We proudly present you the interview that Wolf Hoffmann, Accept's guitarist, gave to Rock Overdose and to Konstantinos Sotirelis. Wolf talked a lot about his new album, "HEADBANGERS SYMPHONY", which is dedicated to the classical maestros, about his next plans and he also revealed that he is writing new songs for the new Accept album! Enjoy!
Rock Overdose: Hi Wolf, welcome to Rock Overdose!
Wolf Hoffmann: Hello, nice to meet you!
Rock Overdose: So, what are you doing these days?
Wolf Hoffmann: Officially I’m writing songs for the new Accept album and making some interviews for my new record.
Rock Overdose: You released your second solo album, which is called “Headbangers Symphony” a few days ago. Would you like to tell us a few things about the album?
Wolf Hoffmann: It’s classical music with heavy metal. I like classical music very much and I always wanted to combine heavy metal music with classical music. Since I was 20 I discovered classical music and I have never been a serious classical musician but I always liked this side of the music and always wanted to combine this two elements. That’s why I made my first classical album almost twenty years ago which is called “Classical”, and ever since I wanted to do a second album but all of a sudden Accept then reunited and I was too busy so I never finished it. This year I finally had a few weeks of so I finally decided to release it this year.
Rock Overdose: Would you like to be a classical maestro maybe and you couldn’t achieve this or classical music is just a love that you want to combine with heavy metal?
Wolf Hoffmann: I had no ambition to become a serious classical musician. I’m a metal guitar player and I will always be. I just have fun with this and for me this is a tribute album to classical maestros. I never wanted to become a classical musician.
Rock Overdose: Do you have any favorite classical maestro?
Wolf Hoffmann: Oh, there are so many. The first guy I really loved was Tchaikovsky but there are so many more like Mozart, Puccini.
Rock Overdose: Are there many riffs in Accept’s music that you were inspired from classical music?
Wolf Hoffmann: Yes, there are many elements and I am always inspired by classical music but I was never really used classical music directly in Accept songs expect from some occasions like “Metal Heart” or some solos.
Rock Overdose: Would you like to make an album with Accept with an orchestra like Rage and many more bands did?
Wolf Hoffmann: You never know, I wouldn’t say no but I don’t know. I think it would work well but it’s something that we never talked about. But it could work. Because now that I have done my latest album, I discovered how heavy classical music can sound.
Rock Overdose: I believe that “Headbangers Symphony” is more metal that the first album…
Wolf Hoffmann: Yes, definitely, so it could work with Accept, too.
Rock Overdose: Do you plan to do some shows so as to play this songs alive?
Wolf Hoffmann: Oh, yeah, I would definitely like to do something like that, to play these songs live but you know, the orchestra is very expensive and very tough to travel with. It would be complicated as hell but I definitely want to do this. Where or when, nobody knows yet. I’m taking these things step by step. First the album comes out and then we see what to do next. Also, this is a side project to me and this will be always. Accept is priority number one and that’s why this album took so long, because Accept is my priority.
Rock Overdose: So, If you plan to do another solo album, it would take a long time?
Wolf Hoffmann: Yes, ideally you don’t take that long and this happened because Accept was always on the road. If I ever do another album it will be faster.
Rock Overdose: You said that you’re writing some songs for Accept’s new album. When should we wait for it?
Wolf Hoffmann: We don’t know yet. We are basically in the middle of the song writing. We have many ideas and riffs. I write the first demos usually. We‘ve been doing it for a couple of weeks and things come along out nicely. We are not ready yet, we don’t know when we will be but as soon as we have enough material we will start working all together, but until then we have only ideas.
Rock Overdose: Do you have any plans about the albums’ sound? Will it be any different from the last album?
Wolf Hoffmann: No, I think it’s going to be exactly like the other albums. We don’t want to sound any different, this is our goal. I think we found the perfect team and sound and we don’t want to change anything. We just want to continue to build on this legacy of the last three albums and our goal is to get better. The last album was really good and it went to number one in Germany. Of course you can’t go better from number one but still the goal is to have the best possible songs.
Rock Overdose: A few days ago it was announced that you are going on a tour with Sabaton.
Wolf Hoffmann: Yes, this will be fun, it will be a great metal battle.
Rock Overdose: What should the fans wait from these shows?
Wolf Hoffmann: We haven’t discussed about what we will play but I know that it will be outside from the regular touring because we toured a lot for the “Blind Rage”. It will be something special for sure, but we are more focused on the new album now. But it will be something special, definitely.
Rock Overdose: I believe that between 1982 and 1986 the band met a great success and became more famous. Do you miss those days?
Wolf Hoffmann: I don’t think that way, I really enjoy what’s happening right now with Accept. Maybe because I’m older and I appreciate some things but it seems to be that we have the best time of our career. I don’t want to compare the era’s, I know that 80’s were great and a lot of people say that “oh the 80’s was metal’s gold era” and in some way it was but we were young, we are not that young any more, everything changed so you can’t compare it. But I wouldn’t change anything. I’m totally cool with what happened.
Rock Overdose: Thank you very much for this interview. The last words are yours.
Wolf Hoffmann: Greece has always been a special place, great fans down there, we can’t wait to come back because Accept fans in Greece are amazing. Stay tuned, see you soon.
Comments
