In a new interview with Mark Strigl, ACCEPT guitarist Wolf Hoffmann spoke about the band’s touring plans beyond a couple of U.S. festival appearances this year, including one at the the M3 Rock Festival in early May at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “We’re [planning] on another tour in the fall, which I cannot talk about quite yet, but there will be more shows in the U.S. later in the year. They haven’t been announced yet, so I can’t really say much… And other than that, we’re going to Europe. We actually tried to lay low this year because we’re gonna be very, very busy next year when we have the 50-year anniversary tour coming up and an album in the works for that. And so there’s a lot of stuff happening next year, and we kind of wanted to lay low this year, but then we aren’t. All these shows came in, so we’re still quite busy.”
Asked if longtime ACCEPT producer Andy Sneap will be involved with the band’s upcoming 50th-anniversary album, Wolf said: “He will not be on this one, because he asked for a year off from us. I asked him, I begged him to produce his album, but then we found a good buddy of his. His name is Zeuss [Chris Harris]. He’s producing it.”
Hoffmann continued: “[Andy is] kind of part of the family now, but he’s been touring so much with [JUDAS] PRIEST [as that band’s touring guitarist], and he’s been working so much in the studio last year. I think he did SAXON, he did PRIEST, he also did DREAM THEATER — he’s done a bunch of stuff. So when I said, ‘Hey, can we work this year again?’ He said, ‘Man, can I please have a year off?’, which is understandable.”
Regarding ACCEPT‘s upcoming 50th-anniversary tour, which is expected to launch at the of the year, Wolf said: “It’s gonna be a retrospective of the whole 50-year career and, of course, it’s gonna feature a lot of the important stuff from the ’80s and some deeper cuts. And we’re gonna perform with guest singers and guest players, and it’s gonna be super exciting, like a once-in-a-lifetime thing. You only have one shot at a 50-year anniversary… I don’t think we’ll get a chance for another one.”
Asked what continues to drive him creatively to keep making new music with ACCEPT, Wolf said: “Well, we’re still hungry. I still have the energy and I still have the passion for it, so I don’t ever feel like I’m at this point where I’ve kind of had enough or I wanna retire or anything like that. I’m still full force in it, man. And so is everybody in the band. And that is, I guess, what keeps us motivated and what keeps it going. And it’s a lot of fun to create stuff that actually means something to the fans. It would be one thing if we were releasing albums and everybody said, ‘You know what? Just play the old songs. We don’t really need any new stuff.’ But the opposite is true. People are really eating the stuff up, and they’re really, really happy and they’re respecting the fact that we are still working so hard. So the old songs and the new songs kind of live side by side when we perform live. I mean, at one point the classics are always gonna be the classics and they’re gonna be featured on radio more and that sort of thing. But when it comes to live performances. I think the fans really appreciate the fact that we play new stuff.”
Sneap produced ACCEPT‘s last six studio albums: “Blood Of The Nations” (2010),“Stalingrad” (2012),“Blind Rage” (2014),“The Rise Of Chaos” (2017),“Too Mean To Die” (2021) and “Humanoid” (2024).
Zeuss has previously worked with ROB ZOMBIE, HATEBREED, QUEENSRŸCHE, SHADOWS FALL, DEMON HUNTER, OVERKILL and REVOCATION, among many others.
Two months ago, Hoffmann told Metal Talks about ACCEPT‘s 50th anniversary: “Yeah, it’s a funny thing. I joined this band when I was 16 and just never left. And here I am all these all these years later, coming on a 50th anniversary, which is crazy. But yeah, it’s definitely something that we’re very proud of. And not every band is lucky enough to be around for this long and to still be in the business and to still be touring to still have fans.
“I think ACCEPT, we’re very fortunate in the way that we achieved the impossible,” he continued. “We had a change of lead singers 15 years ago with Mark Tornillo, and things are better than they’ve ever been for us. I mean, the last few albums have been phenomenal, the touring is going great, we have sold-out shows everywhere. So, I mean, we are really, really fortunate, and I’m fully aware of that. And yeah, to mark the occasion, we’re gonna have a special tour. We’re gonna release a new album with — we’re gonna re-record some of the old classics and some of the deeper-cut songs from back then with guest people, guest singers, guest guitar players, and we’re gonna bring this out on the road in ’26. So we’re working on that for the next year or so.
“This is a milestone that needs to be celebrated properly, and what better [way to do it]?” Hoffmann added. “I mean, we only have one chance for a 50th anniversary. I don’t think I’ll get another one. With all optimism, I don’t think I’ll be around 50 years from now, or the fans will be, so we might as well have this opportunity and make use of it. And it’s gonna be fantastic. I know it. We’re gonna play some songs we’ve never played before, and it’s gonna be great.”
Last November, Wolf told The Adamantium Podcast about ACCEPT‘s upcoming 50th-anniversary album and tour: “Well, I can’t tell you too much yet, because it’s too early and right now we’re featuring this tour [promoting ACCEPT‘s latest album, ‘Humanoid’], so let’s focus on that. But I can tell you it’s gonna be a huge thing because turning 50 is a big deal.”
Wolf continued: “We have always shied away from all these, I would call them little anniversaries, because, really, we could have done a [celebration of] 20 years of this album, 20 years of that album, 30 years [of some other album]. Every year is something to celebrate. I mean, when you have 15 albums or 16 or 17, something always happened 20, 30, 40 years ago. It’s always a round number of years. So we could have done that for a long time. There’s people who do it all the time. We always said, ‘Nah, we’d much rather feature the current album and then make a new one after that and stay current.’ But, man, with 50, that’s where I gotta say this is the one — this is the big one. There won’t be another one… And also, quite honestly, we’re getting up there in age a little bit, and I’m not quite ready to retire, but you never really know. Honestly, at some point, we could all say this might be our last tour. You never really know. Somebody might get sick.
“50 is a big deal, and we’re gonna really celebrate it properly,” Hoffmann added. “It’s gonna be a completely different show with a lot of surprises. That’s all I know. So we’ve got a year of planning to do and then executing and stuff.”
Last summer, Wolf was asked by Metal Journal why he and his bandmates decided to announce that they will embark on a 50th-anniversary tour in late 2025 when they still had plenty of touring to do last year in support of their latest album, “Humanoid”. He said: “Things like that take time. People have asked me for the last two years: ‘Are you gonna do an anniversary thing?’ Everybody wants to know. So I finally said, ‘Okay, we’re gonna do it.’ And it’s gonna be massive, man. It’s gonna be a huge surprise with all the guests that we’re gonna have. And I think it’s gonna be completely different from anything we’ve ever done before. So I think it’s gonna blow people away. But that doesn’t take away from this tour that we have coming up, because, first of all, it’s gonna be another year or more before we even go on this next tour. So if you like the new album, ‘Humanoid’, and if you love ACCEPT, you’ve gotta see this tour, no matter what. It’s gonna be definitely a highlight anyhow.”
On the topic of whether there was any talk about possibly announcing a farewell tour to coincide with ACCEPT‘s 50th anniversary, Wolf said: “We’ve been doing it for a long, long time. And I honestly don’t know how long I can do this. I mean, nobody knows what the future will bring, and it has crossed our mind, absolutely. So, it might be that we go off with a highlight like this and then just really say, ‘Okay, this was it.’ I don’t know yet, to be honest.”
Regarding whether former ACCEPT members Udo Dirkschneider (vocals) and Peter Baltes (bass) will be invited to take part in the 50th-anniversary tour, perhaps just in the form of a guest appearance at select shows, Wolf said: “Yeah, of course, of course. That doesn’t mean they’re gonna [show up]. We have to wait and see. Of course, everybody [is invited]. The door is always open for anybody to join us on this, because it’s gonna be a retrospective of all the 50 years of ACCEPT, and whoever wants to participate is more than welcome. Yes, sure.”
Asked if he will call Udo and Peter directly to ask them to participate in the tour or if he will wait for their call, a visibly irritated Wolf said: “Can you shut up already? You’re not gonna get me to talk about it. I’m sorry, man. I know it’s a nice try. Everybody wants to know these things.”
Wolf also talked about ACCEPT‘s plan to release a special album in early 2026 that will cover the band’s entire musical history. The anniversary LP will contain a carefully curated selection of the best ACCEPT songs from the last five decades, re-recorded — partly with well-known surprise musical guests and colleagues — as well as with some rare tracks that have not been played so often before. He said: “I can’t tell you anything yet, because it’s way too early. I can just tell you it’s gonna be a massive thing. And I don’t really wanna get into it yet because I’m not really here to talk specifics about it. It’s still in the planning stages. It’s gonna be amazing. I think it’s gonna be some really big names that are gonna be participating in that. And you’ll have to wait. Sorry. It’s just too early.”
As for whether ACCEPT has already “selected” the guest musicians who will appear on the album, Wolf said: “Yes, we have selected a lot of it. Not all of it, but we have selected a lot.”
Over the past five decades, ACCEPT has sold millions of albums and inspired countless musicians. Their energetic live performances and iconic albums such as “Balls To The Wall”, “Restless And Wild” and “Metal Heart” have left a lasting mark on the heavy metal genre. Hoffmann‘s guitar style and musical vision have made the band one of the most respected on the heavy metal scene.
After a hiatus in the band’s career, Wolf was introduced to New Jersey singer Mark Tornillo in 2009. The chemistry and fit between them was so remarkable, ACCEPT reformed and almost immediately rose to global success with chart-topping albums. ACCEPT continues to be celebrated for each of their new records with Mark, who is now the longest-reigning frontman of ACCEPT, placing the Hoffmann–Tornillo partnership firmly in the Metal Hall Of Fame.
For decades, ACCEPT has been recognized as a guarantee of high quality and each of their albums has reached the top of the charts, delivering energy, melodies, killer riffs and an impressively powerful stage presence for 50 years.
ACCEPT and KK’S PRIEST recently joined forces for a summer/fall 2024 North American tour. The run began on August 31, 2024 in Los Angeles, California, visiting a slew of major cities in the USA and Canada — such as Toronto, Montreal, New York and Nashville — before coming to an end in San Francisco, California on October 7, 2024.
Tornillo joined ACCEPT in 2009 as the replacement for Dirkschneider, who was the band’s original lead singer. Mark can be heard on ACCEPT‘s last six studio albums.
Source: blabbermouth.net
