ACCEPT's WOLF HOFFMANN On Lineup Changes: 'There's This Romantic Idea That Musicians Have To Stay Together Forever'

In a new interview with Brazil's Heavy Metal On Line, ACCEPT guitarist Wolf Hoffmann spoke about the challenges of keeping a band lineup together. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, nobody is forced to be in ACCEPT. Everybody's a volunteer in this. And sometimes it turns out that somebody decides, 'I wanna go a different direction.' And then that's totally normal. It happens in every company. It happens in every sports team. It happens in every other aspect of life. But for some strange reason, there's this romantic idea that musicians have to stay together forever. And that's just not practical. I mean, it's just not realistic. For instance, I'll give you an example. Phil Shouse is a third guitar player in ACCEPT. He joined us in 2019. And last year, after the South American tour, he came to us and said, 'Listen, guys. I had food poisoning on this tour. I had to sit for hours and hours on these airplanes. I was in a hospital. This is just too much for me. This is too rough. I have an offer from another band here in Nashville and I wanna join this other band. So, please, I wanna leave the band.' But we said, 'Man, Phil, you're a great, amazing player. We don't wanna let you go. We love you. We wanna keep you. What can we do?' And he said, 'Well, maybe I can be a permanent special guest in ACCEPT and still be part of most shows, but I cannot be in every show.' And that's a perfect example of what happens sometimes. We'd love to keep him, but he has other plans and his life changed slightly. So now he's not gonna be everywhere we play. And to complete that story, we're now bringing to South America Joel Hoekstra from WHITESNAKE with us on this run. But that's just a perfect example. If it was up to me, nobody would ever leave. We would just be all great friends and everybody would get along. But that's not how life is sometimes. So I see it as my role as the only surviving oldest member of the band to just keep the ship afloat. I wanna keep going to the best of my abilities. And that's what I do. It's my mission in life to keep ACCEPT going to the best of my abilities. I think we have a fantastic camaraderie in the band right now, but I cannot guarantee if maybe someday, a few years down the road, somebody will change their mind and wanna do something else. And that's okay."

Regarding what he and his bandmates do to create a peaceful atmosphere within ACCEPT, Wolf said: "Don't stress the little stuff. And one thing we found that really works for us, we try to have personal space. For instance, during the day, everybody goes to their room. Some guy is just watching TV, the other guy is walking the city, but we try to not always hang together. And then, like an hour before the show, it's fresh. We're happy to see each other and we're glad to make metal together. But if you're hanging together too much, that's when the problem starts. You can only take so much of each other, because we're always together — at airports, on flights, we share meals together. And after a while, you don't know what to say to each other because you've said it all already. There's not so much new stuff that you can talk about. So sometimes it's just nice to go into your room and call the wife or call the family and just be in a different zone. That's healthy and that's good and that's how we keep a healthy relationship in the band, because too much is too much."

Due on April 26 via Napalm Records, ACCEPT's new album, "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 six studio albums, "Blood Of The Nations" (2010),"Stalingrad" (2012),"Blind Rage" (2014),"The Rise Of Chaos" (2017),"Too Mean To Die" (2021) and "Humanoid" (2024).