was put under too much pressure when he was young, it's whispered behind his back. It wasn't good for him.

And Michael's schedule and career were certainly pressing. After three years with the Scorpions in his native West Germany, Schenker joined UFO in 1974 and then alternated concert-packed tours with studio work for more than four years - this period culminated in 1978 with the album "Strangers In The Night - A Double Live Album" and Schenker said goodbye to UFO, the band in which he had been unhappy from the start. He appeared on the Scorpions' "Lovedrive", toured with them in England, began a solo career and disappeared. All that remained was his broken Gibson Flying V guitar. Michael Schenker was gone.

NEW TOURING GROUP

In the fall of 1980 he returned. Roger Glover produced the album "The Michael Schenker Group" and helped put together a new touring band, consisting of Schenker himself on guitar, singer Gary Barden, Paul Raymond of UFO on backing guitar and keyboards, Chris Glen of the Alex Harvey Band on bass and notorious racing fanatic Cozy Powell on drums. The group toured three continents and in the summer of 1981 the album "MSG" was recorded with Ron Nevison as producer. After a triumphant European tour, however, the dream of the "perfect" hard rock band was shattered - Paul and Gary had enough of Michael's domineering and dropped out. Convinced that this meant thanks and farewell for the entire group, the company rushed to release the live album "One Night At Budokan", recorded at the famous arena in Japan. It turned out to be Michael's biggest success to date and MSG took a new tack.

TED MCKENNA

Graham Bonnet became the new singer, but the peace did not last long, only a short time later Cozy Powell left the group to fully concentrate on his racing cars.

Michael quickly had to find a drummer, and when the album "Assault Attack" was recorded in the summer of 1982 at Le Chateau in France and at Musicland Studios in Munich, his band consisted of Chris, Graham and the replacement Ted McKenna - as well as Glen from the Alex Harvey Band on drums. Ted had previously also played with another very good and very headstrong guitarist, the slide king Rory Gallagher.

Great, the fans thought. Finally he has found a band that suits him. The album sold and a big tour of England was planned to take place in November. But Michael did not deny himself, during a rehearsal for the Reading festival in August he got into a fight with Bonnet, who packed up and left and was replaced at the eleventh hour by old Gary Barden.

ALBUM IN TWO VERSIONS

Michael's current group consists of Andy Nye on keyboards, Chris Glen on bass, Ted McKenna on drums and Gary on vocals. This is said with a certain reservation - Mr. Schenker may very well have had time to change before this goes to print. In any case, it is this edition of MSG that recorded the new "Built To Destroy", the much-talked about Luis Austin-produced album that almost never came out on the market. About a week after the Swedish record company announced the album, Michael regretted it and took back the master tape to change, think and adjust. Those of you who have come across "Built To Destroy" as an import LP should know that it differs somewhat from the Swedish edition. A precious treasure with time, perhaps.

The album was recorded at Ridge Farm studio and this time the eminent guitarist has managed to keep the band together for over a year, which he should receive a diploma for. Derek St Holmes sings on one song, but otherwise it is Gary who holds the mic and Michael who lets his fingers race across the fretboard, a game that may become very tiring if you listen to the album for a long time. There are no shortage of goodies, however: "I'm Gonna

Make You Mine" is nice, as is the other side's "Red Sky", the Yes-influenced Nye/Bar-den composition "Time Waits (For No One)" and the closing "Walk The Stage".

Hard rock for guitar freaks - if Michael could only control his temper, he would have the opportunity to become as big as he wants!

Photo: Ilpo Musto