ACCEPT's WOLF HOFFMANN: 'You Don't Start Out As A Kid Wanting To Be The Leader Of A Band'

Brazil's Wikimetal podcast recently conducted an interview with guitarist Wolf Hoffmann of German/American metallers ACCEPT. You can now listen to the chat using the SoundCloud widget below.

Speaking about the songwriting process for ACCEPT's latest album, "Blind Rage", Wolf said: "We never really write on the road. The only time that we ever do write is when we have a little bit of time off in between touring."

He continued: "Peter [Baltes, bass] and I got together last summer — or two summers ago, I think it is, at this point, and we started writing when we played festival shows in Europe. So there were some off days, and we used the time and started cranking out the first demos.

Hoffmann added: "We had about six or eight months this time to write all these songs for 'Blind Rage', and that's about the time we needed to make sure all the songs are mature enough, and it gave us the opportunity to go over these songs several times. And on 'Stalingrad', for instance, in comparison, we were sort of in a somewhat of a rush. And this time around, we said, 'Let's make sure we have enough time this time and make sure that the songs are as good as we want them to be. Let's just record when we're ready,' pretty much. And that's what we did. So by the time we did go into the studio, we felt like these songs are perfect. We'll leave 'em like that and we'll just record 'em."

Wolf also spoke about his role as ACCEPT's "leader" and "musical director." He said: "You know, these things, they don't… You don't wake up one day and make the decision that that is what you're gonna be. These things just happen over time and you sort of grow into them, somehow. And I guess that's part of every band's dynamic over the years. But my point is you don't start out as a kid wanting to be the leader of a band or anything; you just sort of get together with a bunch of guys and then you discover that some guys have more drive and more energy than others, and you take over certain responsilbities. It just sort of happens along the way that, all of a sudden, you are in charge or you are the one who's working all the time on these things, and that's just fine. I mean, it just sort of happens. This wasn't a conscious decision by anybody, really."

"Blind Rage" was released on August 15, 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.