MICHAEL Vs. RUDOLF SCHENKER Fistfight Report Dismissed As 'Total Fabrication'

UFO fan site www.strangers-in-the-night.com recently conducted an interview with Alan Walsh — a longtime Michael Schenker (ex-UFO guitarist) fan and close friend of Michael — regarding the cancellation of Schenker's recent U.K. dates and Michael's current state of mind. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Strangers in the Night: Alan, you've been speaking to Michael today. First of all, and starting with the hardest question first... how is he at the moment?

Alan Walsh: Under the circumstances, he's OK. I've spent much of the day with him at a hotel in the Midlands and he was relatively philosophical about recent events, but I sensed he felt that he'd let people down. For myself, through what I've come to know over the past few days, it's clear that this whole fiasco was not purely down to Michael, far from it. But he was fine today, if a little emotional at times.

Strangers in the Night: At Peterborough, when Michael was the only member of MSG to have arrived in England, that night's show obviously had to be postponed. But Michael took time instead to play an informal solo acoustic set and by all accounts he seemed content throughout the whole thing, happily staying to sign autographs etc. That evening, he seemed on top of his game — and not only that, he was a terrific ambassador for the band, earning maximum PR points for the tour ahead. So.... what went wrong between there and Pentrich, less than forty-eight hours afterwards?

Alan Walsh: It does seem strange doesn't it? You have to understand that over the years, Michael has been involved in major tours where various managements and promoters have ensured that itineraries were set in place and practical matters such as travel, hotels, merchandise, etc, were taken care of. When this current tour began in the USA, that was supposedly the case. MSG were "ready to rock" and I know it seemed, to the band at least, that things had been organised. Unfortunately, twelve shows into the U.S. dates, my understanding of the situation is that the management went "absent without leave." In fact, the band were literally forced to get off the tour bus, onto the sidewalk, with their belongings and gear, as the hire charge had not been paid by said management. I know the band were totally shocked and deflated by this turn of events and it was Mr. Wayne Findlay and his lovely wife Deana who hired a truck to move the band's gear into storage at some considerable cost. Moreover, the merchandise also went missing, along with a large amount of money that had been accrued from the sales at the first few shows. Absolutely crazy! Anyway, as I'm sure your readers are aware, the rest of the U.S. dates were scrapped through no fault of Michael or the band. It's well documented that in the U.S., Michael turned up at a venue alone, willing to play, so as not to disappoint his fans. Michael just wanted to play and even though he knew the U.S. dates were gone, he desperately wanted to make the U.K. dates happen. Thus, he flew (alone) to the U.K. to have meetings with people who said they could help make it happen. I can't go into personal details, but I can assure you Michael was under extreme pressure. After arriving in the U.K., with only four hours sleep in two days, Michael travelled to Peterborough. I know that what he did at Peterborough had a positive impact on those who were there, but from that night to Pentrich, Michael was in a situation that was already becoming untenable. His guitars were in Germany, the band hadn't yet arrived in the U.K. (due to aforementioned fiasco in the U.S.),there was no money, no gear, no band and no merchandise. In fact, there was nothing. Actually, I was impressed that Michael had got that far on his own resources, but I do feel the lack of sleep, lack of food, minimal finances, the fiasco in the U.S., along with other factors had impacted on him emotionally and psychologically.

Strangers in the Night: OK, now on to the day and night of Pentrich itself. You were there, backstage and onstage. What happened?

Alan Walsh: When I arrived at the Rock & Blues during Saturday afternoon, Michael was in a portacabin that was otherwise empty. No food, nothing. I couldn't believe that this man, who'd given so much to so many for over three decades, wasn't even worth a sandwich — and that's no joke. Michael was absolutely exhausted, to the point that he just wanted to sleep. He'd had little sleep in three days, had been travelling constantly, was under-nourished and didn't even have a change of clothes. Also, there was an incident that occurred in London which had left him penniless. It was a disgraceful situation, so I set about trying to sort something out for him. I asked the organisers if an inflatable mattress, blankets, food and soft drinks could be brought to Michael's cabin. A special mention should go to Dale Langham who was absolutely brilliant and couldn't do enough to help. Even so, all Michael wanted to do was sleep, but people kept entering the cabin, so I decided to stand outside and prevent people from going in. I re-entered the cabin around 7pm when the rest of MSG showed up and Michael seemed OK and relaxed. Unfortunately, even though Michael had got some sleep, the damage was done due to the events of the previous 48 hours. I know there's talk on the Internet of Michael's alcohol intake, but it's just not that simple. If only it was. There's no doubting he was drinking to excess at times, or that he desperately under-performed that day and people felt badly let down — but fatigue, emotional, psychological and physical tiredness, along with other aforementioned issues, were the main factors behind that. I suppose one could argue that Michael could have just said "Sod it!" and gone home. But what would people have said then? As usual, Schenker would have got the blame for another cancelled tour. He was in a no-win situation really.

Strangers in the Night: Regarding the recent U.S. tour dates which came to an abrupt end after twelve shows, reviews from those shows were generally very positive. And although the details hadn't been made public, other members of MSG have written that the tour was badly managed, and they've absolved Michael of blame for the cancellation. Obviously with a string of cancelled dates already behind him, Michael got a lot of flak on the message boards which followed — undeservedly on that occasion, but understandably as people were never given the facts. The message board opinions — and there are plenty! — are divided between well-wishers who believe (or want to believe) that he can get help and then bounce back again — and people who are mocking him, calling him "a drunk," "a washed-up junkie," "a tramp," etc. etc. etc., and that his career is over.

Alan Walsh: Regarding opinions on message boards (and I've read plenty this week),many of them are irrelevant. They are born out of ignorance, judgementalism and a desire to kick someone when they're down. Absolutely ridiculous and sick behaviour! Indeed, there has been a story put out by (of all people) Dave Ling of Classic Rock, that Michael and Rudolf [Schenker, SCORPIONS guitarist and Michael's brother] came to blows backstage. I can vehemently attest that this is a total fabrication. It never happened and is just plain "tabloid journalism." I've since heard that Ling heard it on "good authority" that this incident had occurred, but no one in the Schenker camp was approached or asked about any such incident, thus, he didn't have it on "good authority" at all. The same old sensationalism from those with no real stories to tell. Garbage really. The truth is, Michael never saw Rudolf at the Rock & Blues.

Read the entire interview at www.strangers-in-the-night.com.