ACCEPT's WOLF HOFFMANN: 'In My Mind, I'm Still 16'

In a new interview with Niclas Müller-Hansen of RockSverige, ACCEPT guitarist Wolf Hoffmann was asked how he feels about getting older. He responded: "That brings me to the point of [the ACCEPT song] 'Ravages Of Time' [from the band's upcoming album 'Humanoid']. That's why I wrote that song. When I was sitting there writing the first ideas for that song, I had a little guitar melody and I thought it could be a cool, slow song and I thought, 'What could it be about?' and I thought, 'It's time for a little bit of honesty.'

"I joined ACCEPT when I was 16, and now I'm 64 and I'm still behaving like I'm 16," he admitted. "In my mind, I'm still 16, because it takes that or else you wouldn't do what we're doing. At the same time, I know I'm not 16 anymore and I don't look like 16, but nothing lasts forever, as it says in the song. That's why I wrote that song. It could be a bit of an honest reflection on life, and I think that's good, to talk about the truth."

Wolf clarified: "I'm not saying I'm going to retire and I'm not saying I feel old or anything. Time takes its toll, whether you want it to or not. Sometimes you sit there thinking, 'I hope this will last forever,' but I know it won't. That's all.

"I remember when I was a young teenager, there was a moment when I was trying to explain to my parents, 'Mommy and daddy, I want to be a professional musician.' And they looked at me, like, 'What do you mean? You're not a classical musician. You're playing rock music. You can't do that forever,'" he added. "There was a time when there wasn't any old musicians. I mean THE [ROLLING] STONES weren't even 30, for crying out loud, when I started. THE BEATLES had retired, and there wasn't anybody 50 or 60 years old playing loud music and banging their heads. All that was a young man's game. Everybody thought that one day they all would have to get a proper job and do something else. Here we are, all these years later, and I'm almost one of the younger guys still out there. There are guys pushing 80 now. How crazy is that? And I think it's great. Now we all know we can do it and I see bands that start now that are younger and they have a completely different outlook and they know they can do it for the rest of their career and they take much more care of their career long-term. We never did that. When we made these albums, we thought, Okay, we'll make another album, but it's not going to last much longer.' Nobody thought you could do it for that long, to be honest, so there was never anyone thinking ten years ahead. Same for me. I always thought we'd have a bit of fun, but one day it will all have to end. Just a completely different mindset."

Due on April 26 via Napalm Records, "Humanoid" was once again produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by critically acclaimed heavy metal producer Andy Sneap.

Fans can immerse themselves in the upcoming album on an interactive web site, where they can reprogram the robot that is featured on the album cover, and discover different parts of the album in the process. Pre-save "Humanoid" now to gain access to the web site here.

ACCEPT recently announced a massive European headline tour, with more than 20 shows across the continent for autumn 2024. This summer, ACCEPT will also return to some of the world’s most important rock and metal festivals, like Wacken Open Air, Hellfest and more, following their South American spring tour.

In February 2022, it was announced that ACCEPT had inked a worldwide deal with Napalm Records.

ACCEPT's latest album, "Too Mean To Die", came out in January 2021 via Nuclear Blast. The LP was the group's first without bassist Peter Baltes, who exited ACCEPT in November 2018. He has since been replaced by Martin Motnik. ACCEPT's lineup has also been expanded with the addition of a third guitarist, the aforementioned Philip Shouse, who originally filled in for Uwe Lulis during 2019's "Symphonic Terror" tour, before being asked to join the band permanently.

"Too Mean To Die" was recorded in Nashville with Sneap (JUDAS PRIEST, MEGADETH),who has been responsible for the studio sound of ACCEPT since 2010.

Mark Tornillo joined ACCEPT in 2009 as the replacement for the band's original lead singer, Udo Dirkscheider. He can be heard on ACCEPT's last five studio albums, "Blood Of The Nations" (2010),"Stalingrad" (2012),"Blind Rage" (2014),"The Rise Of Chaos" (2017) and "Too Mean To Die".