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ritish rock legends UFO and the city
of Chicago have always had a great
relationship over the years. If you lis-
ten to the band’s 1979 double LP album
Strangers in the Night is considered one of
the greatest live albums of all time and the
last concert recording with German guitar
god Michael Schenker — you’ll hear vocal-
ist Phil Mogg give us a shout out while
performing the iconic track “Lights Out.”
With parts of the album recorded at the
late, great International Amphitheatre,
Schenker remembers that night well.
"Strangers in the Night is a significant
album because it captures the “best of”
basically, and it was a fantastic concert,”
Schenker said. “It was performed by a fan-
tastic band and produced by a fantastic
producer.”
Schenker returns to the city with his
new band, Michael Schenker Fest, support-
ing their new album Resurrection on March
17 at Concord Music Hall. “Chicago is a
fantastic city,” Schenker exclaimed. “Every
time I come to Chicago I have a great audi-
ence. I have a lot of hardcore fans in
Chicago, which is the most valuable fans
that one can have because they understand
what you’re doing.”
Resurrection (released March 2 via
Nuclear Blast) is the continuation of
Michael Schenker Fest from the 2016 tour
and the live album in Tokyo that reunited
former band members, Gary Barden,
Graham Bonnet, and Robin McAuley.
Since that collaboration worked out so
well, Schenker decided to record a full
album of original material with them,
adding his Temple of Rock vocalist Doogie
White. ”Michael Schenker Temple of Rock
took a break, and I was wondering what I
should be doing next,” Schenker admitted.
“So I thought that the most popular music
of Michael Schenker was with the original
singers. To bring everything into one spot
and capture all of my music that I had
written in the past and perform them with
the original singers as if you had one band.
It was something I needed and wanted to
do. Then we had our first show at Sweden
Rock, and it just developed. We had anoth-
er offer here, another offer there, then we
20 illinoisentertainer.com march 2018
By K
had an offer in Japan, and we decided to
film that. I was approached by a record
company, and they were excited to sign me
up for the Michael Schenker Fest in the stu-
dio, which then became Resurrection.”
The album is a collection of 12 tracks
that manages to capture that vintage
Michael Schenker Group sound, which can
mostly be attributed to the recruitment his
former singers. Opener “Heart and Soul”
is an excellent way to start the album,
which also features a guitar solo by
Metallica’s Kirk Hammett. “I wanted to
make an album that was fast, energetic and
dramatic,” Schenker said. “Heart and
Soul” was a kick in the face straight away,
and Robin did a great chorus to that, and of
course we had Kirk playing on it. We asked
him if he wanted to be our guest and he
was completely happy that he was asked.
He wanted to record his part in his studio,
so his management paid for (co-producer
Michael) Voss to fly over and record it
there.”
Due to the band member’s varied geo-
graphical locations — Barden lives in
Bangkok, McAuley and Bonnet live in
L.A., Steve Mann (guitars, keyboards) lives
in Hanover, Germany and Ted McKenna
(drums), Chris Glen (bass) and White live
in Scotland — they recorded Resurrection in
four different places over a five-month
period. Even with these distances, that vin-
tage MSG sound shines through with fly-
ing colors, due to the cohesiveness of these
voices. “Everything happens organically,”
Schenker stated. ”I don’t make plans like
that; everybody is just being themselves.
Everybody’s singing the way they sing
because that’s how they sing. I didn’t want
just four singers [singing] together, and
that’s it. That would have been too clinical.
It’s just natural how everybody sings
[together in this group]. It sounds like each
line is custom designed for each singer.”
Big plans abound for Herr Schenker in
2018 and well into 2019. At 63, Schenker is
still on top of his game, and Resurrection
proves it.
Appearing 3/17 at Concord Music Hall,
Chicago.