ACCEPT Guitarist: 'Blood Of The Nations' May Be Best Album We've Ever Done

Highwire Daze conducted an interview with guitarist Wolf Hoffmann of reformed heavy metal legends ACCEPT on October 18, 2010 in Hollywood, California. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Highwire Daze: How did this ACCEPT reunion come about it, and was it almost derailed when Udo [Dirkschneider, vocals] decided he couldn't become involved?

Wolf: No, it was quite the opposite. Udo decided he didn't want to be involved, and that was the end of it as far as we were concerned. Then one day we met Mark Tornillo just by chance — and that's what sparked the whole reunion thing. We wanted to do shows with Udo all along — ever since 2005, we wanted to do more reunion shows with Udo — but that was all we ever wanted to do. And Udo always said no, he didn't have any interest. So we put it all to rest — the whole ACCEPT idea. And then one day I was with Peter Baltes [bass] in his hometown in Philadelphia, and we went to a recording studio to do some jamming, basically play some old ACCEPT tunes just for fun, when this studio owner suggested Mark Tornillo who lives around the corner. He was sort of familiar with his old material, and why don't we call him for the day just to be part of that jam session? So we did and Mark came and he started singing, and Peter and I realized that this guy is phenomenal. We need to ask him to be the new lead singer for ACCEPT. So we did and he said yes. And that in turn got this whole ball rolling. That's when we decided to write a new record and restart ACCEPT. But really, Udo was out of the picture long before that.

Highwire Daze: Describe the first show with the new ACCEPT lineup and what was going through your mind with Mark as the new lead singer?

Wolf: We kinda said, "Boy, I hope they embrace him as much as we embraced him." Because we didn't really know how fans would react. We were hoping for the best, but we didn't know that it was going to work this well! At the end of the day, you always have to put your best foot forward and make a good product and then throw it out there and see how people react. And after that, it's out of your control. If it would have turned out that nobody likes it, we couldn't have done anything about it. But luckily everybody is on board and everybody loves it.

Highwire Daze: How do you think "Blood Of The Nations" compares to all of the classic ACCEPT records?

Wolf: I think maybe it's the best we've ever done. It's up to the fans to decide that in the end and time will tell. But my feeling right now after it's been out for several weeks and months now is that it doesn't have to hide behind any of the old ones that we did. Some people say it's the best we've ever done — some people say it's the best since "Metal Heart". And it's really not up to me to judge that — but I think it's a really good one.

Highwire Daze: The last time you did an ACCEPT album without Udo was "Eat The Heat". In retrospect, what do you think of that album and do you still keep in touch with [former ACCEPT singer] David Reece?

Wolf: I do not. And you know, it was a different time — about 20 years ago. We were just coming out of the '80s obviously when heavy metal had its heyday in the United States. But already, you could feel the change in the air musically. Nobody was really too crazy about metal anymore and everybody was looking for a new direction in a way. All the bands that I know of — they made some strange records in the '90s — just because nobody really knew where it was going to go next. It was kind of obvious that we couldn't do a traditional metal album that we'd always done — but we didn't really know what else to do. So together with the label, we all decided to try something that would take us into a more commercial direction. And that's why we hooked up with David Reece. Overall, it was a good effort, but it wasn't meant to be. That's how I want to put it. It just wasn't accepted by the fans and a lot of things didn't go right for that record. I think there's still some really strong songwriting on it, but overall the package didn't come together really well. It was unfortunate, but it's just one of those lessons you learn in life.

Highwire Daze: When you look back on the final ACCEPT album [with Udo], "Predator", what do you think of it now?

Wolf: It was also a very difficult time for us. We all felt this is going to be our last record. We knew that going into the studio. Nobody had high hopes — none of us did — and the chemistry of the band just wasn't there anymore. Udo himself had said it many times — the chemistry between us really was not there. It was there for a while in the '80s, but it certainly wasn't there in the '90s — and certainly not in '96. It was just unfortunate. We tried to make it work, but it wasn't meant to last. We all knew this is not going to go on forever.

Highwire Daze: What do you think of all of the solo U.D.O. albums? Do you even listen to them?

Wolf: I try not to, just because it's so close to home. I don't even want to be bothered with it, honestly. Obviously I can't avoid over the years — I've heard certain things. It's all good and I commend Stefan [Kaufmann, former ACCEPT drummer and current U.D.O. guitarist] for being the songwriter for all of these years and doing a really hard job of trying to make record after record. But him being the only songwriter is really tough. And I don't think — from what I've heard — that they're doing themselves a big favor of using all of these computerized drums and things. But, man, everybody should do their own thing — and that's all I want to comment on it. I don't really want to compare it to anything that we do. I wish him all the luck in the world. And I think since Udo choose to not be part of ACCEPT anymore, I think everybody is better off if they just go their own way. We do our thing and we wish them all the best with theirs.

Highwire Daze: Tell me about your photography and how long you've had an interest in it.

Wolf: I started in the '80s, just when ACCEPT was on the road all of the time. I started picking up the camera just to document things around the band and around life on the road. I became more and more serious about it. And whenever ACCEPT took a longer break, I became fascinated with photography and immersed myself into it. I got pretty serious about it for a while. I became a fanatic amateur, I would say. So then when ACCEPT quit in 1996, I asked myself, "What is it that I want to do? I'm not going to do music." I knew I didn't want to do another music project right after ACCEPT, because it would almost be another lite version of ACCEPT. I didn't want to face that dilemma of playing "Balls To The Wall" and "Princess Of The Dawn" with a totally new band. So I said, "Why don't I do something completely different?" And so I picked photography, just because it's my second passion in life — and I became a photographer. I did nothing else for a number of years. I've been a professional for about 10-12 years, meaning that's how I make a living. I love it — but I love music much more. I probably make more money doing photography, to tell you the truth, but do I have more fun? Probably not — it's debatable. Nothing can be more fun that being onstage in front of hundreds of thousands of kids who sing your songs. That's a thrill you don't really get with photography — not that I've experienced anyhow.

Read the entire interview from Highwire Daze.

(Thanks: NJthrasher)