Marc Storace of Krokus

Goes Solo with Live And Let Live

Interview by Ken Morton - Live Photo by Joe Schaeffer

Marc Storace is best known as the vocalist for the legendary hard rock band Krokus. With a final world tour cut short because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Marc would find himself recording his debut solo album. Going under the moniker of Storace, the debut single and album is entitled Live And Let Live, and it’s certainly an explosive and infinitely timeless introduction that should enrapture Krokus fans all across the planet. Highwire Daze recently interviewed Marc Storace to discuss the glorious Live And Let Live, an upcoming show with the Scorpions, and if this is, indeed, the end of the road for almighty Krokus. Read on...

Is there any overall story or concept behind the album title and new single Live And Let Live?

The single is something I wrote 20 years ago and had in my archives. And the positive side of Covid is that it gave me time to immerse myself into creating this solo album. And I called it Live And Let Live because it suits the time – it’s a sign of the times kind of song.

It’s interesting how something you wrote 20 years ago could have been something you wrote yesterday.

(Laughs) It’s a coincidence. It’s mind-blowing – and I didn’t realize until after I started the re-working on it that it held up. The lyrics I wrote way back in the days of Saddam Hussein cuz he was on this big genocide trip. It was a protest song about these kind of people, but on looking back, it’s also quite an open lyric. It fits all kinds of situations. Live And Let Live – that goes for everything. It has to do with racism as much as it has to with – the latest thing people ask me – “Is this about Covid?” So yeah, it’s kind of open – and I like that kind of philosophy – I’m kind of into live and peace still way back from my hippie days. That’s the kind of person I am - still behind the hard rocker is a peace-loving man and a

family man and nature lover and equality lover – you know, all those good things.

Tell me about the song Don’t Wanna Go and the lyric “the road to ruin leads to darkness?”

“I don’t want to go down that road anymore, the road to ruin leads to darkness, don’t want to go faster than the light.” It’s kind of an abstract thing. Imagine a spaceship going faster than light, which exists in like Star Wars. When they go through this dimension again it gets dark – obviously. So I kind of put this in the situation where a person is living life in the fast lane – he’s going so fast and he falls into the darkness – and it can be deadly and ruthless. Like we see the many victims of life on the road – or it could be other things – it could be life if you become addicted to alcohol or drugs, and you can’t get off it. It’s kind of symbolic whereas I put everything under one hat – and I take the situation and my experiences from life on the road – life in the fast lane with Krokus in the 80’s – and we were doing so many concerts and so much mileage on the road – and flying here and there – busing there and everywhere – night liner life. For us, stopping at a mall on a day off and having the time to go to a movie and enjoy a meal without any disturbances – no soundcheck before and no concert afterwards – just going in, sitting there together, and having a steak and being together and drinking beer or whatever – having fun without even having all the fans around. Instead of being a party it was more like a chill out for when the band and crew got together, and we could slow down a little bit. So this is really what the song is about. And there’s a bit of the fact of when I met my wife and now, I have been through a divorce – you already experience loneliness on the road even though you are with all these people – when you’re far away from the one you love. It’s a different thing flirting with a groupie – that’s just a flirt. And these things also lead to when you flirt around and get into that habit – it also lead into that other kind of darkness – you get kicked out of the house and end up with a divorce. So yeah, this is what it’s really all about.

Let’s talk about the song Fly Again and the inspiration behind it.

It’s also a song about – you go through certain mishaps or broken heart situations – and then you have to get to a point where you wake up and make the move and get tough again. So really, that’s what it’s about – the broken wings and the broken heart – and you get up again and you go for it – you get back into the normal life situation and start looking ahead.

What made you decide that during a pandemic would be a perfect time to release a solo album?

(Laughs) Well, I thought it was over now, but it looks like it’s coming back. The figures are rising incredibly here. It’s so scary. And I’ve got gigs in December and my fingers are crossed that we’re going to be able to do the gigs because the neighboring countries, like Austria – is extreme. They’re like locked down again and Germany is following suit very close. Switzerland is open and concerts are still opening – the only problem is now; people are starting to get scared again. And we’re not boostered yet – they only just started – and I’m over 65 and we get it first – but I still have to wait. The thing is, people are going to be scared to buy tickets – if everything is still open and we’re still allowed to play, people might show up. So right now, we’re still moving forward and hoping that things recede again by the beginning of December. We’ll see – that’s not in our hands, but it would help if everybody pulled on the same rope. Right now, there’s a bit of a tug of war between the people who are vaccinated and the ones who deny the whole thing and don’t want to be vaccinated. I compare it to the smokers and non-smokers. Why should you smoke in a room where people don’t want to smoke – they don’t smoke – and pollute the whole room with the smell of cigarette smoke and pollute people’s lungs if you can do that in a separate room. Just stink up air on your own and get lung cancer on your own. I mean, I’m being very straightforward about that. I see it in the same way. I got both my vaccines and I’m waiting for my booster – and that’s what I’m doing.

You mentioned about playing live. Next year Storace has a pretty big show opening for the Scorpions in Zurich. What are you looking forward to the most about that particular show?

Well, first of all, I’m looking forward to meeting the Scorpions again, because we knew each other way back in the 70’s when I sang with a Swiss progressive rock band called Tea – and we were produced by the same producer that produced the Scorpions – Dieter Dierks. And he had this studio in Cologne up in Germany – and we met the Scorps there – and

this was around the beginning days when they had hits like Rock You Like A Hurricane. So then we met later on, on the road in England – just by coincidence in a highway café. And then later on, we were booked with the Scorpions – we played with them as special guests. So, there’s always this friendship of whenever we see each other, so I’m looking forward to saying Hi and Bye one more time – apart from playing to the same audience.

Would you like tour in support of the new Storace album here in the States?

Oh, definitely! My manager, he has his feelers out and is checking out the situation. We’ll see if we could get something good together and if it’s worthwhile, I would definitely love the tour the USA again. And why not do Canada as well? I mean that’s what it’s all about – you do an album, and you go on tour.

Why don’t you tell the Scorpions to take Storace on their next US tour? That would be cool!

Yeah, it would – but it’s up to the Scorpions to decide that. They know we’re a band and we’re going to open for them, and they could check me out and check the band out and check the songs out, and see how we are live. If they want, they could take us along. Why not? It would be great!

Scorpions, if you are reading this, you know what to do! So much of the final Krokus tour was postponed or wiped out due to the pandemic, including a show you were going to have out here at the Whisky. Do you think some makeup dates might happen, or are you pretty much done with Krokus?

Well, it’s still open you know. Fernando would not come anyway – he stopped flying over the big pond – he didn’t join us for the last couple of things we did. We flew over did Monsters Of Rock in 2015 and then when the boat dropped us off in Miami, we flew to Texas and waited for the night liner and then went on this tour of the USA which was great. Then we came back and did another Monsters Of Rock Cruise in February – and this was after the band stopped. We played our last concert in December 2019 in Zurich in Switzerland. So as far as Europe is concerned, Krokus doesn’t exist anymore. And 2019 we played a big festival tour in Europe – we also did Wacken – it was enormous – this humungous, big festival – they pack in 80,000 kids and old school guys like me too. And it was great. We even gave out an album – we recorded everything and gave out a live album – Krokus: Live At Wacken – which went Gold here in Switzerland. It’s available now – you can order it from the Krokus shop. If you go to www.krokusonline.com, you can order Krokus: Live At Wacken – and I swear, the band is in top form there. It was a great concert and great audience response and everything. We loved it! song and just managed to get through the encores. It was too much – all these people there and loads of hardcore fans. I just kept saying to myself, “Is this the end of the road for Krokus? I can’t believe it! There is still life out there. They still want us. We can still play. It’s a packed stadium – 12,000 people out there!” And I just couldn’t take it. So I was happy that following in February we went out on the Monsters Of Rock Cruise with Krokus without Fernando – but we had a great time – did those couple of gigs and flew back home – and that was it. That was the last thing we ever did in 2020. So then I saw the opportunity to do my solo stuff because of lockdown. So first I got into doing some Karaoke stuff with my young daughter Giuliana – I put that on my website and on YouTube and Facebook – and we got invited to do these duets. We did a couple of TV shows – like streaming stuff – this is what was happening during lockdown. No audience. Giuliana got out there and said “Hey dad, this feels really strange. There’s no people out there.” And I said, “Yes there are! Look into those cameras!” There’s about 3, 4, 5 cameras there. I said, “Behind each one, there’s 1,000’s of people. Don’t forget that. They’re sitting at home on the couch drinking beer.”

So, after that. I got into doing my solo album. It is going to be something different than Krokus – my solo album – and I think it should be – because the worst thing I could have done was try to copy Krokus. There was no point in trying that, because Krokus – in my eyes – isn’t over yet. It ain’t over till it’s over. I hope we can come over and play the dates we had to cancel because of Covid in the USA and Canada and Mexico – and the UK as well. But it’s definitely not going to be before 2023 – if that happens, so fingers crossed for that!

Then came December 2019 we played – Zurich was the last show. Very emotional – I couldn’t stop the tears after the last

www.krokusonline.com