Scorpions to mark 50th year in China

Guitarist Rudolf Schenker founded the band in 1965, Meine joined in 1969, guitarist Matthias Jabs joined in 1978, and drummer James Kottak and bassist Pawe? M?ciwoda joined subsequently.

Meine says the longevity of the band lies in the chemistry between the members, teamwork and their friendship.

"Since the beginning, the Scorpions were a live band. We always wanted to be onstage and share our emotions and music with our audience. We never lost the passion for rock music and for what we are doing, for being songwriters and creating new songs," he says.

Showing no sign of slowing down, the band released a documentary on itself, Forever and a Day, in Europe along with a new album, to celebrate their 50th anniversary.

"Back in the '60s and early '70s, five kids from Hannover from West Germany started singing in English and taking the music all over the world. English is not our mother language so it was a very unique story of success. Nevertheless we have always believed in ourselves, in our talent. We wanted to live our dream. As you can see even after all those years we are now celebrating 50 years of Scorpions," says Meine.

"So we still live our dream and visit places where we have never been before. We still feel this excitement but probably one of the best parts is that our music was reaching out to the young generation of rock fans as well in the last couple of years."