Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / Half A Century Of Metal: WOLF HOFFMAN Talks About ACCEPT'S Legacy And New Album

Transcript

Half A Century Of Metal: WOLF HOFFMAN Talks About ACCEPT'S Legacy And New Album · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey, hello, this is Wolf Hoffman from Accept, here to
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: talk about and announce our brand new album, Teutonic Titans,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: which is a celebration of a 50-year career. And the
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: amazing thing about this album is it's a re-recording of
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: some songs from the 80s with some amazing guests. We
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: have over 50 high-caliber celebrity guests on this album. Basically,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: the who is who of metal music. music and I
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: can't wait for everybody to hear it in its entirety.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Fantastic. Well, thanks very much for joining us today.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks. I'm glad to be here.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: My pleasure as well.
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: So as you say, bro, Accept celebrate your 50th anniversary
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: in the best way possible by releasing Teutonic Titans 1976
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: to 2026 on September 4, which features 19 reimagined versions
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: of Accept's biggest songs like How do you feel, man?
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Are you relieved with it finally coming out? This would
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: have been a lot of work and a lot of effort.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, man.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: It's like I said earlier, we've been working on this
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: album for two years. And then it's been in the
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: can for a few months. So I've just been doing
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: a bunch of pre-press and advanced interviews and things. But
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: really the big moment is now coming on well in
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: just a few days until the fans can actually finally
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: hear it in in and it's no longer a secret
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: what else is on this album because up until now
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: you know just a select few insiders were able to
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: hear the album and we just released four little um
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: teaser tracks but you know the vast majority of the
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: stuff is still hidden.
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah no i said The press release stresses that it's
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: a reimagined version of all the XF classics.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: So what do you mean when you say reimagined?
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: Does it mean you've taken liberties with the songs or
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: you've just re-recorded them?
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Well, think of it this way. I think it's a
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: complete redesign. Think of it, maybe you have a house
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: and you've got it completely. You leave the structure in place,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: but you could put all new fixtures everywhere. You put
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: new furniture and colors in the house. So it feels
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: like a completely redone and completely fresh and new. And
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: that's what these songs feel like to me. The structure
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: is still the same. The bones of the house or
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: the song are basically unchanged. But it sounds and feels
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: completely different from the original, which is what we wanted.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: And that's what we told everybody who was participating in this.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: We said, do it. but do it in your style.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: Just be mindful of what the original wants to say
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: or what it is all about. But other than that,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: have at it and go for it. Yeah, nice.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: Now, like you say, it's a massive undertaking.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: When did you have the initial idea to actually put
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: this album together for the 50th? And how long did
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: it take from that first idea to getting it finished?
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: It took a long time, I have to say. It
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: was a massive project. Our producer, Zeus, and I, we talked,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: I think, in the fall of 2024 for the first
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: time about it. And if I remember correctly, in early 2025,
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: we did the first drum tracks and basic stuff at
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: his studio. And then it took us the course of
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: the whole year until everybody was sending in their parts
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: because a lot of people recorded remotely. Just because, you know,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: everybody has a studio or a setup at their house or,
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: you know, everybody prefer to work at their own schedule
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: and their own environment. And so they send in the
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: tracks over the course of the next few months. And
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: in some cases, we had to wait almost a year
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: until we finally did get the material in. But it
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: was worth the wait, I think.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, from what I've heard, she is for sure.
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: As you said earlier, you've enlisted more than 50 legendary
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: figures in metal history to appear on the album. You've
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: got everyone from Phil Anselmo to Kirk Hammett, Dave Ellison,
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: Sebastian Bach, Rob Halford, Gary Holt. Was there a hit
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: list of people that you wanted on the record? Or
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: did you sort of more put out an open call
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: and see who answered it?
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: No, it wasn't like an open call. It doesn't work
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: that way. I mean, we started with a small, like
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: an inner circle of friends and people that we knew
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: would probably be interested and into it and those we
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: contacted first and then we got a little more confidence
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: and then thought like oh everybody said yes so let's
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: let's see what who else we can reach out to
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: and lo and behold just anybody we contacted said yes
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: that would do it which is you know a huge
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: honor of course because they don't need I mean somebody
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: like Kirk Hammett he's got his hands full and Rob Halford,
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: you know, too, they tour all the time, they make
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: their own albums. They don't really need to do any
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: of this, you know, nobody, but they all did it
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: as a payback or a favor or a sign of
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: respect or something like that. And that was huge.
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: You know, did you have people targeted particular songs? Like,
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: did you want certain people on certain songs or did
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: you just sort.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Of, yeah, I mean, You mentioned Sebastian Bach. He was
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: like very early on. I contacted him and he said, oh, yeah,
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: I'd love to do it, but I want to do
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: London Leather Boys. That's his favorite song. So, OK, OK,
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: that song's gone. If he really wants to do it,
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: you can probably he's probably going to do a great
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: job on it, you know. But there was a lot
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: of people who also said, you know, just tell me
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: what to do and I'll do it. It's fine. It's
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: an honor. I just love to be on there somewhere.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: It's whatever song doesn't matter to me. So we basically,
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Zeus and I, picked the players and the singers in
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: particular according to their singing style and what the song requires.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: Like we have a song called TV War, which always,
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: to me, had a heavy influence of maybe Rainbow and
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: Deep Purple. So we asked Jolin Turner if he would
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: do it and, you know, that song is perfect for him,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: you know.
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I can say like, No two songs on
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: the album are the same, like you use a different
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: combination of vocals, guitar, bass, and drums on every song.
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: So how difficult was that like sort of pairing instruments
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: up with certain songs and people?
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: Well, you'd have to ask our producer, Zeus, because he
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: made the magic happen. Because you have to understand there
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: was like all 50 different people sending all different material
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: that was recorded all over the world in different studios.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: And they all funneled it back to him and said,
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: here it is, make it sound right. You know what
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: I mean? He had this massive job of lining everything
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: up and making sure it actually sounds coherent. But it
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: really sounds like we all were in the same studio
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: and jammed away.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: Sounds like Zeus had his hands full, bro. That would
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: have been massive.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: It was, it was. And just the amount of emails
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: and communication back and forth was massive. And I was
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: involved in a lot of that myself. because there's paperwork involved. Yeah,
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: sometimes you had to ask managers. You had to get,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: you know, then, I don't know, the different track formats
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: and back and forth. And it was so much communication
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: over months and months. It was ridiculous. So that's why
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: I'm kind of glad it's over, but I'm very, very
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: happy about the result, you know.
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: There's also a re-recording of the track Hellhammer by the
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: current lineup of Acceptmates. So why did you choose that
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: particular song to represent the current versions?
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: I tell you why, because I always felt like that
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: album has a very different place in our discography because
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: it was recorded with David Rees and we wanted to
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: have a change of styles at that point in our
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: career and it all didn't really work out for many
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: reasons but I always felt the core material of that
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: album was really strong and I was very curious to
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: see what it would sound like if we take one
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: of those songs and produce it the way we think
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: it should have been produced back then, you know, for
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: various reasons that didn't really turn out the way we
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: would do it nowadays, you know. So I thought, well,
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: the material is strong, so let's pick at least one
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: from this album. And there could have been some others,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: but again, we had so much stuff already, we couldn't
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: possibly do more. And that's the reason why we also
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: didn't include anything from the new era with Mark Tornillo,
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: because those songs are fairly new and they've already I mean,
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: they're kind of recent, the charm was to get these
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: early tracks and get those people that remember these tracks
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: and that were actually influenced by me early on to
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: get all those guys on those early tracks. That was
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: the concept behind it.
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: You know, 50 years is a long time in any industry, mate,
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: especially music. There's a thousand questions I can ask you
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: about this, but the one I want to know most
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: is like over the course of that 50 years, what
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: are the biggest things you've learned about yourself.
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: And your music?
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: Well, let's see when you're young and when you're just
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: starting out, you think like you have this, well, first
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: of all, you have no idea what the music business
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: is really like and what matters and what doesn't matter.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: You have no idea. You're just a, it's just a
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: big dream. And you sort of, and that's, that's how
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: I remember we were in those days. We were basically hungry,
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: but had no clue about how the business might work
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: and how, what it would take to get anywhere. And
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: what I've learned over the years that persistence and tenacity,
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: if you really believe in something and you really go
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: for it, you'll probably go somewhere. You might not always
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: reach the very top, but if you're prepared to fight
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: for what you want, what you believe in, and stick
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: with it, that's going to go a long ways. Probably
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: because in the beginning, you always think, I'm not good enough.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: I'm not talented enough. You know what I mean? You
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: think it's all about the talent, but it's not really.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: You think just because somebody can play faster... you're worthless
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: or something. But that's not so. It's really all about
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: different things. That's what I learned. So, basically, it's like
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: concentrate on what you're good at and what is fun
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: to you and what you like doing and then just
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: stick with it and don't look left and right and think,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: you know, you need to, you know, change with whatever
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: trend is out there all the time.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: Well said, brother.
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: That Do you remember the first time you heard one
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: of your songs played on the radio?
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: What song was it and where were you?
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: I remember it vividly. It was the song Lady Lou.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: And it was like 1979, probably. Because that's when the
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: first album was released. And we thought, oh my God,
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: we're on the radio. We're superstars. We got it made.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: It was like this obscure song, Lady Lou, which wasn't,
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: you know, it's just, okay, but it wasn't great. And
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: we finally heard it at our local like rock station.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: And it was like, Oh my God, we're, we're, you know, yay.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: You know, of course it didn't change anything, but it
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: was the first step and we were super excited. It
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: was cute.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: Did Lady Lou make it onto the album?
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: It did actually. Yeah. It was on the album. Yeah.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: It's still on there. You can listen to it, but
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: you know, it's, it is what it is. The first,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: first album.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: Very cool.
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: Now, you're embarking on a special anniversary tour with a
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: unique set list featuring songs you may never play again, mate.
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: So how challenging has it been to rehearse material that's
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: been sitting in the vault for so long in some cases?
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: It's not difficult at all, actually. If the songs are good,
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: they're fun to play, you know, and we picked, I
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: think we picked some good ones that will be in
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: the set list for sure for this 50-year anniversary tour.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: You know, we wanted to, and we have been playing
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: some fifth anniversary shows already on festivals. We have a
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: brand new stage set and we're going to play songs,
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: like you said, that we probably normally wouldn't play and
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: might never play again. And we're going to have a
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: bunch of guests that are on the album. A lot
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: of them have already been with us on stage. We
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: just played in England last week and we had John
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Bush from Armored Saint come up on stage and sing
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: the song Up to the Limit with us. It's fabulous.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: And I love it. I love having guests on the album,
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: on stage.
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: And I suppose you've got 50 of them over the album, too.
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: So if you're playing festivals, there's pretty much every lineup's
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: bound to have probably one of those people, one of
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: those best.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: That's right. That's right. And it happened quite a lot.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: And as a matter of fact, the idea for this
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: album was also due to the fact that we did
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: have a bunch of guests in the last few years
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: come on stage with us. And every time, I really
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: enjoyed having a different vibe know face on stage with
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: a different sound and and just to just to it's
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: amazing it opens up everything you know because you know
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: what it was going to sound like with a core
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: band but as soon as somebody else steps on but
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: it's like oh wow something.
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: Else definitely for a little bit i guess.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah absolutely it's fun.
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah nice and speaking of the 50th anniversary tour mate
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: is there plans to bring it on this.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: Side of the world.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: You'd have to ask our manager. I hope there is.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: I haven't heard anything that's confirmed, but it definitely would
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: have to be next year because we're pretty booked out
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: for this year. We're going to have a massive European
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: headline tour planned. As a matter of fact, I see
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: the tour dates behind you there. Yeah, it's a few.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Behind me. Yeah. And we picked the same background, which
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: is very nice.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: I'm the bloke's mate, so we've done well.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we did.
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: Beautiful.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: Well, thanks very much for your time, bro.
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: Teutonic Titans is out this Friday, September 4th, and she's
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: a cracker of an album, mate. Congratulations on 50 years
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: of servitude and metal, mate.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: We owe you a debt of honor.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: No, you don't. You don't owe me anything, but thank
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: you very much. It's been fun, brother.