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НазадRAFABASA MARCH, THE 21ST, 2005Interview with Wolf Hoffmann by Antonio Cerezuela and Ignacio Navarra, www.rafabasa.com.After seven years of silence, one of the most powerful and genuine bands ever brought by heavy metal has decided to come back. The beast has awake and we can be happy, because the teutons’s gods have returned to stage for a short, but we hope an intense journey. The sadly unrepeatable Accept, have decided to delight us with their mastery for the last time. That’s why we got in touch with their lead guitar, Wolf Hoffmann to talk about the reformation and to remind a little of the band’s history, and to congratulate them for their decision. RB : To start with the interview, please, could you tell us what you have been doing over the last years, except your well-known photographer’s facet? Wolf : when Accept did split off, I dedicate my own time to photograph. At the beginning, it was just a hobby, but then, it became my job. A few years ago, I recorded a solo album titled “Classical”, but only for the studio, there’s a long time I don’t play live. RB : You have been out of the music business until 1999 when you did publish a solo album titled “Classical”. Tell us a little bit more about this record and about your influences. Wolf : I always liked classical musical music, and I also liked to combine elements from this music, with metal or rock. I already use this mean with Accept, in solos and in introductions, for example in “metal heart” or “balls to the wall”. But this was the first time I made an entire CD this and, to tell you the truth, I enjoyed a lot...it did not get a lot of success, but it was really great. I recorded it with my friend Michael Wagner and I was really satisfied. I will probably make another album like this, I would like it be soon. RB : What are the main reasons to resurrect Accept now ? Wolf : Well, it was the best time. For a long time I wanted to do such, and I did try it because all this time I have always been in contact with Udo. Udo did always say no because of he owns his band which is his priority. But, finally, he surrendered and we’ve got it. It also dealt with adjusting our owns planning, when we could, fix up the dates so, this way, we all got enough time. We are really very happy. RB : Once Udo did comment if there was a reformation, it would just for a concert. This concert will also mean the end of his solo career. Do you know something about this comment ? Wolf : I don’t know a lot about this comment. But, obviously, he was wrong. RB : What are the most important differences between Accept’s reformation and one’s from bands like MÖTLEY CRUE, JUDAS PRIEST, ...? Wolf : I imagine each of these bands will have its own reasons. As far as we concerned, well, I do sincerely believe none band has been able to filled up the hole Accept did leave a many years ago. Furthermore, demand has grown a lot with the passing time , I’m very happy to have had the opportunity to do it and to can perform these songs live. I’m sure it will be the last time it will succeed. RB : Why Herman Frank ? How did appear the idea to take him back for this reformation ? Wolf :The idea was to get back the golden years Accept’s closest version. Over the last years, there were several versions of Accept, especially for time we spend performing with one guitar player ( I ) and we did want to be the more faithful as possible to the original Accept. We wanted to come back to the times of “restless and wild” or “balls to the wall”, with two guitar players as in the old line-up, the closest possible as we can to the original Accepts. Stefan Kaufmann can’t play drum anymore, but we counted on Stefan Schwarzmann who is an honourable successor to Stefan K. For the set-list, we decide we will not play songs from “death row”, “predator” nor “eat the heat”. We will keep faithful to the Accept’s classics, in the show be the closest possible to Accept’s glorious days. RB : What’s about Jörg Fischer ? Why don’t you count on him ? Wolf : Nobody knows where he is. Jörg Fischer has disappeared. So it was clear he was available. RB : Do you know how he is ? Why does he was not in 1993 reformation ? Wolf : I don’t know, he simply disappeared off the face of the earth. This is his private life, I don’t know if he’s still playing guitar, I suppose he isn’t. RB : Why did he leave the band after “breaker” and then before “eat the heat” ? Wolf : I don’t remember exactly why he did leave the band at the beginning (after “breaker). Then he came back when we’re getting a lot of success and we did thing it will work, but, anyway, he never shown a lot of interest in the band. We did decide the time had come to look for someone who will replace him. RB : For the reformation, the first option for the job of drummer was Francesco Jovino (U.D.O) but it seems Stefan Schwarzmann (Running Wild, X-Wild, Paradox and Helloween ) will be the definitive drummer. Why do you finally decide on counting on him ? I suppose the fact he belonged to Accept and performed some songs from “death row” and its following tour had influenced... Wolf : We counted firstly on F. Jovino, he auditioned and he was very good, but we had the chance to count on Stefan S., it’s more authentic and we do believe it’s better for Accept. With Jovino, it was a different version. We did want to do something the closest as possible to the original Accept. Jovino, don’t misunderstand me, is a great drummer and an excellent person, but Stefan K has already been in Accept and we do not want to represent a new version of Accept, we do want to return back to the Accept the people know. RB : What could you tell us about your intentions of performing live? You will participate at festivals as The Wacken Open Air, The Gods of Metal in Sweden and you will tour in Japan and Russia. What is the reason for a tour in Japan? Do you think of an European tour? Wolf : There won’t more European tour. There are rumours, but they are wrong, there won’t be European tour. The only reason for a japanese tour is huge cost to go there just for one concert. Either they have not big festivals like here, in Europe. This made you to make a small tour if you do not want to lose money. If we want to worth it, we have to do several concerts. But there won’t be more tours. RB : I also imagine the special affect Japan has always shown to Accept had influenced when you toured there . Wolf : I has always been thus. It has always been a tradition for Accept to tour in Japan, a very special place for us, no doubt. RB : In your website www.acceptarchive.com , there’s a date in Spain, on august, the 13th. Is this date confirmed? Wolf : According to what I know, I think it’s in Barcelona and yeah, this date’s confirmed. RB : What about studios plans? Will you record a new album? Wolf : No, there won’t be a new album. We may record some concerts for a future DVD, but we won’t record a new album. RB : Accept has always been a band with two guitar players, this became the band’s sign of identity. Why did you decide to be the only guitar player in “objection overruled”? Wolf : Band’s core has always been Stefan, Peter and I. Such as in composition level as to lead on the band. We discovered we could did it being 3, which is much better than to look for other people, teach them the songs, to wait they adapt themselves, etc... This second guitar player has always been the element which most varied in Accept. This helped us to realise we were able to do it very well, even better, being just 3. We talked with a dutch guitar player for the tour (Arjen Lucassen) , but, in the last moment, he decided to cancel his participation in the tour because he had some time problems. He wanted to concentrate on his own project. His plans changed and we decided to go on being 3. It was a new way to see Accept playing live and we really enjoyed it. RB : The Gibson V has always been a guitar linked to heavy metal due to its shape as well as its aggressive presence, and, for Accept, it turned into a kind of symbol which allows to identify the band. How did this raise? Wolf : I never though it would be a symbol for the band. It was something which appeared, it deals with a classical guitar with a very striking shape. And we wanted to gift the fans something which identify the band. With passing time, it became a feature of the band. RB : Back to 1993. At the beginning of this tour, you would count on Vengeance ex-guitar player Arjen Lucassen, even you decided finally to tour as a quartet. What happen with him ?Why he finally did not participate into the tour? Wolf : We jammed with Arjen, but as I said he had his own project, his solo band and he wanted to be concentrated on it. This was the reason he decided to abort his own participation into the tour (may 93) at the last moment. RB : When Udo left the band in 1987, his first replacement was the english vocalist Rob Armitage, from Baby Tuckoo, but it was David Reece who finally joined the band. What happened with Rob Armitage? Wolf : Merely you are trying people who worked for a while. Then you realise they don’t the good ones. Sometimes it takes longer to guess it. In spite Rob was playing with us, we never stopped to audition others people. We tried it with him for a time, we even recorded some demos, but we guessed he wasn’t the good person. To be a vocalist you don’t need only singing, you also need a strong personality. And I think he hadn’t. A few time later, we found David Reece, a guy with a lot of personality. RB : Maybe too much? Wolf : Yes, this may be the problem (laughs). RB : Now, what is your opinion about “eat the heat” Do you think it was a mistake? Is it possible this album was the first nail for Accept’s coffin? Wolf : I don’t think it was a mistake. I also think it doesn’t worked. I think the album’s composition is really good, there are very good songs, but it doesn’t worked for other reasons. The alchemy there used to be once disappeared, and the production (Dieter Dierks) was loosely. To tell you the truth, I was totally convinced I wanted to make this album., that’s why I think it wasn’t a mistake. If you’re convinced of what you’re going to do, I don’t think it deals with some mistake. Of course, it wasn’t a best-seller, but I don’t consider this album as an error. RB : After publishing “eat the heat” you toured through the USA, together with W.A.S.P. and Metal Church. The rumour there was a fight between Peter Baltes and David Reece rose during this tour. What is true and what is wrong among this matter? Wolf : It did succeed on stage, but in the backstage. This was the moment decided to split off. We always been a very united band, had a very close relationship, it did not deal with business only, we are very good friends. David Reece has never understood this and, when the fight occurred, we saw it was the moment to leave it, we could not go onto these conditions. Furthermore, Stefan has already given up the band. He was replaced by Ken Mary... RB : Was it be difficult to deal with David Reece? Wolf : Yes, indeed. You’re always trying to make things do work, but sometimes they aren’t. He was a great vocalist, but he owns a strange personality, too much personality. There is always something that fails, things are never perfect. You can own a great voice, but personality can fails, you have bad relationship at personal level, there are too many things. Sometimes it does take longer and sometimes less, but if you deal with the adequate person, you always know it. RB : What is Stefan Kaufmanns’s opinion about the reformation? Is he happy even he can’t play? Wolf : Yes, he is happy with the reformation. Now, he‘s doing other things : he’s producing other bands, he’s composing guitar’s parts for Udo’s new CD, and so on...He has few interest on being in this tour, but if he could go on playing , of course he will participate! RB : Have you got in touch while Accept’s separation? Wolf : We never stopped talking, even if we do live in different places. I’m in the USA and I travel a lot due to my job as a photographer. But even we do not meet so much, we have always been in contact and we do keep a good relationship. Everybody is doing his own, and those activities are not compatibles. RB : In 1993, you published “Objection Overruled”, an amazing album which involved Accept’s triumphal come back . The tour also got a marvellous answer and the band was full of expectation on stage. I been in the concert you gave in Madrid (05/27/93) in the Madrid’s Canciller club and it was absolutely superb. Why do you decide to change the direction for “Death Row” and “Predator” in spite of the huge support you got with “Objection Overruled”? A pure Accept’s album without any compromise. Wolf : It wasn’t premeditated. It was something that occurred. I was told a lot of times I wanted to change the band’ direction, but we were 4 people and everyone was bringing his own ideas. I dealt with representing what we felt in this moment and this was what we did in those albums. That’s why we may changed a little, in order to try to represent our state of mind... Furthermore, it does consist of publish the same album. For me, as a musician and as a composer, this may be part of the explanation. When you write songs and you’re a composer, the worst you can experience is to fall into mediocrity. If you’re doing something knowing it does sound no so good, just to keep where you are, you’re falling into mediocrity. I prefer to go forward and to explore other ways. RB : A few years ago, you published a DVD titled ”Blast From the Past”. According to me, the truth is this DVD is really poor, clips are taken from the “Staying a Life” video tape, with the voice offstage included, the new material within is not enough, it’s a weird, and production as well as recompilation are definitively very poor. And I think Accept is a band which deserves many more. Have been involved into the release of this DVD? What is your opinion about this DVD? Wolf : I was not involved. Stefan Kaufmann has been the producer and he has taken the responsibility of the DVD. I was not involved in this project and , obviously, I’m not a fan of this DVD. You have to understand my decision, I decided to leave Accept 7 years ago. This means dissociates myself from the band. It was something between Udo and Stefan. They are still linked to band, playing songs live and keeping alive the band’s memory. I wasn’t offended too. And I would prefer to avoid comments about the DVD. RB : Do you think in publishing a DVD to commemorate the reformation? If you do, what are you going to include? What about the professional recordings of some of yours concerts? Like the Kalamazoo, Michigan-USA in 1984, or the 93’reformation, in Germany. I would be great to release some of this stuffs. Wolf : I really don’t know so much about those concerts. We will probably record some concerts, take a look into the material and then, we will take a decision. RB : Do you know some tribute bands to Accept as the swedes Accepted, the czechs Flashback or the germans Axxept ? What do you think about this kind of bands? Wolf : Yes, I know some of them, but I never heard them. I think it’s fantastic this kind of bands exist and there are still people who are keeping our music alive this way. This makes me realise people miss us during all these years, shows we never gone and people do still enjoy this kind of music. Now, they want to see it live and hear our songs. I’m really happy to be back once more in order to be in measure to give the fans what they want. We would have been crazy if we would not be back. Why not to be back once more? RB : And what about the 2 tributes released by Nuclear Blast a few years ago? Wolf : I heard those albums. Some versions are really good like Hammerfall(head over heals). It has always been good to hear cover versions from our songs. Agent Steel’s cover is also very good. RB : Accept did appear with “Fast as a Shark” together with bands like Pretty Maids and Mötley Crüe in the Italian horror movie “Demons”, from director Lamberto Bava. How did it appear? Wolf : Sincerely, I didn’t know about it. What is the title of this picture? RB : “Demons”. Wolf :Ahhhh, I think I watched it once. Is it an old movie? RB : Yes, from 1986. Wolf : I watched almost 20 years ago. Very bad, yes I remember it now. I watched it in a theatre in Germany, but I don’t remember the german title. Yeah, “fast as a shark” appears, , but just a moment in background. We decided to forget it. They talked with us and we let them use it, because we thought it will be a great movie. But when we watched it, we were very disappointed. RB : What were the reasons the band slit off in 1989 (Udo in 1987) and then in 1997? And why did you decide to come back in 1993? Wolf : The truth is I hate to think in the past, but I understand you make this type of questions. Many bands as Accept have experienced difficulties within, sometimes, when you have 5 people with different opinions, it’s current that some disagreements appear. The main problem had always been between Udo and the rest of the band. We did want go on forward and Udo did want to keep doing the same. Sometimes, it dealt with foolish reasons, but there were other more important reasons which involves some discussions. When dilutions are increasing, comes a moment you decide the better solution is to follow on different paths. The first time Udo had left the band (March’87), everybody was happy, and, at this moment, it was the better solution for the band and for us. In spite of all, we are still friends, and we took this decision to make our lives easier. Whether you disagree with someone, the best thing you can do is to look for your own way and let’s go on. He started his own solo career with U.D.O. in order to try to imitate the Accept’s success. And we did look for a new vocalist, but we never did find someone able to replace him. By the way, we are back with the original line-up and we are very proud to can do it once again. It’s a new Accept’s chapter. This is not a reformation in the true meaning of the word. We won’t neither record a new album nor start a new career. Now, we are 5 guys with different occupations whom are together to play in some summer festivals. When this will be over, we will be back at home and will be as before. RB : When you released “Breaker” in 1981, you toured with Judas Priest. Also in 1984 through the UK, when Judas published “Defenders of the Faith”. Now, both bands are reformed. Are there any possibilities to repeat this tour? Would you like it? Wolf : There were some rumours, and this something I would like to do, but the truth is our tour calendar does not allow us to tour with them. There’s nothing confirmed yet but I don’t think it will succeed. As a fan, I would like it will happen. But, officially, it’s very difficult. RB : Deaffy has always been the sixth member of Accept. In spite of, at the beginning, it was a secret, with the pass of time, everybody known Deaffy was the band’s manager and now your wife, Gaby Hauke. What is the importance she had for Accept? Why did you keep it secret for so much time? Is she involved in the band new step? Wolf : Yes, of course, she’s still with me, she’s my wife. After more than 20 years, we’re still together. Before, she did not want to be a public person, that’s why we decided to keep as secret (Deaffy). But now, it doesn’t really matter, she has always been an important part of Accept. In fact, from “Balls to the Wall”, she wrote most of the lyrics, Now, everybody known who’s Deaffy, she had always been credited in the composition. It’s not a secret now. She’s still involved with Accept and, without her, nothing would had been possible. Accept would never had been what it is without her. RB : U.D.O.’s first solo album “Animal House” has been entirely composed by Accept and Deaffy. Do you think Accept should have released instead of “Eat the Heat”? Was it be though as the “Russian Roulette” continuation? Wolf : No, it wasn’t be possible. We wanted to do something different. Udo did not want to go on with us. And both sides decided to follow on separate paths. Retrospectively, you always think in what you should have done, but I don’t think “Animal House” was the album Accept should had released in this moment. RB : So, did you compose this album for friendship to Udo, in order to help him at the beginning of his solo career? Wolf : Yes, we did only for friendship, to help him, but we did not write for Udo, we did it for Udo. He is not a composer. We did write all songs together and then, we give them to him, as a favour. RB : The interview has come until here. Thank you very much for your time and congratulations for your come back. Do you want to add something to conclude? Wolf : Many thanks, it has been a pleasure to talk with you, we’re very happy to be back. And we hope to see a lot of fans for this return.
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