Interview: "After 25 years on stage, we still enjoy ourselves immensely!"

You are from Hamburg, where the Beatles also started and where Solomun, the current king of Ibiza, is from. What do you do so differently that you stand out from the average?
Simon: What do I know? We have many good DJs, but it took quite a while for a strong scene to grow here, which also produced a big star.
Bastian: Hamburg actually has a very rich musical history, it is one of the most musical German cities. Many strong labels were active there, and especially the German hip-hop scene, as well as early techno and rave, have strong roots right in Hamburg. Above all, these successes are connected to the fact that we were in the right place at the right time.
HP: Rave culture was ubiquitous in Hamburg, where I lived in the mid-90s. We listened to DJ Steve Mason on British radio BFBS and the local rave parties were attended by many British soldiers who were stationed in the town. This is probably why our raves were so different from those in other German cities. Every major city had its own scene, which were fairly closed, but what they all had in common was that they all hated Scooter. But the hatred melts away. We learned to live with it. There, around 2012, all of a sudden, everyone fell in love with us.

Have you ever thought that maybe you are some kind of Beatles of the techno scene? Already in the first decade of operation, you have stringed together thirty successful singles.
HP: To be honest, we don't think much about the past at all. As soon as we release a new song or album (expect a new one at the end of the year or in the spring, p.p.), we already start working on the next project. The creative process in the studio starts anew every day. We will have enough time for memories and looking back on the old years.

What actually gave birth to your signature sound, which hasn't changed much in a quarter of a century?
HP: I've been to Tresor and other iconic clubs, but this minimalism, darkness and repetitive music without vocals did not appeal. I am closer to the energy and atmosphere of large halls and the moment when thousands of people feel the same energy at the same time. The message of the rave movement was in many ways opposed to the culture of introverted mules who listened to minimalist techno in dark basements before the explosion of this euphoria. With raves, mass hysteria was suddenly allowed again. The first Love Parade really impressed me. And Scooter always tries to trigger that euphoria. Today I understand why many people thought we were mules that some techno producer auditioned. We must have really looked like that. But we were real producers and an authentic band. The secret of our breakthrough and the fact that we stayed on the scene for so long is that, from the first single onwards, we knew how to squeeze the euphoria of rave into four-minute pieces: appeals, noise and echo from the dance floor and sounds that you can only hear live in the big arena. A lot of our hits are infused with the feel of a live performance, and that draws people in.

Your first hits in the 1990s were a life-changing experience. Going to the Love Parade or Mayday, seeing Westbam and the Scooters was a kind of pilgrimage. Dance music has evolved in the meantime, can it still offer something similar?
HP: Maybe. Or not. Ten years ago, it seemed that the peak was behind us, but in the last decade, this music and culture first conquered the USA, and now Asia is also fascinated by it, and the prices of DJs are measured in the hundreds of thousands of euros, which was unimaginable in the past. As long as I hear good records and feel the right energy at parties, this scene will not die. After 25 years on stage, we still enjoy ourselves immensely. For me, not much has changed since the rave explosion in the early 90s in that respect.

HP Baxxter, you are a kind of Billy Idol of techno, but certainly a man with extraordinary charisma and one of the most recognizable faces of electronic music.
HP: I've always loved bands with strong stage presence. When I was a teenager listening to hard rock, I loved Deep Purple's Ritchie Blackmore, who destroyed his guitar at every concert. Even then, I knew it was a staged part of the show, but that didn't diminish the excitement I felt when he smashed it. When I think about the pyrotechnics we used on the first tours, compared to today's explosive shows, I just smile. At one point we were spending more on pyrotechnics than we could make in tickets, but we could afford it because the shows were selling massive amounts of records. Every single we put out went gold or platinum, and then all of a sudden, albums started selling. Of course, this has completely changed, but fortunately pyrotechnics have also become cheaper and we don't have to dwell on it.

Now you'll have to forgive me, but I have to admit that I always perceived Scooter as some kind of big rave circus, but at some point serious electronic producers and DJs started to recognize your contribution and accept you. They used to thumb their noses at you, today you can go to Berghain and feel at home there. Even Pan-Pot and Modeselektor say that they would shoot something with you without hesitation.
Michael: When we performed at Berghain years ago, many DJs came to our performance, who at times genuinely hated us. This attitude has completely changed. And I understand that. When Scooter burst onto the scene in 1993, I was one of those DJs who was much closer to them alternative club scene than big raves. The elders of the techno scene in Berlin and Frankfurt were not exactly thrilled when this music was picked up by major labels and taken to MTV and Vivo. In this respect, Scooter was a commercial band that commercialized electronic music. After all these years, however, he has grown into an icon.
Bastian: There aren't many bands that have been in the spotlight for more than 25 years.
Michael: Anyway, did we really make music that was so different from the rest? Also, most of the big DJs, including Carl Cox, created and spun fast rave music. So does Sven Vath. Or your Umek.

Michael, when and why did you and HP decide to perform DJ sets as well?
Michael: About five years ago. When we go on tour as a band, it's not cheap, so we play in big halls, but it doesn't work in smaller venues, and people want us in smaller places too. For this purpose, we set up an HP Baxxter DJ-set, in which HP and I spin the music we like, including some of our hits, and he also grabs the microphone. It started as an experiment because we wanted to reconnect with the club scene. After all, Scooter was born from us going to raves and grew into a stadium band, so we have to be careful not to lose touch with the base from which we come. It is no coincidence that more than all the members who joined the group are DJs, including Bastian, who brought a new freshness to the band.

Is the energy very different at these shows?
It's great, but of course it's different, because we play only a few of our songs, and the rest is music from other producers. The whole concept is different: the whole thing lasts an hour and a half, it's more like what David Guetta or Armin van Buuren do, and at the end of course HP Always grabs the microphone and sings some of our hits. People just want it. But this is not a Scooter concert, where everything is based on our original music and live performance.

Which Scooter song is associated with the fondest memories?
Bastian: For me, that's Ramp! (The Logical Song). Some of my very intimate memories are associated with this song, and there is always a great energy on stage when we perform it. And the ending of Endless Summer is pure concentrated energy.
Simon: I probably like Hyper Hyper the most because it reminds me of my rave years and when I started DJing and discovering all this great dance music. A throwback to a time when electronic music came out of the underground and blossomed into form mass raves.
HP: But I'm going to say J'adore Hardcore because it's such a powerful, energetic track.

Your latest single is God Save The Rave. Is this also the Brexit anthem by any chance?
Bastian: Oh, no. (laughs) The composition was created at a workshop that we prepared with various young artists. This idea was presented by the Viennese duo Harris & Ford, HP immediately liked it and we developed it together in the studio into a track that follows the sound of the Scooter band. This was not easy, as HP did not want to change too much their piece, which was sonically quite far from our music.
Michael: Their composition was very simple and we tried hard to keep the spirit of the original and at the same time completely change it.
Bastian: In the end, it is essential that we are all satisfied with the product, that we can all identify with this song, that it is ours. We fought each other in the studio to find a compromise, but when we stand on stage and see people's reactions, we are satisfied because we see that we succeeded.

Do you have any message for the fans who will come to your Ljubljana performance on October 30?
Bastian: Considering that we are coming to your place for the first time, we would like to emphasize that you prepare yourself for a really powerful show. The concept is really strong and energetic, you just have to experience it. And those who have already, like to come back to our performances. This is a special experience.