Ralph Rieckermann was the bassist for Scorpions from 1992 to 2003. He left the band to pursue a career as a film composer, and he has composed the music for more than fifty (really bad) movies. He studied piano, composition, and classical double bass at a conservatory in Germany during his teens.
Here is an excerpt from Martin Popoff’s book about Scorpions about how Ralph replaced Francis Buchholz:
“I was born in Hamburg, born and raised in the area which is like forty miles from Hannover, which is where they’re from. I lived in the States, and I was extremely good. I was an extremely good bass player back in those days. I mean I just practiced eight hours a day. That’s all I did. I came to the states with that American dream to play in one of those really big famous bands, and I liked to practice all day long. It’s like shredding; I can pretty much play everything.
“When I met the guys, I think, not only did we have an immediate chemistry because we came from the same background, . . . but I lived in the States, so already had a little bit of a worldly feel to my personality, I guess. But also, Francis wasn’t really a musician. He was more like a financial guy. He was an OK bass player, but he wasn’t like a real musician’s musician, you know what I’m saying? Whereas I was 100% musician. And when I came in, I don’t think they had ever really heard someone play bass the way I played, because I was doing all this super fast, like slapping and fretless, and played all this classical music. I think that triggered something in all of them.”
Interestingly enough, his playing with Scorpions was largely straight-forward, hard rock stuff, with lots of root notes. He said their stifling of his musical ideas are what led him to leave the group.
Here is an excerpt from Martin Popoff’s book about Scorpions about how Ralph replaced Francis Buchholz:
“I was born in Hamburg, born and raised in the area which is like forty miles from Hannover, which is where they’re from. I lived in the States, and I was extremely good. I was an extremely good bass player back in those days. I mean I just practiced eight hours a day. That’s all I did. I came to the states with that American dream to play in one of those really big famous bands, and I liked to practice all day long. It’s like shredding; I can pretty much play everything.
“When I met the guys, I think, not only did we have an immediate chemistry because we came from the same background, . . . but I lived in the States, so already had a little bit of a worldly feel to my personality, I guess. But also, Francis wasn’t really a musician. He was more like a financial guy. He was an OK bass player, but he wasn’t like a real musician’s musician, you know what I’m saying? Whereas I was 100% musician. And when I came in, I don’t think they had ever really heard someone play bass the way I played, because I was doing all this super fast, like slapping and fretless, and played all this classical music. I think that triggered something in all of them.”
Interestingly enough, his playing with Scorpions was largely straight-forward, hard rock stuff, with lots of root notes. He said their stifling of his musical ideas are what led him to leave the group.
