Album & Tour

Scooter: 30 years of uncompromising escalation

Three men, one mission: With their new album "Open Your Mind And Your Trousers", Scooter and H.P. Baxxter (center) will bring the Wiener Stadthalle to life.

(Bild: Sheffield Tunes, Kontor Records, Krone KREATIV)

60 years of H.P. Baxxter, 30 years of Scooter - the Hamburg techno institution is celebrating this double anniversary with the new album "Open Your Mind And Your Trousers" and a lavish European tour including the "Krone" Vienna date on April 12 in the Stadthalle. One thing is certain on the new album: the amplifiers are turned up again.

Is the cover artwork of the new Scooter record really based on the legendary Rolling Stones album "Sticky Fingers"? Maybe, but we can't say for sure. Whereas 53 years ago Mick Jagger and co. flashed a distinctive face through their jeans, today modern graphic elements make it possible to see the likeness of band zampano H.P. Baxxter behind the (clearly feminine) pants. The techno kings from Hamburg have never been at a loss for raunchy and shallow banter, and this no longer changes with their 21st studio album, which comes ahead of a more than well-selling European tour and is intended to further cement Scooter's hero status. While other bands languished through the coronavirus years, Baxxter and his changing bandmates woke up in a kind of second spring.

Skibadee, skibadanger
First of all, "FCK 2020" was not only the ultimate coronavirus anthem, but after a career spanning almost 25 years, the song easily ranks among the very best in the band's history. With the accompanying album "God Save The Rave" (on the cover H.P. and his disciples at the Last Supper in front of brilliant amplifier towers), the band climbed back into the top 5 of the German album charts for the first time since 2009 and the documentary "FCK 2020 - Zweieinhalb Jahre mit Scooter", released in 2023, also brought the band closer to an audience that had previously turned up their noses in disdain or had nothing at all to do with the permanently blond music freak. The celebrations continue in 2024. A few days ago, Baxxter celebrated his - would you believe it - 60th birthday with his inner circle, and he has already spent exactly half his life working for Scooter.

To mark the anniversary, there is now not only the "Thirty, Rough And Dirty!" tour including the "Krone" concert in the almost packed Wiener Stadthalle, but also the lyrically once again high-quality titled studio album "Open Your Mind And Your Trousers". In 15 song chapters, H.P. once again whisks together precisely those ingredients that have rapidly improved his life in many respects: distinctive shouting, meaningless and ludicrous lyrics and wordplay, crashing beats and a few guests who should attract numerous fans from other sub-styles or generations to the German techno mother Scooter. It's obvious that your freshly opened pants will fly off. Tracks such as the pumping Berghain declaration of love "Berliner Luft", "Rave & Shout" or "I Keep Hearing Bingo", inspired by H.P.'s boat trips, thunder through the speakers at full speed and immediately push aside any hint of everyday melancholy. Tutto Gas!

Techno Is Back
In addition to the established Austrian success duo Harris & Ford, H.P. has brought the reasonably successful wind instrument artist Timmy Trumpet on board for "For Those About To Rave". Berlin's Asian rapper Finch, king of bad taste and Spotify playlists, on the other hand, accompanies his idol Baxxter on the thoroughly successful "Posse Reloaded". The original, "Posse - I Need You On The Floor", has been around for 23 years and is one of the absolute fan favorites, but was undeservedly lost in the mass of Scooter's huge hits. For Baxxter, the "Reloaded" project was a welcome occasion for nostalgia; after all, Scooter parted company with the old, very trancey style and went in a new, more commercial direction. On the occasion of the band's 30th anniversary, we can look back with pride. The instrumental "Ardrhu", named after a luxurious Scottish spa, also harks back to Scooter's blissful early days, when trance was still the order of the day.

As Baxxter notes in the Krone interview, the secret of their success lies in this mixture of contemporary hit suitability and a look back at their own merits. "I used to want to become famous with new wave music and nobody was interested in that. Scooter was then conceived as a small producer project and became a huge thing. What I've learned is that you can't plan anything in life." After 30 years of Scooter, H.P. Baxxter can not only afford a posh country estate and all kinds of British vintage cars and sports cars, he has staged himself like no other in the scene as a brand that has long been bigger than its reputation and past. For years, Scooter fans were met with contempt and a wrinkled nose, but in hipster circles it has long since become strange if you don't find Baxxter's ambiguous self-irony and unique sense of humor ingenious. The Times They Are A-Changin', once said a not too unknown folk-rock bard from America.

Be Savage - Not Average
There are still a few weeks to go until the Vienna concert and you can oil your vocal chords with the new songs in advance. Of course, all-time classics such as "Hyper Hyper", "Maria (I Like It Loud)" and "One" will not be missing. After three decades of Scooter, choosing a setlist is no longer that easy. Especially not when new songs for live eternity are added every few years and with every new studio album. H.P. himself remains as fit as a fiddle, which probably has something to do with his adapted lifestyle. For his 60th birthday, he wants to marry his girlfriend Sara and actually become a father. He has also relaxed the bar requirement for himself, which became so famous in the documentary, and enjoys a good cup of warm tea in his home town of Blankenese. The only important thing is that the wild blonde is let off his chains on stage every evening. "Be savage - not average", to use Baxxter's own words in the song "Sun Comes Around". Where is the well-deserved Nobel Prize for Literature?

Live in Vienna
On April 12, Scooter will be playing a "Krone" concert at the Wiener Stadthalle as part of their "Thirty, Rough & Dirty!" tour. There are still a few tickets left at www.oeticket.com, but you can expect a full house. Hyper Hyper!