Chaoszine caught up with Robin McAuley at Sweden’s Time To Rock Festival in July, shortly after he rejoined Michael Schenker Group. While answering the magazine’s questions about his career, the singer also talked about his time in Survivor.
Asked whether he ever had plans to record original songs for the band, McAuley explained:
“We recorded a whole bunch of songs. And we never got and took it to the next level. But we did. Yeah, we went into the studio a number of times.”
He recalled a Survivor performance by saying:
“I remember we actually re-recorded ‘Eye Of The Tiger.’ And after I recorded ‘Eye Of The Tiger’ with my voice, I was only in the band for about a month. And then Frankie called me, and he said, ‘Hey, we’ve been invited to perform on ‘Dancing with the Stars.” And I’m going, ‘What do we do with ‘Dancing with the Stars?” He goes, we have to go on and play live.”
Giving details about the show, the vocalist went on:
“And the truth is, I was the only one who was live – I was live – because it’s too difficult on TV to play live. So everybody else played to track; I actually sang. And all of the dancers had all of this Rocky boxing stuff on. And ‘American Idol’ was at CBS Studios, right across in the other studio, and ‘Dancing with the Stars’ was on this side.”
He also reflected on a chat that took place behind the scenes:
“And the program director came to me five minutes before showtime, and she said, “Dancing with the Stars’ just took the number one place in viewers, and we have 58 million viewers tonight. No pressure on you,’ [Laughter] and I almost shit myself. And that’s the truth. And that was my introduction to Survivor, really. In front of 58 million people, live on TV. So yeah, you’re never ready. ‘What do I wear?’ [Laughter]”
Although McAuley didn’t reunite with Survivor after his departure around 2011, he came together with MSG to replace Ronnie Romero for the band’s 2023 tour. This is the second time the singer rejoined Schenker for a series of shows.
That’s why the Chaoszine interviewer asked him how it happened again during the recent chat, and he revealed:
“That was easy. I get an email, ‘Can you jump in and sing the festivals and shows for the rest of 2023?’ And I said, ‘Let me check the schedule.’ We’re about to start working on a new Black Swan and a new solo record, the third of each, and we won’t start working until very late in the year. So I said, ‘Yeah, sure.'”
Commenting on his comeback, McAuley added:
“I didn’t ask any questions. And then I saw all of the posts, and I went, ‘Whatever.’ It was the same thing last year or whatever it was. So I’m in for the rest of the year with MSG with Michael for his 50th-anniversary tour. And I’m happy to be here. It’s a lot of fun.”
You can check out the interview here.