ACCEPT Guitarist Remembers RONNIE JAMES DIO In New Audio Interview

Metal Shock Finland 's Blackdiamond recently conducted an interview with guitarist Wolf Hoffmann of reformed heavy metal legends ACCEPT. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below.

Asked for his memories of legendary heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio, who died exactly three years ago today, Wolf said: "Not only was he an awesome singer — like everybody knows; everybody worshipped him as a singer — but he was also a very nice person to be around; gentleman-like. We toured with him in 1986 and did a whole North American run with him, opening up for him, and he was always very generous and let us use the stage, and gave us soundchecks and all that kind of stuff. So I remember it was a very pleasant tour. We didn't spend a whole lot of time with him; that's the nature of being an opening act. I mean, a lot of people always think we're partying every night after the show, but that's not how it usually goes. Espeically him — he wasn't a guy who would hang around all the time; he would do his thing and keep to himself, and we exchanged pleasantries and said hi and then we had a beer together and all that. And that's the extent of what you normally do — or we do — we when we open up for other bands. But, like I said, he was very nice."

ACCEPT's April 12 concert at Teatro Caupolicán in Santiago, Chile was professionally filmed for the band's forthcoming DVD.

During a recent interview with Radio Futuro, Hoffmann revealed that ACCEPT is planning to enter the studio soon to begin work on the follow-up to 2012's "Stalingrad". "We're currently gathering material," he said. "We're writing stuff actively, so give us a few more months, and hopefully, by the end of the year, we 'll have enough material to actually start working on a new studio album. But it won't be long. I can't guarantee when exactly it's gonna be happening, but we wanna definitely go back to the studio as soon as we can."

"Stalingrad" sold around 5,400 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 81 on The Billboard 200 chart. The band's previous CD, "Blood Of The Nations", opened with around 2,900 units back in September 2010 to land at No. 187.

"Stalingrad" was released on April 6, 2012 via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD was once again helmed by British producer Andy Sneap (MEGADETH, EXODUS, NEVERMORE, ARCH ENEMY),who worked on the band's critically acclaimed comeback effort, "Blood Of The Nations".

Interview (audio):