UDO DIRKSCHNEIDER: Why I Decided Against Taking Part In ACCEPT Reunion

Elena Mihailidou and Kostas Kyriakakis of Metalzone.gr recently conducted an interview with former ACCEPT and current U.D.O. frontman Udo Dirkschneider. The chat is now available for viewing below.

On the subject of guitarist Wolf Hoffmann and bassist Peter Baltes's decision to resurrect ACCEPT with new singer Mark Tornillo (formerly of TT QUICK),Udo said, "they asked me and also Stefan [Kaufmann; former ACCEPT drummer and current U.D.O. guitarist] [to rejoin the band first]. [But] I [already] did the reunion with ACCEPT. It doesn't work in the end. I did, in 2005, festivals with them." He added, "They have been out of the business for 15 years — Wolf and Peter — and they didn't make any new songs, nothing really new, and for me, to take this risk to do a reunion... I know definitely that it's not possible to make music together — compose new songs together; I know it doesn't work — and this risk, for me, is too high. I mean, I'm really satisfied with U.D.O., and I think with U.D.O., we continue, in a way, ACCEPT. I'm longer now with U.D.O. — I've released more albums with U.D.O. than with ACCEPT — and I said, 'No, I feel more comfortable with what I have now.' I mean, I do exactly the kind of music that I love to do.

"It's good to see that they're making music again, Peter and Wolf, and I'm looking forward to hearing this album. I wish them great luck, but I think it will be very hard [for them to continue] under the name ACCEPT.

"This is not a reunion — it's just that they make music under the name ACCEPT. I believe that they'll come up with good songs, but... There was always two parts of ACCEPT — Wolf and Peter, and Stefan and me. And the mix [of the two] was the secret [behind what made ACCEPT work]. The only thing I can say, in the end, the fans will decide if they like it or not. I wish them luck. I hope they don't go wrong. They did it once without me on the 'Eat The Heat' album. Maybe it would be better to do that under a different name, like SABBATH is doing now with HEAVEN & HELL.

"A lot of people write already e-mails to us, 'Please, don't go to ACCEPT. We still wanna hear U.D.O. songs.' So what can I say? It's good to see that we have so many fans already with U.D.O. and we also have ACCEPT fans that say, 'This cannot really be ACCEPT without you, Udo.' But we will see."

Two audio samples featuring the new ACCEPT lineup are currently available for streaming/download on the band's web site (taken from a jam session recorded on April 26, 2009 at Shorefire Recording studios in Long Branch, New Jersey):

"Balls To The Wall": Audio Stream, MP3 Download
"Flash Rocking Man": Audio Stream, MP3 Download

U.D.O. recently completed work on the follow-up to 2007's "Mastercutor", entitled "Dominator". An August 21 release via AFM Records is expected. A limited-edition single, "Infected", will precede the full-length CD on June 26. The single will be released as a limited edition of 2,222 pieces worldwide and will include the title track, two non-album cuts, a remix and a live song. On the same day U.D.O. will play at the Bang Your Head!!! festival in Balingen, Germany as a co-headliner. A listening/signing session will also take place at the festival.

"Infected" track listing:

01. Infected (album track)
02. Systematic Madness (non-album track)
03. Bodyworld (non-album track)
04. Platchet Soldat (remix)
05. Poezd Po Rossii (live in Moscow 2008)

Check out audio samples at this location.

In late 2009, U.D.O. is planning on hitting the road in the USA, Europe, South America and Japan.