ACCEPT's WOLF HOFFMANN: 'We're Not A Band Which Has To Have A Ballad For The Chicks'

ACCEPT guitarist Wolf Hoffmann spoke to Brazil's Headbangers News about the inspiration for the song "The Best Is Yet To Come", a "ballad" of sorts that is featured on the band's latest album, "Too Mean To Die".

"I had the music written for that song, and I liked it, but I wasn't quite sure whether it would work for ACCEPT, because, after all, a song like that has to be a hundred percent convincing and the singer really has to put his heart and soul into it, or else it's not gonna make it, I think," Wolf said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "'Cause the last thing that you want, especially as a metal like we are, you don't want a half-assed ballad that's only like, 'Meh,' where people are saying, 'Well, they could have left that away.' So, if we do a ballad or a slow song… Actually, to me, it's not really a typical ballad; it's more of a slower song because it's still quite bouncy and not so… I don't know… Something about it is not a typical ballad to me.

"Anyway, we did say initially when we recorded it, 'Let's just wait and see how it develops and what Mark [Tornillo, ACCEPT singer] feels about it. If he really gets into it and and if he really 'gets' it, so to say, and really delivers, then it's gonna make the cut.' And by God, he did. I think he did a killer job. And he loves that song; you can tell he loves it.

"We have had sort of 'ballads' in the years past, and it's been a while that we've done one, because I always felt, like, we don't really need one," Wolf continued. "We're not a band which has to have a ballad for the chicks or something; it's not us. We're not BON JOVI or we're not somebody else… That's not us. I get it — it's their thing — but that's not really who we are. So that's why I felt if we do one, it has to be one that's really convincing. And lyrically, I think it turned out really, really well. The message in that song is really something that's close to my heart, but I am personally sort of an optimist kind of guy and I like to live in the present and the future much more than in the past. So I actually do think the best is still out there a lot of times. Who knows what's around the corner? Who knows what's gonna happen next week, and it could be the best thing ever. And that's the way I like to think personally and also as a musician. I think you have to say to yourself, 'Maybe the best ACCEPT show hasn't been played yet. Maybe yesterday was amazing but tomorrow could be much, much better.' And that's what, I think, motivates you [and] challenges you."

"Too Mean To Die" came out in January via Nuclear Blast. The LP is 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, 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, Tennessee with British producer Andy Sneap (JUDAS PRIEST, MEGADETH),who has been responsible for the studio sound of ACCEPT since 2010.