Ex-ACCEPT Singer DAVID REECE 'Would Love To' Play Some 50th-Anniversary Shows With The Band

David Reece, who fronted ACCEPT in the late '80s, says that he "would love to" play some reunion shows with the band to celebrate the Wolf Hoffmann-led group's 50th anniversary.

The American vocalist was recruited for ACCEPT's "Eat The Heat" LP in 1989 following the departure of Udo Dirkschneider. Reece's higher-pitched delivery was in sharp contrast to Dirkschneider's distinctive style, and overall, the album was a critical and commercial disappointment. Midway through the "Eat The Heat" tour, differences between the band and Reece had come to a head, leading to the altercation between the singer and bassist Peter Baltes in Chicago. By the end of 1989, ACCEPT had hung it up.

Asked by Nejc Zupančič of PodRaznoKast if there has been any talk about him rejoining ACCEPT for a special appearance during the band's recently announced 50th-anniversary tour, Reece said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I hear rumors of 'ACCEPT fest', like Michael Schenker did [with MICHAEL SCHENKER FEST, a revolving all-star reunion project launched around 2016-2018, bringing together iconic vocalists from the MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP (MSG) era — Gary Barden, Graham Bonnet and Robin McAuley — along with TEMPLE OF ROCK vocalist Doogie White]. But I've never had any hard contact. I'm really good friends with Udo, I'm good friends with Peter Baltes, but I've never been actually approached about it. It wouldn't surprise me. And I'm okay if they say, 'Okay, we want you to do a few shows.' I'll just ride in a rental car and follow the bus. I don't care. I would love to do it. I mean, that part of my life is the reason I'm talking to you. That's what brought me to the forefront publicly in the music business. That was my breakout moment. So I would love to. I mean, I play ['Eat The Heat' song] 'X-T-C', I play 'D-Train', I play 'Generation Clash', 'Hellhammer' live in my set — even now. I would love to. But it's up to Wolf. I mean, it's Wolf's band now."

David went on to say that he is not holding his breath for an ACCEPT reunion with all of the band's former members. "It would be a massive undertaking, trust me," he explained. "There's so much history with that band, and let's say good blood and bad blood. I mean, to get everybody to agree to do it would be a really big job. But my door is open. Call me, find me. I'm there."

Reece also praised Dirkschneider, with whom David had played several times in the past. "The man, he's in his early seventies," Reece said. "He's a Panzer tank. I mean, I did the U.D.O. 'Steelfactory' tour, David Reece solo, as a special guest, in 2018, '19, and I think we played 38 shows together, and it was fabulous. And every night he was the same. He's not lost a step. But I can tell you this — he had a bone infection that he had contracted in Spain, and the doctors told him, 'You need to go home and get well.' And he said, 'I never cancel.' So most of the tour I did with him, he used a cane on stage. And it was unbelievable. I mean, I respect that man to no end. I'm dear friends with him and his son Sven [who is now playing drums for U.D.O. and DIRKSCHNEIDER]. Sven's band DAMAGED used to open for me in Germany. And if Udo was home, he would come to the shows, and, of course, people would go, 'Oh, David Reece is playing, and Udo's here.' So it was kind of an event. People get to see us together."

Regarding his personal relationship with Udo, David said: "We never had a problem. When I joined [ACCEPT], he was doing [the U.D.O. album] 'Mean Machine' next door to me in Dierks Studios, and that's where I met [U.D.O.'s then-guitarist] Andy [Susemihl]. And Udo never, ever treated me weird. He was always a gentleman, said, 'Good luck. You'll see what I'm talking about. It's not easy. I wish you the best.' And we've always been gentlemen."

On the topic of "Eat The Heat"'s more commercial sound compared to ACCEPT's earlier efforts, David said: "Sometimes I look back in retrospect and think maybe we should have changed the [band] name. But again, it goes back to branding. I think the first released single, the video for 'Generation Clash', was a terrible mistake because it's a heavy metal band. If we released 'D-Train' or 'X-T-C' as the first single, keep the fans that were devout followers: 'Oh, they're still heavy.' But we came out with kind of the polished American blonde singer Americanized version, which all came from corporate. 'Cause basically the after 'Balls Of The Wall', they started moving in the direction of that sound, like 'Metal Heart' and 'Russian Roulette'. They started to kind of get more commercialized, and Udo's voice did not suit that. So the record companies all said, 'Hey, get a singer that's got this vibe, and we can break this record into a million seller,' which was a mistake. I mean, people that wear suits and ties and record companies, they don't know what fans want. They have no clue. All they think about is money. And it was a shock for the band that it wasn't that successful, and a shock for me that I wasn't taken in and loved. I was either hated or loved — there was no middle."

As for why his collaboration with ACCEPT was so short lived, Reece said: "I'm an American. They're Germans. Number one, you've got cultural differences. One thing I learned from ACCEPT, you go from playing five shows [a week at clubs] to joining a band like ACCEPT — they were the second-largest metal band in Germany, SCORPIONS being number one — that was a whole different game for me. I was, like, you know, 'I can do this.' Well, ['Eat The Heat' producer] Dieter [Dierks] said, 'You've got a great voice, but we have to discover what it is. We have to find the identity.' And I didn't understand that, but when you're trying to sing like [Rob] Halford or [Ronnie James] Dio or David Coverdale and doing cover songs, you really don't have an identity, where Udo, that's just how he sings. That was the voice when he started the band in 1974. So that's what it was.'

Reece added: "The hardest part of the process was being accepted in the band, no pun intended. The final audition was a live show in Cologne, and they invited a lot of heavy people there to give their opinion. And there was about a thousand people at the show. I was convinced that that was my last day there, that it won't work. And I did the show. It went really well, and we had a guest house and I heard everybody talking in the morning. So I got up and said, 'Well, I better go say goodbye.' And I walked into the kitchen and they all said, 'Welcome to ACCEPT.' So I was hired. That was pretty terrifying, because I had been there for a long time, and they were really nervous about making the change, because they had a singer before me from England named Rob Armitage for a while, and he didn't work out. And you never really knew with them what they were thinking. They kept things very much in their private circle. Nobody would say 'yes', nobody would say 'no'. So that was really the final test, if I could fit in the band. And I made it."

Back in 2022, Reece was asked by Via Nocturna 2000 YT how he looks back on his time with ACCEPT. Reece said: "Well, I can be blatantly honest — it was super positive and super negative, but I wouldn't be speaking with you right now if I hadn't done that album. The doors were opened; the floodgates happened. The critics hated me. Some loved me. But I have to be honest and say that was an opportunity of a lifetime. I did the best I could. I have no animosity towards those guys. I don't care what they're doing; they don't care what I'm doing; but I'm grateful for the opportunity. It speaks volumes as a singer that I was chosen over 50 people to be the guy. It was a difficult job."

David went on to say that his association with ACCEPT landed him a call from JUDAS PRIEST after the latter band parted ways with Rob Halford. "At that time I could really sing like that," he said. "It was myself, Ralf Scheepers [PRIMAL FEAR] and Ripper Owens; [we] were the top three guys. So they chose Ripper. But they were contacting me six months later: 'Come over to England and let's jam.' So, obviously, it did a lot for me in a positive way."

According to Reece, he looks back on "Eat The Heat" fondly. "I mean, everybody has an album they regret, but if you regret an album, maybe you're not thinking clearly about the personal turmoil that was going on during the album," he explained. "That could affect how you think about it. And I've gotten to my old, mature state where I can go, 'That's pretty damn good.' I still play 'X-T-C' and 'D-Train' and 'Hellhammer' live, and 'Generation Clash', and people go crazy. So those songs are timeless for people."

In January 2021, guitarist Wolf Hoffmann called "Eat The Heat" "a dark time in our history of ACCEPT. I would say that all of the '90s were very difficult and very dark in a way, and I don't even like to think about it so much," he told Hardrock Haven. "If only you journalist guys didn't constantly ask me about it, I would never even think about it. [Laughs] 'Cause it was just a time when heavy metal was going through a very dark period. The traditional sound was out of style and nobody wanted to listen to it, so it was sort of searching for a new direction — especially in the '90s. 'Eat The Heat' came out at the beginning of that era and it was meant to be a new chapter, but it's just never panned out because basically everything went wrong with that album. And it's just something you go through in life. I don't see why I still have to defend myself in a way… People always ask me this question almost in a provocative way, as if I have to defend myself about this album. It's ridiculous… It's almost like people have to apologize that they like it."

He continued: "There's something about this album that rubs a lot of people the wrong way and they have such a strong opinion about it… It's sometimes laughable. In my mind, it had some fantastic songs but it was just never executed properly, and it was not meant to be. But over the years, I've met so many fans who said exactly the same thing, 'Man, I really wanna apologize, but I really like this album… I know nobody likes it, but I think it's great.' And I think that's so bizarre. If you like it, you like it. It's so strange that people are so opinionated about it.

"It's just music," Wolf explained. "You can like it or not, but it's not more than that. In any case, it wasn't the period of time that I like to even think about much, 'cause it was very difficult."

In addition to ACCEPT, Reece has played with BONFIRE, BANGALORE CHOIR and IRON ALLIES.

Press photo courtesy of Michael Brandvold Marketing