FRANCIS BUCHHOLZ
4 years after he left the band, Francis Buchholz his back!!!!! 14 years of silence, which he finally accepted to break in order to answer to our questions. A french scoop! When Crazyscorps interviews Francis Buchholz, here is the result :
by Gegers www.crazyscorps.com

How does it feel to take the road with Uli, 27 years after the last gigs you played together?
It feels great to play with Uli again after so many years. When we played the first chords, it felt to me, as if these years were only months or weeks. The "magic" was there immediately. Uli is a genius in inventing new melodies way above regular melodies. But also the other guys in the band, Olaf doing the vocals, Ferdy on keys and Michael on drums are fantastic musicians and very positive people. Together we can play anything and it sounds great.

We'd like to ask you a question concerning the reason(s) why you left the band.
Many things have been said concerning your departure from Scorpions but we've never heard you talking about this subject. In all the Scorpions biographies we can read that you have left the Scorpions because you were a close friend of the man who was in charge of the finances of the band. Many fans would like to know what you have to say concerning the reasons why you left the band.


Francis à gauche sur la photo
The impression which is caused by these biographies is totally incorrect. I like being together with people and I am team-player. Therefore I was - and I still am - friends with many of the people who had worked for the band. But in the summer of 1991 new people were engaged to manage the business of the Scorpions. I had different opinions regarding their intentions. This led to my split from the band in spring of 1992.

What have you done between 1992 and 2005? Some rumors said you were playing in a jazz band, but we had no information at all.
No, I have not played in a jazz band. First of all I took some time off after having been on the road for so many years. You must know that I am a father to three children. My twin girls were just born when I split with the Scorpions. Today my girls and my son are teenagers and they are listening to rock music. Because of my children I got engaged in school-politics in my hometown Hannover. Also, my PA-hire company, which is a equipment rental company for concert tours, needed my attention. Originally I had started this company in order to rent out some special exponential loudspeaker cabinets which I had constructed and also, to offer jobs for the Scorpions' road crew when Scorpions did not go on tour. Furthermore I enjoyed being helpful to German rock bands getting international recording contracts and to American artists touring in Germany. Of course I have been asked to produce music in these years. Therefore I have spent time in different studios and in my home studio as well. Earlier in the nineties I finished writing a book about learning to play bass entitled "Bass Magic", which has been released here in Germany. In the year 2005 I started touring again.

You've played on twelve Scorpions albums (from Fly to the rainbow to Crazy world). What is your favourite album from this period, and is there any album from this period which you do not like?
All these albums are like children to me, I like them all the same, even though they are so different. Probably some of the sound-mixings could be done better with today's technologies. Recently, when my friend Uli Jon Roth gave me a phone-call and asked me to play bass in his band, he suggested playing a couple of Scorpions songs from the seventies. Especially songs, which are not getting played live by the Scorpions. To pick these songs I listened to all the Scorpions' albums again. To me that was like a journey back in time, good old memories were coming back! There are many great moments which we have been able to capture on these recordings. I am absulutely sure, that we have done some very good work which is represented by each of these albums!

Did you listen to what the Scorpions have done after your departure? What do you think of their recent recordings?
I hope you'll understand that I will not comment on this.

What are your relations with the members of Scorpions today? As you must know, a reunion concert is planned with Uli and Michael Schenker. Will you take part in this project? If not, what are your plans for the future?
I like the idea of a reunion concert, but I have not been asked to take part in such a project.
With Uli it is planned to play near Orly and in Lillebonne this spring. Later we will do some shows in the United States. We are also planning to do live recordings. And we are intending to return to France for more concerts this autumn.

The only song you co-wrote for the Scorpions was Kicks after six. Is there any reason why you didn't took part in the composition process? Is it simply because you didn't want to write songs?
As we did the band-management ourselves in the seventies and in the first half of the eighties, I was very busy in doing that. In the second half of the eighties I started concentrating on writing songs. "Kick After Six" is one of those songs, the others just did not make it on the albums. With the exception of some of Uli's compositions, for which he knew already exacty what every instrument should play, I composed almost all of the bass lines myself for the other Scorpions' songs. These songs were mainly developed in the studio. So the whole band took part in the composition process. Normally the names of all band members are then mentioned in connection with songs like that.

A last question! What do you think of the fan club Crazyscorps ???
First of all I like the design of Crazyscorps' homepage a lot. It is been done very tastefully! Then I like that the fan club is giving everybody the opportunity to write down his opinion in the forum. It is very good, that you have chosen the english language for the homepage as well. This way even people from outside of France are able to understand what the French Scorpions' fans are about. When I was still in Scorpions I have always met many fans at our concerts in France. And I am quite sure that I will recognize some of these fans when I'll meet them again some day. But I do not know if I have met members of the Crazyscorps fan club, when I played with Uli in France recently. Last December when we played in Athens, the greek Scorpions fan club arranged an after show party in a rock bar, where our whole band got invited. So we got the opportunity to meet many members of the greek Scorpions fan club. Together we watched old Scorpions' tv appearances and videos. We all had a lot of fun. You could arrange something like that as well! So I am looking forward meeting you all!

Thanks a lot for your answers Francis!