Accept (band)

Early years (1968–1982)

Accept's beginnings can be traced back to 1968 when Udo Dirkschneider and Michael Wagener formed a local band called Band X, which eventually changed its name to Accept. For many years, Accept went through numerous line-up changes. This instability essentially kept the band on an amateur level, making sporadic appearances in festival concerts. Accept's professional career began in 1976, with Udo Dirkschneider, Wolf Hoffmann, Gerhard Wahl, Dieter Rubach and Frank Friedrich, when they were invited to play at one of the first rock and roll festivals in Germany — Rock am Rhein. Following the festival the band were offered a recording deal. Their first recording was the self-titled Accept album, which did not achieve much commercial success.

The first stable line-up of Accept was composed of vocalist Udo Dirkschneider, guitarists Wolf Hoffmann and Gerhard Wahl, bassist Peter Baltes and drummer Frank Friedrich. Friedrich and Wahl quit the band after the release of Accept and were replaced by Stefan Kaufmann and Jörg Fischer. This line-up recorded I'm a Rebel in 1980. The title track originally was written for AC/DC and recorded by the band but never released by them.^[7] The album brought some media attention, the band being invited to make a televised appearance.

In 1981, their next album, Breaker, was released, and the band employed manager Gaby Hauke. Accept also joined Judas Priest's World Wide Blitz Tour and obtained attention outside of Europe for the first time.

Restless and Wild was released in 1982, although Jörg Fischer quit the band a short time before the recording took place. Jan Koemmet was hired as guitarist, but departed from the band before the recording of the album.^[8][9] Restless and Wild saw an evolution in the band's sound, which incorporated characteristics defining the genre later dubbed speed metal.^[1] Gaby Hauke was credited as "Deaffy" on two of the tracks.

Mainstream success (1983–1987)

Accept's next release, Balls to the Wall, was released in 1983, now with guitarist Herman Frank (ex-Sinner). The album was more conceptual, and included lyrical themes about politics, sexuality and human relationships. For example, "Balls to the Wall" refers to slaves revolting against oppressing masters, while "Fight It Back" is about social misfits fighting against conformity. All songs were credited to Accept and "Deaffy". Deaffy was manager Gaby Hauke's pseudonym as the band's lyricist, although she did not officially claim ownership until the band had broken up for the second time.

During a 1983 show in their hometown, the band met Jörg Fischer by chance and on Hauke's insistence, Fischer rejoined the band. A world tour followed through 1984, including the Monsters of Rock festival. By this time, the band was supported by Bad Steve, a band which was led by former Accept members Dieter Rubach, Jan Koemmet and Frank Friedrich.

Metal Heart was released in 1985. Produced by Scorpions producer Dieter Dierks, it presented the band's creative peak. Accept toured the world supporting the album,^[10] and documented the live shows with the live mini-album Kaizoku-Ban.

The follow up, Russian Roulette, was released in 1986. In 1987, Udo Dirkschneider was fired from the band,^[11] and later decided to embark on a solo career. Supporting this decision, the songwriting team in Accept wrote his entire solo album, released in 1987 as Animal House under the band moniker U.D.O.

David Reece period and first hiatus (1988–1991)

Parallel to work on Animal House, Accept started to audition vocalists. The band tried out a few singers, including Michael White^[12] and Baby Tuckoo singer Rob Armitage, whom they even featured in promo photos and metal magazine interviews, and also recorded demos with. Armitage also performed live with the band and one of the shows with him was reviewed by Metal Hammer magazine. However, American vocalist David Reece was chosen and this new line-up recorded and released Eat the Heat in 1989. Accept toured in support of the album that year with bands like Metal Church, W.A.S.P., Danzig and Armored Saint.^[13][14]

Accept's career came to a sudden halt, when Stefan Kaufmann sustained a serious injury to his back during the tour in support of the album. He was briefly replaced by House of Lords drummer Ken Mary for the remainder of the US tour. By the time tour ended in late 1989, the band decided that without Kaufmann, and with differences surfacing with Reece, it was time to cease their activities for the time being.

Reunion with Dirkschneider (1992–1996)

Former lead singer Udo Dirkschneider (right) during Accept's reunion tour in 2005

The live album Staying a Life, recorded in 1985, was released in 1990 as a souvenir celebrating their career.

A few years later the ex-members met with Dirkschneider and decided to relaunch the band with core members Hoffmann, Kaufmann, Dirkschneider and Baltes.

Their comeback album, Objection Overruled, was released in 1993 and was a qualified success in Europe and the USA. A world tour followed, and another album, entitled Death Row, was released in 1994. Kaufmann became unable to play once again due to his recurring back injury and Stefan Schwarzmann became the temporary replacement.

Predator was recorded in 1996, in Nashville, with Udo's long time (school) friend and producer Michael Wagener at the helm and with Michael Cartellone (from Damn Yankees) guesting on drums. Accept's tour supporting Predator took place in North America, South America, Europe and Asia, with their last concert in Tokyo, Japan.

Second hiatus and brief reunion (1997–2005)

Between 1997 and 2005, all the members continued working on their own projects. In 2005, Accept received an invitation from various European promoters for a short summer European Festival tour with Accept's classic line-up (Hoffmann, Baltes, Dirkschneider, Frank and Schwarzmann). These festivals turned out to be a stunning success, with the last show on August 27, 2005, in Kavarna, Bulgaria, at the Kaliakra Rock Fest.

Asked in May 2007 if Accept were planning on writing and recording new material in the near future, Dirkschneider replied:

That would be a problem. You know, it's easy to play the old songs, because they already exist. Especially for me it was easier, because I still do those classics with U.D.O., but for some of the guys it was a bit harder. But everybody did a great job on stage. I understand that people want a new Accept album, but composing songs together would have been a disaster. That way we would destroy more than we would create. We have a good relationship now and it's best to keep it that way.

— Udo Dirkschneider, Lords of Metal^[15]

On May 14, 2009, Udo Dirkschneider officially announced that he would not be participating in the rumoured Accept reunion.^[16]

Return with Mark Tornillo and Blood of the Nations (2009–2011)

Mark Tornillo (pictured in the middle) with guitarist Wolf Hoffmann in Stockholm, May 20, 2010. Tornillo replaced Udo Dirkschneider as the band's vocalist, when Accept reformed in 2009.

At the end of May 2009, rumours again surfaced of a possible Accept reformation, when bassist Peter Baltes revealed he spent a weekend at his house in Pennsylvania "shredding away" with guitarist Wolf Hoffmann. "Something amazing is in the works", Baltes explained. "As soon as I can, I'll let everybody know. Let's make the 'Metal Heart' beat again."

A coincidental meeting between Accept and former T.T. Quick singer Mark Tornillo at this informal jam session meant shortly after Tornillo was announced as the new vocalist.^[5]

A new album was written and recorded with Andy Sneap (of Megadeth, Sabbat, BLAZE, Exodus, Testament, Arch Enemy and Onslaught fame) as producer. Titled Blood of the Nations, it was the first original Accept album in fourteen years.^[17]

The new line-up made their live debut on 8 May 2010 at the Gramercy Theatre in New York City, their first American concert in fifteen years.^[18]

On May 21, 2010, the video for "Teutonic Terror" was Number 5 on the worldwide video charts in all genres on MySpace, topping such artists as Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber and Christina Aguilera. The video also topped the MySpace Global Metal Charts at Number 1.

Wolf Hoffmann with Accept in Minsk, Belarus, 2011. Hoffmann has been Accept's guitarist since its inception in 1976.

On June 13, 2010, Accept opened for AC/DC in Stuttgart, Germany, and on June 25, 2010, they headlined the Sonisphere festival in Romania and Turkey. With a set of over two hours, classics like "Balls to the Wall", "Metal Heart" and "Princess of the Dawn" were played along with the new album material. Blood of the Nations was released in Europe on August 20, 2010, and made a chart debut at Number 4 in the official German Media Control Charts, the band's second highest chart debut in their career.^[19]

Blood of the Nations was released September 4 in Japan, and September 18, 2010, in the United States. Accept spent 80 days on a summer tour traveling over 65,000 km and playing for over 450,000 fans. In October, the band appeared at the prestigious Japanese Festival LOUDPARK outside of Tokyo to 40,000 fans along with Ozzy Osbourne, Motörhead and Stone Sour.

Within a month of the release of Blood of the Nations, Wolf Hoffmann told "Metal Asylum": "We are already thinking about and writing for the next record. We've all missed doing Accept and we realized we missed doing this. Of course we are not 20 years old anymore and not ready to do just anything to be successful, we're not that desperate. [laughs] We are looking to do what makes sense and that's fun."^[20]

Stalingrad and Blind Rage (2012–2014)

Accept worked with Andy Sneap again to produce thirteenth studio album, completed in early 2012. Entitled Stalingrad, it was released in April 2012.^[21]

On April 8, 2013, Wolf Hoffmann told Chile's Radio Futuro that Accept had begun writing new material for their fourteenth studio album and would "definitely go back to the studio as soon as [they] can."^[22] Four months later, on August 9 at the Bloodstock Open Air festival 2013, Wolf told Metal Shock Finland:

Our upcoming album is hopefully going to be out next year. We've started working on writing some songs; we haven't recorded anything yet. But over the winter — maybe early next year — we'll start recording it and try to make it every bit as good as the last one, maybe even better, if we succeed, we'll see... It's going to be as heavy as the rest.^[23][24]

Accept released their fourteenth studio album Blind Rage on July 18, 2014 and on their world tour, they played in Australia for the very first time.^[25] Blind Rage became Accept's first album to debut at number one on the charts in their home country.^[26]

Departures of two members, The Rise of Chaos and next album (2014–present)

On December 28, 2014, guitarist Herman Frank announced that he had left Accept again.^[27] Later that day, Accept announced that drummer Stefan Schwarzmann had also left the band.^[28]

On April 12, 2015, Accept announced new guitarist and drummer, respectively Uwe Lulis and Christopher Williams.^[29]

On June 5, 2015, prior to the band's performance at the South Park festival in Tampere, Finland, bassist Peter Baltes told Kaaos TV that Accept planned to begin work on a new album after the conclusion of the Blind Rage tour.^[30] Asked in a July 2015 interview about the band's future, guitarist Wolf Hoffmann replied, "We will continue for a few more weeks, this run of touring, and then we'll take a little break and come back in the fall, but we're pretty much wrapping up the Blind Rage tour at this point; it's the very last phase of this whole cycle. And then the next album will have to be written and to be recorded, and how long that's gonna take and when that's all gonna happen, who knows? But it'll happen; that's all I know."^[31] Hoffmann stated that the new album would be released around July or August 2017.^[32][33] Like their previous three albums, the album was produced by Andy Sneap, making it Accept's fourth collaboration with him.^[32][34] On April 16, 2017, Accept announced that the album, titled The Rise of Chaos, would be released on August 4.^[6]

On June 2, 2017, the band released title track single digitally via Nuclear Blast accompanied by new artwork.^[35][36]

In a September 2018 interview with The Foundry, Hoffmann confirmed that Accept has begun the songwriting process for the follow-up to The Rise of Chaos. He stated, "We started putting down some riffs here and there, but the majority of the stuff will happen after we stop touring, because it's really hard to do this on the road for me."^[37]

Current members

• Wolf Hoffmann – guitars, backing vocals (1976–1989, 1992–1997, 2005, 2009–present)
• Peter Baltes – bass, backing vocals (1976–1989, 1992–1997, 2005, 2009–present)
• Mark Tornillo – lead vocals (2009–present)
• Uwe Lulis – guitars (2015–present)
• Christopher Williams – drums (2015–present)

Former members

• Udo Dirkschneider – lead vocals (1976–1987, 1992–1997, 2005)
• Frank Friedrich – drums (1976–1979)
• Dieter Rubach - bass (1976)
• Gerhard Wahl – guitars (1976–1978)
• Hansi Heitzer - guitars (1976)
• Jörg Fischer – guitars (1978–1982, 1984–1988)
• Jan Koemmet - guitars (1982)
• Stefan Kaufmann – drums (1979–1989, 1992–1994)
• Herman Frank – guitars (1982–1984, 2005, 2009–2014)
• David Reece – lead vocals (1988–1989)
• Stefan Schwarzmann – drums (1994–1995, 2005, 2009–2014)
• Michael Cartellone – drums (1995–1997)

Live members

• Ken Mary – drums (1989)
• Jim Stacey – guitars (1989)
• Rob Armitage – lead vocals (1987–1988)
• Michael White – lead vocals (1987)

Recording timeline

Accept songs in other media

Songs from Breaker album

• The German 1982 movie Nacht der Wölfe included an excerpt of "Starlight" as well as a glimpse of the album cover for Breaker as the female lead puts the record on. "Run if You Can" is also featured in the film, and both songs appeared on the soundtrack album.

"Fast as a Shark"

• Italian film Dèmoni (1985)
• Film People Like Us (2012)
• Action/adventure video game Brütal Legend

"Balls to the Wall"

• PlayStation 2 game Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s
• PSP/PS2 game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
• Downloadable content for the multi platform guitar teaching game Rocksmith
• Film The Wrestler (2008)
• Film Balls to the Wall (2011) directed by Penelope Spheeris
• TV show Beavis and Butt-Head episode "Tornado", in which the title characters ridicule the video