After a 14-year hiatus, Accept are back bigger than ever – and much to our delight their world tour includes Australia, which is testament to their stamina.
“It took us 30 years to arrive [in Australia] and we are going to give it all we have got,” the group’s lead guitarist, Wolf Hoffman says.
Recently, Accept were first-night headliners at metal's most honorable of festivals – Wacken Open Air – alongside Motorhead, Slayer, King Diamond, Avantasia and other juggernauts. Being the oldest group on the line-up didn’t matter when it came to stage presence and crowd participation, judging by the live footage captured at the event.
This is a question often asked and probably beaten to death, but fresh off the Wacken stage I just had to know – what it’s like to play in front of 100,000 people. “It’s different every time,” Wolf says, in a gentle German-American accent.
“There's really nothing like it. After taking a long break of about ten years I now know there’s nothing better than being on a stage and playing metal. To see the sea of arms and thousands of people all singing at the same time is unlike anything else. Sometimes there are technical difficulties and it’s easy to get distracted, but mostly it's very enjoyable, to say the least.”
If the Wacken setlist is anything to go by, Accept will be playing all the big numbers from classic albums such as ‘Balls To The WalL’ and ‘Metal Heart’ mixed in with their mega-comeback albums ‘Blood Of Nations’ and ‘Stalingrad’. Their latest album, ‘Blind Rage’ - which I consider their best to date - hit number one in Germany.
Australia isn’t as exposed to mega festivals that our metal counterparts in Europe are fortunate to witness. However, it isn’t all that bad... sometimes the smaller venues give close-up personal interaction, which can have a vibe totally of its own. "American artists are so weird these days. You are either selling out or you're struggling. We do all right, but most bands are not filling venues. We don’t play big arenas here, but at least we still pull a good crowd, which is fortunate. I really hope that that changes some day and metal comes back big time.
"I live in Nashville, US because it’s full of musicians. Predominantly, Nashville's known for country artists, but there are all sorts of talented musicians here. I have a studio in my home – well, some people wouldn’t call it a studio, but it works for us. I do the songwriting with Peter [Baltes] and then give it to Mark [Tornillo, vocalist] to do the final touch-ups and improvements. We record the guitars and drums in my studio, then we start work with Andy Sneap and put it all together.”
Andy Sneap is no home-studio slouch, having worked with big names like: Megadeth, Saxon, Exodus, Masterplan, Machine Head, Nevermore, Opeth, Testament, Five Finger Death Punch, Devil Driver, Fozzy, Kreator – he certainly has what it takes to bring out Accept’s exceptional and melodic-metal tones to perfection.
Away from the stage, and Wolf has plenty of other creative pursuits to keep him busy. “Creative things are always a part of me. I like to make furniture and I’m also a photographer – not many people know that. I mainly shoot CEOs and corporate photos, and they have no idea that I play in a band.
“Sometimes during a shoot I might get talking to the person and I tell them what I do. And sometimes it turns out that they grew up listening to Accept and are big metal fans. That has been really funny and it’s nice when it happens.”
A big, metal storm is on its way, Australia – and it’s going to be more than acceptable.
Accept Tour Dates
Fri 14 Nov - The Factory Theatre (Sydney)Sat 15 Nov - Corner Hotel (Melbourne)
Sun 16 Nov - The Hi-Fi (Brisbane)
Mon 17 Nov - Corner Hotel (Melbourne)
