During a January 23 appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation", SCORPIONS singer Klaus Meine spoke about the band's plans for a new studio album. The upcoming disc will mark the German hard rock legends' first release since 2017's "Born To Touch Your Feelings - Best Of Rock Ballads", which was an anthology of SCORPIONS' new and classic material. Asked how much of the next SCORPIONS LP has already been written, Klaus said: "Actually, we started last year. Rudolf [Schenker] and me — also Matthias [Jabs, guitar] — we wrote a couple of songs. It was just, like, 'Should we make another album?' And then, 'Yeah, let's give it a try.' And we had such a great creative flow. But then, in June last year, we had to stop, because we played all over Europe, and, later last year, in South America, in Russia, all those places. And it felt so good. And now we pick it up again when we come back from this trip in Australia, Southeast Asia, when we come back, we go right into pre-production and pick it up where we left it last year in June. But last year, we wrote about 10 new songs or something, and, of course, there's much more in the tank. And we're just right now on it and at it. Rudolf is in Thailand over the winter at times, and I hope he comes back with some killer riffs. Because working with [producer] Greg Fidelman, of course, all the hard and heavy fans know him from his work with METALLICA and SLIPKNOT. We try to focus on the harder edge of the band and try to find the SCORPIONS DNA from the good old days, like 'Blackout' and all those records. I don't know if it works out that way, but this is what we try to do, and really try to focus on the harder edge of the band." Meine also addressed the possibility of SCORPIONS performing some of the band's classic albums like "Lovedrive", "Blackout" and "Love At First Sting" on tour to celebrate their respective 40th anniversaries. He said: "That's a tough call, to go out there and perform 'Blackout' or 'Love At First Sting' or 'Lovedrive' in their entirety, play the entire album. I don't know. It's a tough call. All those years, it takes some toll, especially on the singer, and if you wanna do it, you wanna really do it great. I like the idea, and for the fans, of course, it's something special. I hope we come up with a great new album with lots of new songs so we can refresh our setlist. I know we're on the road for quite a while with the 'Crazy World' tour, so it's about time to write some new stuff. And I think we're much more focused and more excited about playing new songs than celebrating too much of those iconic albums, I guess. But, of course, it's amazing." SCORPIONS will enter a studio in Hannover, Germany in late March to begin pre-production on the new album. The LP will be recorded in Los Angeles in May and June, before the band takes over the Las Vegas Strip later in July with its exclusive headlining residency show. SCORPIONS' last full-length collection of new recordings was 2015's "Return To Forever", partially comprising songs the band had in the vault from the '80s. It was the final recorded appearance of SCORPIONS' longtime drummer James Kottak, who was dismissed from the band in September 2016. He has since been replaced by Mikkey Dee, formerly of MOTÖRHEAD. Promoted by Live Nation and Caesars Entertainment, SCORPIONS "Sin City Nights" Las Vegas residency kicks off Saturday, July 4 at Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. SCORPIONS will be joined by special guests QUEENSRŸCHE. SCORPIONS previously played a Las Vegas mini-residency in May 2016, consisting of five shows at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Support on those dates also came from QUEENSRŸCHE.
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