Michael Schenker on his current relationship with UFO members

The only classic UFO members who are still alive are the guitarist Michael Schenker, vocalist Phil Mogg and the drummer Andy Parker. As Mogg announced this year, the group was over and he started a new solo band called Moggs Motel, releasing the debut album. Schenker recently released a solo record with many special guests, making new versions for UFO classic songs.

In an interview with Made In Metal (Transcribed by Blabbermouth), he recalled why he left the band in the 70s and then in the 90s, also talking about his current relationship with the other UFO members.

Michael Schenker on his current relationship with UFO members

“Well, there’s only Andy (Parker – drummer) and Phil (Mogg – vocalist) left. So I have no contact to Andy. But Phil I see once in a while because he lives in the next village to mine. And that’s it. We wave at each other. That’s about it.”

He also talked about leaving the band in the 70s: “(After ‘Lights Out – 1977), at that moment, because it became a hit, I felt the pressure that now everything had to be — I wasn’t free anymore. I felt like we are gonna be whipped, making money for management, et cetera, until we are dead. And so I didn’t like the feeling of being in a spotlight and having to do things.”

“I like to have fun doing things, not having to do things. Music, for me, is fun, not having to do it. And so therefore I actually sold everything and I was done with it. I did not want to be part of the rat race and staying in a race of who is gonna be the most famous. I was not interested in that. For me, my passion is music and self-expression. So, after two months, Pete Way, he persuaded me to come back, and I did. And I did ‘Obsession’, and then finally after ‘Stranger In The Night’, I went my own way and to fulfill my own vision.”

Michael Schenker then continued talking about his reunion with the band in the 90s:

“Phil came over to America with his manager and he begged me, ‘Michael, please, please. UFO is completely destroyed. Can you help me to rebuild UFO?’ And I said, ‘Okay. Three conditions. One is I get half of the name.”

“Number two is we do it with all six original members, including (producer) Ron Nevison. And number three is that we sell the records on the road. And that was it. He agreed to it. And we did a fantastic album… [Later on] Phil broke the agreement and he didn’t want to stay with the conditions, so I didn’t think that was fair, so we kind of departed for a while,” Michael Schenker said.

He would like to perform with UFO one last time

In a recent interview with Rock Candy magazine, Schenker said he would be open to play one last show with the band. He is currently promoting his new album “My Years With UFO”, which covers tracks he recorded with the band and the band’s vocalist Phil Mogg is promoting his debut album with the new band Moggs Motel. Formed in London, England in 1968, they became in the following decades one of the most influential Hard Rock bands of all time. Besides Mogg, some of the other classic members of the band were Pete Way (Bass), Andy Parker (Drums) and Michael Schenker (Guitar).

In almost five decades of career, the band released 22 studio albums, the final one being “The Salentino Cuts” (2017). They were a huge influence to famous bands like Iron Maiden, for example. For decades, the Metal band plays their song “Doctor Doctor” as the intro of their concerts. The band’s leader, the bassist Steve Harris is a huge fan of UFO.