On Tuesday (July 25),SCORPIONS members Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker and Matthias Jabs have been awarded acquired the Nice Decrease Saxony Cross Of Benefit from the prime minister of Decrease Saxony, Stephan Weil, in Hannover, Germany.

SCORPIONS shared a photograph from the occasion and wrote in an accompanying message: “It was a improbable celebration, and we wish to thank Prime Minister Stephan Weil and the State of Decrease Saxony for the presentation of this excellent Honour.”

Weil known as SCORPIONS “excellent personalities” and “world stars” and paid tribute to the band’s music “Wind Of Change”, which had a few of its lyrics revised by Meine throughout reside performances in spring 2022 from “I comply with the Moskva all the way down to Gorky Park / Listening for the wind to alter” to “Now take heed to my coronary heart / It says Ukrainia / Ready for the wind to alter.”

Final yr, Klaus stated that he modified the lyrics of “Wind Of Change” as a result of he now not needed to “romanticize Russia” along with his chart-topping perestroika energy ballad, after Putin‘s conflict of aggression in Ukraine.

Extra photographs from yesterday’s ceremony will be discovered at Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung.

In a current interview with the French SCORPIONS fan membership Crazyscorps, Klaus spoke in regards to the lyrical inspiration for the SCORPIONS music “When Tomorrow Comes” wherein he seems to be “indignant about mankind.” Requested if feels that humanity is getting ready to extinction, the 75-year-old musician stated: “If you see what is going on on on this planet, with local weather change, with all these conflicts — from the Center East to the Ukraine and Russia — and if you see what is going on on, you get indignant.

“With the top of the Chilly Conflict, the world appeared to be vast open; a window was open for a peaceable future,” he continued. “And now we it is the other. And we’re all strolling form of on the sting. And this [song] is simply expressing the worry.

“I am all the time very optimistic. And I do not assume that is the top of the world. However it’s irritating to see mankind is doing the identical errors many times.”

Meine additionally addressed the truth that he has all the time promoted peace along with his messages within the SCORPIONS lyrics. Requested how he feels in regards to the state of the world proper now, Klaus stated: “Effectively, we reside from each day, and each different day we see the horrible information on TV, each different night time what is going on on in Ukraine. And we do not know the place we go from right here.

“I believe in spite of everything the 2 and a half years — no matter it was — of the pandemic, the place the entire world was shut down, that was a really darkish state of affairs and it was horrifying,” he continued. “We had no thought what’s subsequent. The virus is mutating, and what comes subsequent? So many individuals have been dying. After which the query, vaccination or no vaccination? What’s the proper vaccination? For those who get sick, what’s the easiest way to outlive? And can we ever return on the highway once more, play concert events once more? Will that ever be doable? No person knew. So we have been very fortunate that we might use these horrible instances and go within the studio and create one thing new. We have been very fortunate, actually, as a result of it was additionally like being not solely within the studio however in a survival camp. We have been dwelling in our personal bubble, and the world outdoors was very darkish. Now in ’23, it appears to be, for many of it, it is over with the pandemic. Not less than it is extra below management. I imply, to say it is throughout is possibly additionally somewhat too optimistic — I do not know — however I prefer to assume it is over, or at the very least it is below management. And possibly we have now to reside with this virus, like with so many different — if you get sick from a flu each different yr, we have now to reside with this virus possibly. However we all know the best way to take care of it now, and the medical division is aware of what to do and the best way to take care of it.”

SCORPIONS‘s newest album, “Rock Believer”, was launched in February 2022. The LP was recorded primarily at Peppermint Park Studios in Hannover, Germany and was blended on the legendary Hansa Studios in Berlin, Germany with engineer Michael Ilbert, who has earned a number of Grammy nominations for his combine work with producer Max Martin on albums by Taylor Swift and Katy Perry.

SCORPIONS initially supposed to report the brand new album in Los Angeles with producer Greg Fidelman, whose earlier credit embrace SLIPKNOT and METALLICA. Nonetheless, due to the pandemic, a few of the preliminary work was executed with Greg remotely, after which SCORPIONS opted to helm the recordings themselves with the assistance of their engineer Hans-Martin Buff.