ACCEPT Guitarist Says American Metal Scene Is 'Dead', Sees No Hope Of Revival

MetalEater.com recently conducted an interview with ACCEPT guitarist Wolf Hoffmann. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

MetalEater.com: Unfortunately, the U.S./Canadian Metal scene is not as good as the European scene — not even close.

Wolf Hoffmann: "No, man. It's just dead."

MetalEater.com: I think in some states it's pretty good, like the East Coast. For instance, in Toronto and Montreal there is a huge metal scene.

Wolf Hoffmann: "But isn't it pathetic that it used to be — like when we got started in the '80s - that everybody's dream was to come to the U.S. and tour here in America, and now it's the opposite. Everybody European came over here. Our big break was to come over here; that was our big deal. The only place all the American bands can still go on tour is in Europe — at all these European festivals. I mean, I talk to so many other musicians and they say, 'Next year we're going to hit the festivals in Europe.' But nobody is talking about doing tours over here because they just can't. It really turned around. I mean, even when MÖTLEY CRÜE did their reunion thing — they did a good portion of it over there in Europe, where in the old days they wouldn't have dreamed of going over there because they would've raked everything in the American market first, you know."

MetalEater.com: Metal has changed a lot over the years.

Wolf Hoffmann: "It sure has."

MetalEater.com: What is your take on the current metal scene as a whole, and just metal in general?

Wolf Hoffmann: "Well, I really don't have a much better insight than you guys do. If anything, it's worse because I look at it from the inside and from my perspective, we all know that in the early '90s, the whole alternative scene — starting with NIRVANA — killed everything; and rightfully so because metal was turning into this BON JOVI pop/hairspray scene that nobody really could honestly stand behind anymore. So, rightfully so, there was a new 'alternative' wave coming in and maybe during the mid-'90s, I think it was pretty dead for everybody. Then all of a sudden, these European bands kind of found their own identity and the whole scene over there in Europe started to really say, 'You know what? Let's forget about America and we'll do our own thing. We like what we like and we no longer are influenced by the American scene.' It used to be even that Europe as a whole didn't really have their own identity. They were just sort of looking more for the American market; what's big over there is automatically big over here; and there weren't really a lot of local acts that made it big just on their home territory. That all changed in the '90s and now there are bands that are huge over there (in Europe) and nobody has even heard of them here."

MetalEater.com: Do you think that metal is every going to get back to the status it was in the '80s?

Wolf Hoffmann: "Well, people keep telling me, 'It's coming back! It's coming back!' but somehow, I don't see it happening. I mean, this has been going on for at least five or seven years that everybody is saying, 'Yeah, you just wait! This year it's coming back. I can feel it!' (chuckles) But honestly, I don't know... I don't think so. I hope so, but it doesn't look like it to me."

MetalEater.com: I know you've probably been asked this before, but do you think there will be another ACCEPT album in the future?

Wolf Hoffmann: "No. I can't see it; never ever I don't think.

MetalEater.com: Is it something that you would want to do if the chemistry and all the right attitude was there?

Wolf Hoffmann: "It's so far away from everything, from any reality. It hasn't even crossed my mind whether I wanted to do it. I know it's impossible so I don't even give it a thought."

MetalEater.com: It sounds like you're more excited about and more focused on the projects that we discussed earlier.

Wolf Hoffmann: "Oh, way more. The thought of having to make another ACCEPT album doesn't excite me very much at all (laughs). So it's not even something I even have thought about much."

Read the entire interview at MetalEater.com.