ACCEPT Guitarist: 'It Seems Like We're One Of The Last Of The Dinosaurs'

Don de Leaumont of The Great Southern Brainfart recently conducted an interview with guitarist Wolf Hoffmann of reformed heavy metal legends ACCEPT. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

The Great Southern Brainfart: Are you finding a whole new generation of fans since ACCEPT has returned to the stage?

Wolf: Oh, hell yeah. Sometimes it's bizarre. The age range of our audience is anywhere from people in their 50s to much younger. When we started touring, I figured we'd be seeing a bunch of gray-haired people or bald people like myself in the audience who remembered us from way back when. You'd be surprised at what a wide mixture we have. Some nights there are a lot of girls out there and teenagers and everything in between. It's just wild.

The Great Southern Brainfart: Over the years it seems that metal took a weird turn and totally changed from the classic metal that I grew up with. Now I'm starting to see a whole new generation of young bands bringing back that classic metal sound that I grew up loving. How does it feel to see these bands coming out and doing what you started so many years ago?

Wolf: It feels good, and the more the better. I just don't envy these young bands nowadays because the landscape has changed so much that unfortunately most of these bands are never going to see the light of day. A lot of them aren't going to survive very long because it is so difficult these days to establish yourself and make a name for yourself and actually survive. I really wonder how many of these bands are going to be around ten years from now because of that. That's just the unfortunate truth. There's hardly any bands that truly stand the test of time and that's the reason why on a lot of these festivals all over Europe you see the same headlining acts all the time. There's really not many other bands that make it to that level. Even in our case. There's really not any bands that took our place which is not what I had anticipated honestly. When we stopped touring and stopped making records, I figured we had a great run and that there would be another ACCEPT coming up shortly and that they would do what we did and nobody would ever remember us. That really wasn't the case.

The Great Southern Brainfart: Why do you think that didn't happen?

Wolf: I have no idea, but we're a dying breed. It seems like we're one of the last of the dinosaurs. We are actually not the first generation of all these metal bands. I would say that was JUDAS PRIEST, SCORPIONS, those guys. We came up in the same generation as IRON MAIDEN when the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal started to happen in the '80s. We're about 10 years younger than those other bands but after us there is not another wave of bands 10 years younger than us that have the same status.

The Great Southern Brainfart: "Balls To The Wall" has to be one of the most famous metal songs of all time. Did you have any idea that song would connect with so many people?

Wolf: No. We never had a clue. You always have a feeling when something feels right or when you feel a song is probably stronger than the other ones but that's the extent of it. You never really know what's going to happen once it's released. Anyone who has ever released anything will tell you that you always hope that it will be a huge success in one way or another. More often than not it's not. After you've made a few records, you get a feel for what fans like and you get a little more realistic about it. You know it's not going to be an overnight sensation after a while. Even with this album, "Blood Of The Nations", and the song "Teutonic Terror". You just go and do the best that you can, you put it out there and you just sit back and wait for something to happen. People will either love it or they don't and it's totally something that you never really know up front or have the slightest idea.

The Great Southern Brainfart: I was so blown away when I heard "Blood Of The Nations". It sounded like a young, new band with that classic ACCEPT sound. Where you surprised at the feedback and reactions you received from this album?

Wolf: But we are young! We are all 22, didn't you know? We're counting backwards! [laughs] We knew people would be highly critical of the band. When we announced we were coming back with Mark (Tornillo) on vocals, everybody told us up front that it was not going to work and that nobody needs ACCEPT without Udo (Dirkschneider; original vocalist). We got tons of hate mail which was kind of funny but it just made that whole album better. We were convinced that we needed to be twice as good and to show everybody what we can do. It was on everyone's mind that the world was watching and that we better not mess up this one. [laughs] It influenced our attitude and work ethic to make the best album possible and to show the world that we still have it and that it is possible to write a great ACCEPT album with a new singer. There was this universal thing out there that it was impossible and it can't be done. We didn't understand that because Peter (Baltes; bassist) and I have been writing songs back in the '80s and we are writing the songs now. We didn't understand why it would be impossible to have a great album with a different singer. Now everyone has come around they love the new album which is great [laughs].

The Great Southern Brainfart: Have you guys been working on new material while out on the road?

Wolf: No, we never write on the road because you never really have enough time. That is why we're going to stop touring in July because if we don't stop we would never get a new album done. [laughs] We would like to start working later this summer to start cranking out new songs so we're going to lock ourselves in, turn off the phones, stay off the road and create some magic, hopefully.

Read the entire interview from The Great Southern Brainfart.