20 years ago it was very different. Everything really changed when I opened my company. Before then, I was just a musician and I was basically being ripped off. People would tell me stories and I believed them. The stories ended up being untrue.
Because it is so commercialized and based on being trendy and fashionable, people don't express themselves; they go with the flow. We end up with stereotyped people.
Clever people know they can manipulate stereotyped people. 80% of humans are stereotyped, so the clever people can do a lot of manipulation and there is a lot of money to be made.
Depression is something that makes you lose your sight.
Even when I was very depressed, I could hold on to something. It seems that I have always had that streak of gold that I could hold on to.
I am going to record, and release through my website, the 25 years of MSG. It is going to be a concept album. It will go from a story that connects one piece to another.
I believe that every person has uniqueness - something that nobody else has.
I can't believe how many people came back to me with their own stories of separation and how it affected them. I ended up having a therapeutic relationship with my fans.
I check my email everyday to see what the responses to the web are and what orders I have coming in. I see these responses about the music I am making and I think that is fascinating.
I did Thank You 4 and it is only sold on my website.
I did Thank You 4 and it is only sold on my website. You can only buy one copy per person unless you buy one as a gift for someone else.
I didn't get anything. I ended up with a bicycle, a few shirts and a few trousers; that was it. It was basically the lowest I had ever gone. I have now reinvented myself.
I do enjoy the creative part of writing songs from scratch. I always keep little bits and pieces from when I practice and when it is time to make a record, I get inspired by those little pieces and I create another piece to it.
I have always known that it comes from deep within myself. I always knew what sound I wanted, and how I wanted to play. I knew everything, it just had to be developed.
I have had so many lineups it is unbelievable.
I have made stage adjustments which allow me to hear myself better onstage so that has made playing live much more enjoyable.
I have my daily priories. My main priority is to practice; my second priority is to process orders. After that, I just see what is left to do. I have a very organized day.
I have my own office here and I am doing everything myself. I have tried using other people but it gets messy and you fight.
I have realized that I will never be able to die until I learn to live in the gray area. I believe, intuitively, that it will take all my life to master the balance. I feel that if I have learned all about the gray area, then I will have a great spectrum of knowledge and experience.
I have realized that my life has been very extreme: up and down. I had a very extreme life, which gave me a lot of insight and knowledge.
I like touring with the band I have now. It is my favorite lineup I have ever played with. They play with their hearts.
I love to be creative.
I need to hear what I am doing in order to create the next note. If I don't hear it then I can't feed myself.
I play with feeling so I need to hear what is coming out of the amplifier to inspire me; I don't just play mechanically. I need to hear what I am doing in order to create the next note. If I don't hear it then I can't feed myself.
I practiced for at least two hours every day for twenty years, before then I practiced maybe four to five hours a day, and before then 14 hours a day. It was all I had ever done.
I prefer playing in the studio because you have much more control over things.
I think by moving me out of the Scorpions - my brother is more like a group person and I am more of an individual person. His dream was always to be in one of the biggest bands in the world and my dream was to be one of the best guitarists in the world.
I told them that I was going to go out and tour and make records, and that they would somehow have to find a way to financially support it. Weird things began to happen. People started to take my equipment out of the studio and they began selling it.
I used to have secretaries working for me on the computer but now I am doing it all myself. I am feeling the love and the joy that comes from the hardcore fans. Knowing that puts me in a different position onstage.
I view life as a learning experience. It is not so much all about music; it is about what happens when you are doing the music.
I wanted to build my studio in Hawaii because it was between the USA and Japan. It proved to be too expensive to ship everything over to Hawaii and do it there.
I wanted to just make records with Mike Varney and forget about having my own studio. It was eating me up financially, physically and emotionally.
I was working music around the clock to keep coming up with money to build the studio. We had a house in Mexico and I told Linda that I thought it would be best to go to Mexico.
I wish I could just go and play lead breaks on people's albums. To be honest, it does not even matter what kind of music it is.
If everyone would look for that uniqueness then we would have a very colorful world.
If you are a musician and you don't show any interest on the business level then you are actually vulnerable and people will rip you off. They will sweet talk you into anything.
If you are a stereotyped person then you go into an office and do your job. You get treated like a stereotype and it is easy for them because stereotypes are all more or less the same.
If you are by yourself then you are a target, and people will come to you from all sides. They will sweet talk you to basically set you up.
If you are in a band like my brother, Rudolf, who is in the Scorpions, then you have a kind of umbrella and you cover each other. You have five people to discuss things with and you are all in the same boat, and therefore make much wiser choices.
If you come from a different country and you are not a stereotype, then you have it extra hard. People do not want to deal with you because you are not an easy thing to deal with. You are out of the ordinary and you run into a lot of problems.
If you copy then it is not self-expression.
If you don't get on the field and play then you will be missing out.
In general, creativity is what I am all about. I have to be creative.
In order to get somewhere in life, you need to have a vision. The vision brings you to the table. Without a vision, you just do what everybody else does and you are just there.
In the past, I have not been able to hear myself. I play with feeling so I need to hear what is coming out of the amplifier to inspire me; I don't just play mechanically.
It would be a dream come true if I could just go from studio to studio and play solos.
Phil has always been a fighter. He was getting in fights all the time. I told him that if he ever hit me then I would leave the band. He wanted to find out if I was telling him the truth. He hit me so I left and that is how UFO split up.
Some other guitarists are much more technical and they don't need to hear themselves because they're playing the same runs over and over.
Sometimes I would like to be more creative but you have to deal with evil things that put me out of balance.
The music is a personal expression, like art.
The music is a personal expression, like art. It is something that you like doing that comes from within, and is an expression that comes from God. That is why artists are beautiful and why people who copy are not really artistic.
The other thing that has made playing live for me more enjoyable is the audience. I never knew I had such heartfelt, loving fans.
To be honest, when I had my separation from my wife I was depressed for six months and I did not practice for a whole year. I had practiced my whole life until then. That was like a year ago and I started practicing again.
What I have learned is that if you have a lot of middlemen then there is a whole lot of money collection going on.
When I didn't practice for one year then I played different, and I was more loose.
When I didn't practice for one year then I played different, and I was more loose. I needed the whole year for cleansing.
When I play, I still have my flavor.
When you are live you never know what is going to happen.
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