Accept

All For One - Once And For All

1976-1989, 1992-1997, 2005, 2009-

Stacks Image 18
Origin
Germany

Lineup
Wolf Hoffmann
Peter Baltes
Mark Tornillo
Uwe Luis
Christopher Williams
Guitar, vocals
Bass, vocals
Lead vocals
Guitar
Drums
1976-1989, 1992-1997, 2005, 2009-
1976-1989, 1992-1997, 2005, 2009-
2009-
2015-
2015-

Former members
Udo Dirkschneider
Frank Friedrich
Dieter Rubach
Gerhard Wahl
Hansi Heizer
Jörg Fisher
Jan Koemmet
Stefan Kaufmann
Herman Frank
David Reece
Stefan Schwarzmann
Michael Cartellone
Lead vocals
Drums
Bass
Guitar
Guitar
Guitar
Guitar
Drums
Guitar
Lead vocals
Drums
Drums
1976-1987, 1992-1997, 2005
1976-1979
1976
1976-1978
1976
1978-1982, 1984-1988
1982
1979-1989, 1992-1994
1982-1984, 2005, 2009-2014
1988-1989
1994-1995, 2005, 2009-2014
1995-1997

Live members
Ken Mary
Jim Stacey
Rob Armitage
Michael White


Drums
Guitar
Lead vocals
Lead vocals
1989
1989
1987-1988
1987
Stacks Image 86


Accept are a German heavy metal band from the town of Solingen, originally assembled in the early 1970s by Udo Dirkschneider. They played an important role in the development of speed metal and Teutonic thrash metal, being part of the German heavy/speed/power metal scene to emerge in the early to mid 1980s along with bands such as Helloween, Running Wild, Grave Digger, Sinner, and Rage. The band's 1983 album, Balls to the Wall, subsequently became their most successful release, featuring its well-known hit with the same title. Following their disbandment in 1997 and brief resurrection in 2005, they reunited in 2009 without Dirkschneider.
Accept were originally founded in 1968 by Udo Dirkschneider and Michael Wagener under the name Band X. For many years after its founding, Accept went through constant changes to its line-up and was essentially kept on an amateur level, making sporadic appearances in festival concerts. Their professional career began in 1976, when they were invited to play at one of the first rock and roll festivals from Germany — Rock am Rhein. Following the festival, the band received 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, since they did not intend to pursue a professional career in music. They were replaced by Stefan Kaufmann and Jörg Fischer, and with this line-up the band proceeded to record I'm a Rebel in 1980. The title track originally was written for AC/DC but never released by them. This was the album which brought media attention to the band, which was subsequently invited to make its first televised show.
Three important events took place in 1981. First, the album Breaker was released. Second, a contract with manager Gaby Hauke was signed, an agreement which lasted for the whole of the band's career. Third, Accept joined Judas Priest's world tour and obtained a fair amount of success, making the band known outside of Europe.
The next album — Restless and Wild — was released in 1982, but did not have the presence of Jörg Fischer, who quit the band a short time before the recording took place. Jan Koemmet was hired as Accept's new guitarist, but departed from the band before the recording of the album. Restless and Wild saw an evolution in the band's sound, which incorporated several characteristics of the genre which would later be called speed metal. Gaby Hauke is credited as "Deaffy" on two of the tracks.

Accept became successful with their next release, Balls to the Wall (1983), now with Herman Frank (ex-Sinner), which would prove to be something different from what they had previously recorded. The album was of a conceptual nature, and included songs which spoke about themes such as politics, sexuality and different kinds of human relationships. For example the title track "Balls to the Wall" refers to slaves revolting against oppressing masters. "Fight It Back" is about the social misfit, fighting against conformity. All songs were credited to Accept + "Deaffy". Deaffy was later revealed to be their manager Gaby Hauke's pseudonym for her contribution to the band's lyrics. She proceeded to compose the lyrics of all of their songs from that album on, except a couple of songs on their final album Predator. She did not officially claim authorship of the songs until the band had broken up.
During a show in their hometown in the year of 1983, the band ran into Jörg Fischer by chance. On Hauke's insistence, Fischer was made part of the band once more. A world tour which would only end in 1984 — at the historic Monsters of Rock festival — followed.
Metal Heart came next, in 1985, soon followed by the live album Kaizoku-Ban. Russian Roulette continued the series of albums, being produced by Scorpions producer Dieter Dierks and released in 1986.

However, as time passed, differences began to surface. Peter Baltes, Wolf Hoffmann and Gaby Hauke expressed a growing interest in the USA, and spent more time in overseas countries than in Germany, which meant they were constantly away from the rest of the band. The distance between them grew, and it was eventually decided that Accept would enter an hiatus and that Udo Dirkschneider would, in the meantime, pursue a solo career. The other members of the band worked together with Udo on the technical side of his first solo album, entitled Animal House, and it was released under the name of U.D.O. in Europe and America.
After a period of inactivity, Peter, Wolf and Stefan set to work once more as a band with the help of vocalist David Reece; Udo's solo career was working out well and guitarist Jörg Fischer had once more left Accept. After a few demos, the band felt secure enough with this new line-up and released Eat the Heat, the first and last (?) Accept album without Udo.
A short warm up tour in the USA was followed by a European tour with the support of rhythm guitarist Jim Stacey followed the release of the album. The tour, however, came to a sudden halt when Stefan Kaufmann sustained a serious injury to his back. He was replaced by drummer Ken Mary for the remainder of the tour. By the tour's end, Hoffmann, Baltes and Hauke had decided that Reece was an unstable personality and Kaufman was going to need a long break from the drums. They decided it was time to quit. By the end of 1989, the band had ceased its activities.

A live compilation entitled Staying a Life was released in 1990, and fans from around the globe demanded a reunion. During a visit to Germany, Udo met with the musicians from Accept and, after some discussion, it was decided that they would relaunch the classic line-up of the band.
Objection Overruled was released in 1993. The band's reunion was a qualified success in Europe and the USA, where the band was working though Pavement Records. A world tour followed. Another album, entitled Death Row, was released in 1994, but Kaufmann became unable to play once more due to his recurring back injury. The band invited Stefan Schwarzmann as a temporary replacement and commenced plans for their next tour.
The musicians, however, began to feel tired. The teenagers from the town of Solingen had grown up and were beginning to feel the toll of a life of constant touring. A sense of finality was in the air when the band entered studios to record Predator from 1996, this time with Michael Cartellone (from Damn Yankees) on the drums.
Accept's final tour, supporting Predator, went through America, Europe and Asia, with their last concert in Tokyo, Japan, one of the world capitals of heavy metal.
The future of Accept was uncertain between 1997 and 2005, as all members continue working on their own projects. However 2005 saw a short commemorative reunion tour with Accept's classic line-up. The final show was held 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.
On 14 May 2009 Udo Dirkschneider officially announced, that he would not be participating in the rumoured Accept reunion.
At the end of May 2009 rumours again surfaced on 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 TT Quick singer Mark Tornillo at this informal jam session meant shortly after Tornillo was announced as the new vocalist.

A new album was written and recorded with Andy Sneap (of Megadeth, 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. 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. On 21 May 2010 their 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.

On 13 June 2010 Accept opened for AC/DC in Stuttgart, Germany, and on 25 June 2010 headlined the Sonisphere festival in Romania and Turkey. With a set of over 2 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 20 August 2010 and made a chart debut at Number 4 in the official German Media Control Charts, the band’s highest chart debut in their career.

Blood of the Nations was released 4 September in Japan, and 18 September 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."

Accept worked with Andy Sneap again to produce a new album, completed in early 2012. Entitled Stalingrad it was released in April 2012.



Discography

Studio albums
  • Accept (1979)
  • I'm a Rebel (1980)
  • Breaker (1981)
  • Restless and Wild (1982)
  • Balls to the Wall (1983)
  • Metal Heart (1985)
  • Russian Roulette (1986)
  • Eat the Heat (1989)
  • Objection Overruled (1993)
  • Death Row (1994)
  • Predator (1996)
  • Blood of the Nations (2010)
  • Stalingrad (2012)
  • Blind Rage (2014)
  • The Rise of Chaos (2017)