ACCEPT's WOLF HOFFMANN Is Open To Songwriting Input From New Members

Metal Wani editor in chief Owais "Vitek" Nabi recently conducted an interview with guitarist Wolf Hoffmann of German/American metallers ACCEPT. You can now listen to the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On the feeling in ACCEPT since the addition of guitarist Uwe Lulis (GRAVE DIGGER, REBELLION) and drummer Christopher Williams to the group's ranks:

"Really good. I mean, people always say that, I guess. You couldn't interview anybody and he would say, 'You know what? I think these guys suck.' But, no, to tell you the truth, we feel like we have a jolt of new energy — totally new. Uwe is an amazing guitar player, and we've known him personally for some time, because he's been around the band for a number of years in the form of guitar tech, and as a friend. So that, in itself, makes a huge difference, as you know somebody, how [his] personality works, because being in a band is twenty percent musicianship and eighty percent of other stuff: personalities; how do you travel with somebody; how do you like somebody, basically. If you like somebody, it's a lot easier to make music with him than if you just sort barely get along, obviously. And a good part of our time is spent traveling together and just dealing together. So if you have people that you like and you get alo[ng with, that makes all the difference in the world. And then, the other thing is, if you have people that are really enthusiastic about being there, that also is a huge difference. It doesn't help you, maybe, if you have a better musician but he's lazy or he's not into it, or he's always late, and you can really feel that he's not really giving it a hundred percent. So that doesn't really help anybody. Now we have two guys who are really enthusiastic about being in this band and they wanna travel the world and they wanna be with us. So it's really a fresh energy. It's great."

On taking time to tour and relax before beginning work on the next studio album:

"To me, it's a fine line. If you take too much time, it's no good. But if you take too little time, it's also no good. You've gotta keep the pressure up a little bit. Or else you kind of lose momentum and everybody goes on vacation and life starts taking over and you get nothing done. But if you push it too hard — like we've been pushing it really hard these last five years: album, tour, album, tour, blah blah blah blah. And then I felt like we needed a couple of months off. So I took these last couple of months that we've been off the road, I've just took the time to relax and mow the lawn and do shit around the house and things that I normally never have the time to. So it's been very, very good, and now we're full of energy and I think right after this next run, we're gonna start writing songs full force."

On whether there is a possibility that Lulis and Williams will contribute to the songwriting process for the next ACCEPT album:

"Absolutely. Why not? I mean, Peter [Baltes, bass] and I always have been and will always be the main guys writing those songs, because if you want it to sound like ACCEPT, then that's what it is, that's who we are and that's what we should be like. But at the same time, we're glad to have new guys on board and, you know, we'll see how it all goes."

ACCEPT's latest album, "Blind Rage", was released in August 2014 via Nuclear Blast. Like its two predecessors, 2010's "Blood Of The Nations" and 2012's "Stalingrad", the new effort was helmed by British producer Andy Sneap, who has previously worked with MEGADETH, EXODUS, TESTAMENT, ARCH ENEMY and KILLSWITCH ENGAGE. The cover artwork was created by Daniel Goldsworthy.

"Blind Rage" sold around 6,400 copies in the United States in its first week of release.