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Rudolf Schenker says the Scorpions' farewell is more like...'so long' (© JAN WOITAS/epa/Corbis)

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Scorpions guitarist Rudolf Schenker is a mass of contradictions. To hear him tell it, the band's new album Sting In The Tail, is their final album. But then it's not. So what's true and not true?

"I know this can be a very confusing time for our fans," says Schenker, 61. "We've put out this new album to rock the world, because rock is the international language. But people want to know how long we'll be rocking. That's something I find hard to answer."

So there he goes again. Schenker, who along with singer Klaus Meine, lead guitarist Matthias Jabs, drummer James Kottak and bassist Paweł Mąciwoda, is currently in the midst of the the band's Get Out Your Sting And Blackout Tour, says, "This is a chance for us to say a big farewell to all the fans who have supported us for so many years. We're a point now, in 2010, when the fans want to rock hard, and the Scorpions are the ultimate band to give them the party they want."

Yes, but for how long? MusicRadar sat down with Schenker and tried to get to the bottom of it all. Not only that, but we decided to throw a real mind-bender at him and asked him to name all of the ex-Scorpions (there's 14 of them!) who have come and gone over the years. Read on to see how well he did:

So the band is on their farewell tour. What led to the decision to pack it in now?

"No, no, no. We're not packing it in."

Wait a minute. I thought the whole campaign behind Sting In The Tail and this tour was that the band was saying farewell.

"Well, we're not retiring. See, we only want to use the wave - ride the huge wave, you know? Classic rock is back again, and that's the Scorpions. We know how hard it is to go up against trends. In the '90s, it was grunge, and that was a monster we couldn't fight. We had a difficult time being heard when everybody was being grunge and didn't want to play their instruments. But now, as I say, classic rock is back and it's bigger than ever, so it's a perfect time for the Scorpions.

"We're now what's happening. Look at bands like Metallica. When they began, they were trash and they couldn't play their instruments. But over the years they became a classic rock band because they learned how to play, and they play extremely well now. So we're just like Metallica - classic rock! We fit in right with that. It feels good to be a part of what's happening again. We've made the right album at the right time, and we want to go out on a high note."

OK, so you say you're not retiring. But then you say you're going out "on a high note." You seem to be saying two different things.

"I don't think so. We won't do another album. After this album…this is the last album. We are finished making new albums."

All right. No more tours, no more albums. So this really is farewell?

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