Ex-ACCEPT Singer UDO DIRKSCHNEIDER: I Will 'Never' Work With WOLF HOFFMANN Again

In a new interview with Australia's "Scars And Guitars" podcast, former ACCEPT singer Udo Dirkschneider was asked if he has had any contact with ACCEPT guitarist Wolf Hoffmann in recent years. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Never. And I don't wanna have any contact with him… I'm really good friends now again with [former ACCEPT bassist] Peter Baltes; he did all the bass guitars on [my new] cover album ['My Way'], for example. I still have a good relationship with [ex-ACCEPT drummer] Stefan Kaufmann. Over the years, he was the guitar player in U.D.O. [and] he was producing U.D.O. and stuff like that. And the only guy I don't wanna talk to — let's say it this way — is Wolf. There's a lot of reasons why. I wish him all the best. [He's] a great guitar player anyway, but for me to work with him again — never."

During the same chat, Udo was asked if he has ever had an opportunity to meet current ACCEPT singer Mark Tornillo, who joined the band in 2009. Dirkschneider said: "There was a festival, Masters Of Rock, happening in the Czech Republic, and I was a guest singer of LORDI — I did a song together with LORDI. And LORDI was headlining and ACCEPT was the special guest of this festival, not the headliner. And at the hotel, we [Mark and I] were waiting both for a driver, and he never said to me hello or something like that. Okay, I mean, what can I do? Why not say hello? I'm also really good friends with David Reece who did [ACCEPT's] 'Eat The Heat' album. We are really, really good friends; we talk sometimes on the phone and blah blah blah. I don't know… What I heard from Peter is that it was not allowed that he talk to me. Don't ask me. Forget it…"

Udo added: "He's a good singer, he's doing a good job now with ACCEPT, and I wish him good luck. And maybe one day [we will meet and speak to each other]. You never know."

Last December, Udo told Simfonia Metàl·lica that losing the rights to the ACCEPT name was the biggest mistake he made in his professional career. "This is the only thing I'm really not happy with," he said. "I was creating the name ACCEPT. And then, when we came — let's say in '80, '81, we had to sign a lot of documents. And sometimes you're not really looking on this. And then, in the end, when they fired me [from] my own band, I found a paper [saying] all the rights [to the ACCEPT name] go to Wolf Hoffmann. And that's really a big point, a bad point for me. The name is normally on me and not on Wolf Hoffmann."

He continued: "This was a big mistake — not really to look what you're signing. But anyway, this is history — [it happened] a long time ago. And I think in the end now, in a way I don't care. But sometimes [I think] I did a big mistake. But anyway, it happened."

Last year, Udo ruled out the possibility of a reunion with ACCEPT, telling TNT Radio Rock: "I don't wanna say anything bad. Wolf is a great guitar player. He's a great guy — I know that. But one thing, and that's why never ever can happen again a reunion or stuff like that, is he was stealing my name. A long time ago, in '81, when we had to sign some papers. I was really young, and, 'Yeah, okay,' I signed my contracts. There was some paper in between [all the others], and he [got] the rights [to the ACCEPT name]. But it was not Wolf [who orchestrated it]; I think it was now his wife. She was the manager of ACCEPT, and she was clever to put the [ACCEPT] name on Wolf Hoffmann. And this is the thing that makes me still angry — he was really stealing the name. I mean, I was making ACCEPT in '68.

"In the end, as a person, [he's] definitely a great guitar player, a great guy," Udo added. "It's history. I think I'm quite successful with U.D.O. If I want, I can do anytime a tour under [the name] DIRKSCHNEIDER and play ACCEPT songs. If I really say, 'Okay, I wanna do this again,' no problems at all. But the rest, in a way, is history.

"For example, I was working with Peter Baltes and Stefan Kaufmann together on the single 'Where The Angels Fly', and everybody was, like, 'Oh, what is this? This is more ACCEPT than ACCEPT is doing now at the moment.'"

Dirkschneider's long-running metal band U.D.O. released an album in July 2020 called "We Are One", featuring contributions from Baltes and Kaufmann. Baltes and Kaufmann also reunited with Dirkschneider in the studio to record an EP under the DIRKSCHNEIDER & THE OLD GANG banner, titled "Arising", which came out in August 2021.

In January 2021, Hoffmann was asked by SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" if he was surprised to see Baltes working with Dirkschneider on some new music last year. He responded: "Yeah, I probably shouldn't say much about that. Again, I can only speculate what that was all about. At the end of the day, we do our thing, and everybody has to know for themselves what they wanna do. Yeah, let me not say as much about that as I can, please."

Back in 2015, Hoffmann dismissed Dirkschneider's comment that the band's then-lineup — which included Baltes and Tornillo — performed live "without any emotion." "It's just hilarious at this point," Wolf said. "It's just a big joke in our lives. And we just go on about our lives, and we do our thing, and we just… We let these things go by and laugh about it. He's actually sort of our press agent, in a way. He keeps us [in the news]."

Released earlier this month via Atomic Fire Records, "My Way" contains 17 cover versions of songs that have influenced Udo the most, including classic tracks from URIAH HEEP, RAINBOW, THE SWEET, MOTÖRHEAD, LED ZEPPELIN, SCORPIONS, AC/DC and JUDAS PRIEST.