Germany's earworm masters Scooter return with fresh rave anthems

It's usually when he's out travelling that H.P. Baxxter, the frontman for the techno-band Scooter, gets his ideas for a new song.

"The lyrics actually evolve kind of coincidentally - when you're either on holiday or maybe out on the town for an evening," the 60-year-old singer tells dpa. One of his ideas occurred while he was on a ferry from Scotland to Amsterdam. In a room next door where there was some lively gambling going on, the host repeatedly shouted "I keep hearing Bingo."

"I immediately wrote that down," he says, and just like that, it was a line for his next song. Now "I Keep Hearing Bingo" is one of the 15 new songs on the latest Scooter album due for release on March 22. The album's title: "Open Your Mind And Your Trousers". Just reading it you can almost hear H.P. Baxxter's distinctive voice shouting through the speakers over loud techno beats.

With its 21st studio album, the band from Hamburg, which for 30 years now has drawn crowds all over the world, has stuck with its tried-and-proven recipe: Danceable beats, catchy melodies and a voice that whips listeners up even more. It's barely about the content, but instead more about the mood, about letting loose - and partying.

The album was created with the seventh Scooter formation, this time including Jay Frog, who was with the band from 2002 to 2006. H.P. Baxxter says sometimes the team simply runs out of steam. "And then we have a new keyboarder and youngster and somehow a breath of fresh air comes in."

The changes never hurt the cause. On the contrary. No matter what Scooter had taken on before, in the end their latest production would wind up winning Gold and Platinum honours for their sales.

By H.P. Baxxter and his team's account, they have now sold more than 30 million records. And not just at home in Germany. The eurodance act is well known abroad, particularly in the UK and Eastern Europe. The trio begins a tour of European stadiums in late March.

H.P. Baxxter admits he tried out AI for writing song lyrics - but he quickly gave it up again. "For fun, I once fed some lines of text into it and just wanted to see what came of it and what was continued with it. And so I concluded: Either the system is too stupid, or it doesn't get my humour. Because it always sounded normal."

Normal is not what the Scooter frontman is out to do. He focuses less on the profound in his lyrics and much more on fun, on the wink of an eye, the unexpected. "I always make notes when I find something funny. And later I see where I can use it. It's like a collage."

Has H.P. Baxxter himself ever played Bingo? "No, not yet!" he answers with a laugh. His obligations as the shouting frontman at Scooter raves have kept him too busy.

Perhaps his best-known shouted lyric is "How Much Is the Fish?", from Scooter's 90s hit single of the same name.

He says he has "endlessly" been asked in interviews to answer the question "how much does the fish actually cost?" "From '98, when it came out, until today I've been asked that again and again," he says, admitting he never thought the question would haunt him so long.

"At first, I often didn't say anything. Then at some point, I just settled on: €1.59."