In a recent interview with Matt Coe of Dead Rhetoric, ACCEPT guitarist Wolf Hoffmann discussed the departure of longtime bassist and co-songwriter Peter Baltes in November 2018. He has since been replaced by Martin Motnik. ACCEPT‘s lineup has also been expanded with the addition of a third guitarist, Philip Shouse, who originally filled in for Uwe Lulis during the 2019 “Symphonic Terror” tour, before being asked to join the band permanently.
“I was sad more than anything,” Wolf said. “I was a bit heartbroken, to be honest. I wasn’t really surprised when it happened; I was more surprised how it happened. I thought we would have this big sitdown and talk things over, convince him to stay. We could tell he really wasn’t in it anymore, his heart and soul; he wasn’t happy. It’s not a good situation when you are in a band where somebody isn’t happy. I don’t know what was going on, but in the end, he sort of pulled the plug without giving us a chance to have that talk. It’s almost two years since, we have a great new guy in the band [Motnik], and the train keeps rolling. The show goes on.”
Hoffmann was then asked whether he would consider penning an autobiography to detail his career with ACCEPT that started in 1976. “[I] would not, short answer to that question,” he said. “I’ll tell you why: I have no fun in poking around in the past. It’s painful for me to even talk about the previous albums in the past of the’70s, ’80s and ’90s. It forced me to relive these moments. A lot of mixed stuff happens in a career, some of it good, some of it not so good. Going back at it is really never any fun for me. Let the past be the past, and let’s move on with the future. I wrote the song ‘The Best Is Yet To Come’ for that reason, it’s my life philosophy. I don’t enjoy second-guessing and reliving these old moments, all that kind of stuff. I find it not pleasant.”
ACCEPT‘s new studio album, “Too Mean To Die”, will be released January 15 via Nuclear Blast. The effort was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee with British producer Andy Sneap (JUDAS PRIEST, MEGADETH), who has been responsible for the studio sound of ACCEPT since 2010.
ACCEPT‘s last LP, 2017’s “The Rise Of Chaos”, marked the band’s first release with guitarist Uwe Lulis and drummer Christopher Williams, replacing Herman Frank and Stefan Schwarzmann, respectively.
ACCEPT‘s latest release was “Symphonic Terror – Live At Wacken 2017”, featuring the band’s performance at the Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany.
