Scorpions mark 50 years with album and tour

The Scorpions will celebrate their 50th anniversary next year with the launch of their 20th album and an accompanying tour, they've confirmed.

They haven’t provided any details as yet – but guitarist Rudolph Shenker recently revealed the German outfit had plenty of ideas for the follow-up to 2012’s Comeblack.

He said: “Two of the new songs on MTV Unplugged. – Dancing With The Moonlight and Rock & Roll Band – we had saved for bonus tracks. So we have those two and we’ll put them out as electric versions. I think we have a total of 15 songs from the 70s and 80s that we want to release.”

Bandmate Matthias Jabs added: “We found tracks mainly from the Blackout and Love At First Sting days – which people consider our most creative and best time. They sound good but were never finished. They don’t have lyrics or vocals, so we have to do everything new; but it sounds quite good so far.”

Despite heading out on a mammoth three-year farewell tour in 2010, frontman Klaus Meine revealed the band had “too much fun” to call it quits and confirmed another tour was inevitable.

There’s no word on whether drummer James Kottak will be involved, after he spent time in a United Arab Emirates jail earlier this year for drinking without a licence, insulting Muslims and making indecent gestures. Swedish sticksman Johan Franzon has been filling in for Kottak while he undergoes treatment for alcohol abuse in the US.

In a statement, Kottak said: “I am determined to come to grips with my alcoholism and am doing everything on a daily basis to beat this relentless disease.”

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