Back in snarling form with new album Too Mean To Die, Accept guitarist Wolf Hoffmann tells Harry Guerin that after 45 years with the German metal legends, he still thinks the best is yet to come.
The album title, Too Mean to Die, is our response to the corona times.
Of course, it's not meant to be serious. But at the same time, I thought it would fit the times and would be a refreshing statement and not get all bogged down by the craziness. We wanted the album to be a typical metal album - in your face. Let the people enjoy some metal and not get frustrated by this daily corona panic stuff. We tried to not let it influence the songwriting in any way and we tried not to write any specific 'Covid songs'.
Technically, it certainly was a 'Covid album'.
We did the first half of the recording in March in Nashville. Andy Sneap, our producer, came over from England. Everything was fine - and then the news got worse and worse every day. Everybody basically got cold feet and thought they needed to get back home before the whole country shuts down. So, we all split after having recorded about 60% of the material. We wanted to regroup when times were better - we thought maybe in June the borders would open up again and we could all come back together. Well, that wasn't the case!
So, Andy Sneap couldn't come over, but we could be in America. We could be in Nashville and record, so we did. We finished the second half of the recording with Andy Sneap being present on a laptop, basically. He could hear everything and say something; he just couldn't physically be there. He was sort of remotely producing it. It's not the same, obviously, and you would prefer it to be, like, 'properly'. But when you can't, you make the best of it and you move on.
People say Accept are a harder band now than when we started out way back when.
Maybe we get old and bitter! I have to give Andy Sneap quite a bit of credit: he was there in the early days of the reformation of Accept and he was very instrumental in sort of steering us into that heavier direction. That is one half of the reason. The other half is maybe the fact that we realised more what Accept means to people, what it means to us and what we really stand for and what are the things we don't need to be bothered with so much, like the commercial, 'poppy' songs. We don't need to get played on the radio, we don't need to have a mainstream approach in any shape or form. I would always say we have a strong influence of Judas Priest and AC/DC and maybe a good dose of Deep Purple in our music.
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My feeling when we started was always, 'We'll do it for a few more months and see how long we can do it'.
We could never anticipate doing this for a lifetime. We always thought, 'This is going to end soon'. At least I did! Back then, everybody was young and the whole music scene was still developing and nobody had any experience that you could do this for a lifetime. It was always understood that one day you're going to get a real job, or do something proper. Nobody thought you could be a heavy metal guy in your sixties or seventies or whatever. I mean, come on! That was totally out of the question back then! I remember in my teenage years, the idea that anyone over 30 would possibly be onstage shaking their head was ridiculous - 'You can only do this when you're young'. But all of sudden, everybody got older - and we moved along with them!
I think when you don't want it anymore, it's time to call it quits.
I'm just the guy who never quit. Everybody else along the way at some point left the band, changed their mind, tried something else in their life, maybe regretted it later on, I don't know. I've just never made that decision. I've always just stuck with it because I like what I do. It's always hard [when someone leaves] because you just get used to each other and you know each other's weaknesses and strengths. Then you've got to work with somebody new. But every change is also an opportunity, in a way. Right now, we've got some great guys in the band - it's basically fresh blood also at the same time. It's always good and bad at the same time.
As long as I'm loyal to the brand and the sound and the identity of the band, members can come and go.
It's a little sad. I wish there were more original members, but it's not my fault. What am I going to do? Retiring the band doesn't help anybody. I think there's still fans out there that want to hear that stuff, still want to see us play. As long as that's still the case, we're glad to do that.
I've always admired The Scorpions.
Not only because they were always several steps ahead of us, and they were the first band out of Germany and they're fellow Germans, but also because they try really hard to be good. You can tell they've got a certain work ethic, which I admire, and they don't feel like old men onstage. The German work ethic? Probably so. That's what they say about the Germans and I think we all carry it with us, wherever we are. They still say I have it, even though I don't live in Germany anymore. Love it or hate it, it's there.
Do I have a philosophy? It's probably best said in the song The Best Is Yet to Come.
I strongly believe that. I always think the best Accept album hasn't been written yet, and the best stage show hasn't been played yet, and if we try, we can get much better with a lot of things. Or everything in life, really! Even as we get older, maybe you learn to enjoy things in a different way.
I remember when we were younger - or a lot younger in the 80s! - all the success we supposedly had, or did have, I took it more for granted.
It kind of came and it just happened automatically. It seems like now when something good happens, I appreciate it much more because I'm much more aware. I learned not to take it for granted. The job that I have - being a musician, being able to travel around the world and you get to just do what you do and play guitar and people enjoy it and treat you nice - it's fantastic!
Who would ever have anticipated this whole coronavirus mess?
All of sudden, things you took for granted can be turned upside down in an instant. In your mind, you could see, 'What's the worse that could happen?' There could be a war somewhere, or there could be a volcano erupting, or a tsunami and whole countries can be out of commission. But that the whole world stops at once and the whole entertainment industry collapses? You could never have anticipated that. It kind of shows you to be grateful when things are going well.
The secret to looking good at 61?
I don't know. Hard work?
I never listen to Accept's old stuff.
It's too painful!
Too Mean to Die is out now on Nuclear Blast Records.
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