WOLF HOFFMANN Still Doesn't Quite Understand What Caused PETER BALTES To Leave ACCEPT

David Araneda (a.k.a. Pomelo Rocker) of Powermetal.cl recently conducted an interview with ACCEPT guitarist Wolf Hoffmann. You can now listen to the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On the progress of the songwriting sessions for the follow-up to 2017's "The Rise Of Chaos" album:

Wolf: "Well, it's going slow, but it's going. I'm sitting here working every day when I can on new songs, and some of them are pretty complete, some of them are half complete, and there's a bunch that are quite far away from being finished. It's a wide spectrum, and I can't really say… It's done when it's done — that's all I know. But we're working on it."

On whether he still keeps in touch with longtime bassist Peter Baltes, who left ACCEPT a year ago:

Wolf: "Man, unfortunately, when somebody leaves the band, they're always kind of out of sight, out of mind. It's very sad. I wish it wasn't that way, because we've been friends for so long. But the reality is I haven't really heard from him — even though I reached out a couple of times. He's almost like he wants to disappear or he wants to leave the music business altogether. It's sad and I still don't quite understand what really happened. But it is what it is, and we move on."

On the addition of third guitarist Philip Shouse:

Wolf: "We got to know Phil during our orchestra shows. We did a bunch of orchestra shows where we played with Phil, and we discovered how incredibly well we jelled together — what a good fit he is. Long story short, we just figured, why should we let him go? We just keep him on, because he's really a great addition to the band lineup, we think. It's a little bit unusual to have three guitar players, but you can really do quite a few cool things with three guitarists. When you have twin leads in certain passages, you still have another guitar player playing the rhythm stuff, so it's really powerful and really versatile in a way. And really he's a super-nice guy as well, so we figured we don't wanna let him go. So we'll just take him on."

On how having a third guitar player will affect ACCEPT's songwriting:

Wolf: "I'm already thinking of that. Now that we know we've got a third guitar player, I'm already thinking during the songwriting, 'Oh, it would be cool if he plays this and I play that.' So, yeah, that makes a big difference. Probably more [twin guitar harmonies]. I don't know — I can't really promise, because you've gotta do what the song wants to do. You can't really force it in there and play double lead stuff all over the place if it doesn't fit the song. So, the song dictates everything. But we're trying to find more spaces for Phil, absolutely."

This past April, ACCEPT announced the addition of bassist Martin Motnik to the group's ranks.

Born in Ludwigshafen, Germany, Motnik has been playing music since he was seven years old and has been a member of several bands, both in Germany and the United States. He was asked by Uli Jon Roth to join him for his 2008 U.S. tour and again in 2009 and 2012. In addition to his musical talent, Motnik also has a Master's Degree in business from the University of Mannheim.

ACCEPT is:

Wolf Hoffmann - Guitar
Mark Tornillo - Vocals
Christopher Williams - Drums
Uwe Lulis - Guitar
Martin Motnik - Bass
Philip Shouse - Guitar