UDO DIRKSCHNEIDER: It's Important To Write Lyrics About What's Happening In Our World Now

In a brand new interview with Lithium Magazine, former ACCEPT and current U.D.O. frontman Udo Dirkschneider spoke about the biting social and political commentary that has been his hallmark as a lyricist for more than four decades.

"I don't want to be a teacher, but, for me, it's important to do lyrics about what's happening in our world now. For example, on this new album [U.D.O.'s 'Decadent'], the song 'Rebels Of The Night' came when we were on tour in the Ukraine and all that shit happened there with Russia. Nobody else was touring Ukraine at the time, only U.D.O., and we were around when all that was going on and we were talking to soldiers and talking to young people and they didn't understand what was going on and why it was happening."

He continued: "On 'House Of Fake', the lyrics are about all the political things that governments tell us they are going to do. They say they are going to do this and that for us to get us to vote them in, and in the end, they do nothing of what they said. The song 'Pain' is asking how much pain can you take, how much can you watch and endure. When you switch the news on, it's like a horror movie talking about all these wars and massacres.

"So 'Decadent' is the album title and its saying we are living in a decadent world and there is something really wrong. There is this huge gap between a few rich people in control and so many people who are poor and who have no power. There's nothing in the middle any more."

Dirkschneider, who, for the first 38 years of his life, lived in the epicenter of the Cold War — a divided Germany, where the West (including Wuppertal) was free and democratic, and communist East Germany was allied with the then Soviet Union — added: "I was always interested in political things and always about what was happening in the world. I always found that to be more interesting than what a lot of other people were talking about. Even to this day, if I need some ideas I just switch on the news and there are tons of ideas. I was always, even at 18 or 19, very much into political stuff. And in the 1960s rock and roll music was doing that. You had songs like 'Revolution' by THE BEATLES — when they came out with songs like that, it was a real change in rock music. If you grew up with all that, you starting thinking more."

He continued: "It was more interesting for me to write lyrics about that sort of thing than to write lyrics about dragons or witches, or even about sex and drugs and partying. I mean, sex is okay, rock and roll is also okay, but drugs are not okay. I've never taken any drugs in my life and I am very much against them, and would never write about them."

Udo's 21-year-old son Sven Dirkschneider recently joined U.D.O. as the group's drummer.

Sven will make his live debut with U.D.O. on March 6 in Würzburg, Germany.

U.D.O.'s new studio album, "Decadent", was released in Europe on January 26 via AFM.

With recordings having taken place in Udo's current home, Spanish island Ibiza, and also at Redhead Audio Productions in Wilhelmshaven, this new album looks set to be yet another great statement of intent from a rock idol whose place in rock history is already well cemented.

"Decadent" was made available in the following formats: digipak, standard CD, black vinyl, colored vinyl, and as a limited-edition fanbox.