U.D.O. Drummer SVEN DIRKSCHNEIDER Leaves North American Tour Due To 'Private, Personal Reasons'

Sven Dirkschneider, the 30-year-old son of legendary ACCEPT frontman Udo Dirkschneider and a member of Udo's long-running band U.D.O., has left U.D.O.'s ongoing North American tour to return to Germany due to "private, personal reasons". He is being temporarily replaced by Sven's drum tech Matthias Kassner.

On Wednesday, October 2, the following statement was posted on the U.D.O. social media: "Whilst the last shows of this amazing US & Canada run will go ahead with full force, unfortunately Sven has been forced to to fly home due to private, personal reasons, and extends sincere apologies to all the fans attending the shows. We will play all shows as planned with no one but Sven's drum tech Matthias Kassner taking the drum duties while Sven takes care of other important factors - Please respect his privacy at this time. This is a decision we have made to ensure these dates go ahead, rather than cancel. Rock with us, because we can't wait to see you all!"

According to Paiste, Sven was born on December 8, 1993 in Dormagen, near Cologne. He began playing drums at the early age of five. Fascinated by the musician's life, he joined his father's tours at a young age and experienced extensive travelling, life in a nightliner, concerts and instruments, this became an integral part of his life. In 2008, Sven founded his first band formation DAMAGED, which started out as a cover band, then they wrote more and more of their own songs, played gigs in German clubs and produced an EP, with the support of former ACCEPT drummer Stefan Kaufmann. The highlights of the band's history (which ended in 2015) included gigs in Germany and the Czech Republic as a support act for U.D.O., his father's band.

After finishing school in the summer of 2010, Sven began training as a media designer. During this time, he used every free moment to accompany his father to concerts and help out as a drum technician. After passing the final exams of his vocational training, he first worked with the British NWOBHM legends SAXON in 2013, who had noticed the confident work of the young drum technician on international festival stages. After signing on as SAXON's drum tech, Sven made the decision to turn his temporary job into a full-time one. In 2013 and 2014 he had already toured Europe and Russia as a stage technician with U.D.O. and SAXON.

When SAXON had to cancel some shows in December 2014 due to health problems of their regular drummer Nigel Glockler, they had to maybe reschedule the tour dates for February 2015. Frontman Biff Byford decided to hire Sven Dirkschneider instead as a replacement drummer. What Sven didn't know was that a few months earlier, during a SAXON gig in Berlin, where his father was invited as a guest, Udo had told his friend Biff Byford that U.D.O. were looking for a new drummer. To his surprise, the SAXON frontman recommended Udo's own son Sven, whom Byford had observed night after night at the soundchecks and rated him as absolutely suitable for U.D.O. In February 2015, Sven was confirmed as the new U.D.O. drummer, and just four weeks later he went on a long tour with the band. Since then, Sven and Udo have formed what is probably, the most successful father-son duo in the history of metal.