Wolf Hoffmann ACCEPT's mainman and one of the most influential lead guitarists, joins Zisis Petkanas of RockOverdose to discuss the bands' latest album "Too Mean To Die" as well as their upcoming tour and future plans.
Wolf Hoffmann also talked about the musical chemistry of the band’s new lineup, his top memories with Accept and how the band managed to keep things fresh after more than 40 years.
Read the full interview below, and watch the full discussion via the YouTube player.
RockOverdose: Hello Wolf and Welcome to RockOverdose.gr! How are you?
Wolf Hoffmann (ACCEPT): I'm doing fine! It's early in the morning and we're in Nashville, Tenesse in the middle of rehearsals... So, another good day ahead of us!
RockOverdose: Of course! Music is above everything! At last we have live shows back again!!!
Wolf Hoffmann (ACCEPT): That's right! Finally! Hopefully it's here to stay! This is the beginning after 2 years of not playing, it's like a rebirth and we all feel super excited to finally do what we are here to do! Feels like we are coming back to life!
RockOverdose: That's great! So, when is your first live show?
Wolf Hoffmann (ACCEPT): Our first show is in about two weeks somewhere near Birminham in England! There's a festival there...
RockOverdose: Of course we are waiting for you in Greece as well!
Wolf Hoffmann (ACCEPT): Yes! It's a great opportunity to visit your beautiful country and do some headline shows as well!
RockOverdose: I suppose you have good memories from Greece!
Wolf Hoffmann (ACCEPT): Yeah! Of course! Greece is fantastic! The metalheads there are crazy, fantastic! We love people who are really into music and so passionate! Greece is so all about heavy metal!
RockOverdose: Do you believe your decision to release your latest album “Too Mean To Die” during the lockdown, helped the band?
Wolf Hoffmann (ACCEPT): Well, I don't know if it helped or hurt, it's hard to say cause we don't know what would have been like without covid. It felt that it was the right decision and time, because the album was ready and it would have no sense to wait and holding it back. We didn't know when the times will be different, when the doors will be open again... So it was better to release the album and people be able to at least hear of it, and when the time is ready we can go out and tour!
RockOverdose: How is the feedback of the album so far? How much did the lockdown and no tour cost to the band and the album sales?
Wolf Hoffmann (ACCEPT): Again, that's hard to say. For sure it didn't help cause normally a tour is good to promote the album and the album is good to promote the tour, so it's almost a package that goes together and in this case it was separated.
We have to wait and see when we'll actually do the headline tours for this album, something that's still to come. Nobody knows! It's unprecedented, and nobody has a recipe and knew what to do. We felt that this was the only logical thing to do rather than not releasing an album.
The feedback is fantastic! I mean, really that's one of the best momments out of the five we've done in the past with Mark Tornillo. I count these five last albums with Mark as one era, a very consistent time period that we've made 5 strong albums. People say that “Too Mean To Die” is one of the strongest, if not the strongest one. At least comparable to "Blood Of The Nations" which is been always considered as an amazing comeback album and full of great songs.
RockOverdose: The last years there’s a new trend that bands like you with years of experience to be special guests and not headliners? Do you think this is a good way to gain new fans from generations of metalheads?
Wolf Hoffmann (ACCEPT): I don't know if there's a trend, but we've done this once with Sabaton, cause we felt it was a young band and it would be a different style of audience and it's one of those package things that we've done.
We personally haven't done it very often but I think it's not a bad idea! Why not!? There's always that pre-conceved idea by the fans of which band should go together with another band and which one shouldn't. Maybe sometimes it's better to break out of this and try new things! Why not!? It doesn't hurt anybody!
RockOverdose: Your lineup has changed and also has been expanded with the addition of a third guitarist, how is this working out so far? And what made you add a third guitarist?
Wolf Hoffmann (ACCEPT): That's right! I have to say it's really fantastic, it's amazing!
It was more of a coincidence, it came about when we did this orchestra tour "Symphonic Terror" in 2019, and our regular guitar player Uwe Lulis was not available. So we had to find a substitude and we found it in the name of Philip Shouse, discovered how great guitar player he is, what a nice person he is and how well he fits in the band and what a pleasure it was to have his aboard. So we decided why not to have them both! We don't need to decide over Uwe - the original guy or Phil, and I have to tell you it works fantastic! Especially during these last weeks of rehearsals we are re-discovering old songs, re-discovering parts that were on the record that now the third guitar player can play.
It sounds like a fucking army of guitars! I really enjoy it! I'm blown away of how we sound!
RockOverdose: Recently you signed with Napalm Records! What are your future plans with the label?
Wolf Hoffmann (ACCEPT): Yes, we've been with Nuclear Blast for sometime, it's been a great company for us but there were some major changes, it was sold to a big corporation, so lots of decisions and lots of reasons made us decide to go to Napalm.
I think is going to be a great team and we're looking forward to release a new album with them soon!
RockOverdose: So everything is good! You've made it so far with all those line up changes, starting with Udo, when people were a bit curious of how it was going to work....
Wolf Hoffmann (ACCEPT): I have to interupt you! People were not curious... they said it's never going to work! But you said it in a nice way, you have to be polite!
This proves what I've always felt. It's a partnership and in a partnership unless you have the right partner it's not going to work! It's like a marriage or something... Just because it didn't work once it doesn't mean that with somebody else would not work as well...
I think we've found the right person on Mark Tornillo, he has the right voice, a great attitude, he has the looks and he's a metal freak! So, I think we have a winning team here!
RockOverdose: Talking about Udo, I had a chat with him and he said that nowdays Accept are not Accept!
Wolf Hoffmann (ACCEPT): Yeah of course, I know! What else is new? Of course he's going to say that. That's the thing...if you're constantly talk about something that happened 30 years ago, what does that tell you about your career... your own career!
Make some great music and the rest is going to sort out! That's what I'm always trying to do! We don't try to compete with anybody, we don't have to prove ourselves...
We are Accept and we make great albums, that's all!
RockOverdose: Greece has some of the most loyal Accept fans and it’s true that every time you play here is great! What should we expect from your show this year? Any surprises?
Wolf Hoffmann (ACCEPT): Yeah! I have to tell you, we've put together a really interesting setlist. We had a little time for this tour so we decided to change up the setlist a little bit and really dig into some older classics from the 80's but also some songs from the last 5 albums that we haven't played so much. We're just trying to brake it up a little bit, probably switch songs on the road a little more than what we've been doing.
When you're a touring band like we are, there's always this tendency to stick with what works and I think that's a valid argument to say "This is the best package of songs, the most people will enjoy it!". Personally I would stick with it, but also on the other hand there are people who have come to more than one show and seen that many times, so they demand something new. So for those people we're trying this time around to add some other stuff. So when they come to 2 shows it won't be exactly the same!
RockOverdose: That's great! So, looking back through all these years what would you say is your best moment with Accept?
Wolf Hoffmann (ACCEPT): Well, it may sound as a clice but I would say it's this last period with Mark has been the most rewarding and the most fullfilling for me personally and the most consistent. And I say that because it's the same singer and we try to write the same style, and that's how the last 5 albums feel for me. Also we've been working with the same producer Andy Sneap, so there's continuity in the last 5 albums and we're really very proud of.
I'm also very proud of the 80's but of course from album to album and from year to year there were some larger changes, in direction, in singer and other band members.
I really feel this is a very rewarding time in my life and career. It's almost better than it ever was, in a strange way. I mean everybody is talking about the glorious 80's, of course they were fantastic, but it's been hard times, there was a lot of insecurity, finding our place in the world, our style and I think we've done all that. We know who we are, we know what Accept stands for now, so we feel pretty secure, if you know what I mean.
RockOverdose: So, what are your next plans with the band?
Wolf Hoffmann (ACCEPT): Well, like I just said, initially we're going to do a bunch of festival shows and then the big plan after that is still the headlining tour the next Spring. That's the one that has been postponed twice (2021,2022) ... Is really going to happen in 2023, I keep losing count on the years, it's been crazy!
We're also planning to do a US tour and of course South America is on the works as well. In the base that everything is open up again basically we're going to tour all over the world.
RockOverdose: What is your message to your fans, especially here in Greece?!
Wolf Hoffmann (ACCEPT): Ah! The Greek fans are amazing! I just wanna say hello to everybody and that I'm so proud and greatfull that we have all you guys on board for all these years. It doesn’t matter if you are an older fan from the 80’s or somebody that discovered us lately... We welcome you on board and say thanks for your loyalty and I hope to see you during these shows!
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