UDO DIRKSCHNEIDER: I Wanted WOLF HOFFMANN To Give Me Rights To ACCEPT Name

Former ACCEPT and current U.D.O. lead singer Udo Dirkschneider was interviewed on the June 18, 2011 edition of the "Maximum Threshold" show. The chat is now available for streaming using the audio player below.

Interview (audio):

In a recent interview with Sleaze Roxx, Dirkschneider was asked about his decision to reunite with ACCEPT in 2005 for a number of exclusive shows. "Yeah, we reunited in 2005 for some festival appearances," he said. "I have to point out that there were no plans to do more than these appearances. We did not have plans to record or continue further."

He continued, "There were promoters that wanted us to do this. I was on a break from U.D.O. so at that time I said, 'Okay. Why not?' It was a lot of fun, but as I said, we weren't going to do anything further.

"It was in 2009 that once again I was asked to take part in a reunion.

"Let me make this as short as possible: Wolf [Hoffmann, guitar] has been saying in interviews that he was not interested in a reunion, but this is not true. They asked me. I said to them, 'We have already done a reunion in the '90s and it did not work out.' My thought was this: if I do this reunion, then I have to cut down U.D.O., and U.D.O. has become quite successful. I said to Wolf, 'Okay, when this reunion doesn't work out, I'll have to continue under the name ACCEPT.' I wanted the rights to the name, but Wolf didn't agree to those terms and I said to them, 'I wish you good luck.'"

When asked why it would not have been possible to do both U.D.O. and ACCEPT, Udo said, "For me I would rather not have two bands at the same time. I want to be able to concentrate on just one band. I have restarted U.D.O. twice at this point; the band has been in existence this time for 14 to 15 years now. I've been together with some of these guys in this band longer than I have been with the guys in ACCEPT. [laughs]!"

Regarding whether his decision had to do with a struggle for control of the name, money or both, Dirkschneider replied, "Well, money, of course, but money isn't the most important thing in the world to me. I wanted assurance that I could continue under the name ACCEPT if things didn't work out because I had the most to lose by putting U.D.O. aside. So when they wouldn't agree to this, I said, 'Thank you very much, Wolf!'" [laughs]"

"Rev-Raptor", the new album from U.D.O., registered the following first-week chart positions:

Switzerland: #57
Germany: #20
Sweden: #26

"Rev-Raptor" was released on May 20 via AFM Records. The effort was made available in the following formats:

* CD (Jewel Case)
* CD (Digipak)
* CD (Japan)
* Vinyl black
* Vinyl green
* Limited Box

The digipak contains the two bonus tracks "Time Dilator" and "Heavy Metal W:O:A" plus the videos for "Leatherhead" and the second single, "I Give As Good As I Get".

The Japanese version of "Rev-Raptor" includes the bonus tracks "Stormbreaker" and "Bodyworld".

The green-vinyl edition of "Rev-Raptor" is limited to 200 copies and available exclusively via Nuclear Blast mailorder.

The recordings for "Rev-Raptor" took place between June 2010 and February 2011 at Roxx studios (owned by U.D.O. guitarist and ex-ACCEPT drummer Stefan Kaufmann) in Pulheim, Germany. The CD was mastered by Manfred Melchior at MM Sound Digital studios in Steinhagen, Germany. The album's cover artwork is once again a comic-like motif: but the "Dominator" character is this time "a lot more effectual and colorful," according to a press release.