Accept’s Wolf Hoffmann wants the wealth

Wolf in the wallet: Hoffmann

Accept guitarist Wolf Hoffmann feels honoured that counterparts in bigger bands look on him as a hero – but he wouldn’t mint trading the adulation in for a fatter bank balance.

And he hopes the band’s two acclaimed albums since they reformed have forever silenced those who doubted the German outfit could pull off a comeback.

Accept returned in 2009 with new singer Mark Tornillo after former frontman Udo Dirkschneider opted not to take the mic again. They released Blood of the Nations the following year and Stalingrad came out earlier this month.

Hoffmann tells BraveWords: “I don’t think you could have more scepticism than we had. We got hit pretty hard by the wave of naysayers and criticism. I had to tune out at one point because I couldn’t stand the comments any more.

“I found it pathetic and sad that people would make up their minds about us before they’d even heard anything. I feel vindicated, sure. We had quite a few people practically making public apologies to us, which was very cool.”

But he admits to some apprehension about how the band’s fans would respond to new voice Tornillo. “Mark does the old stuff so well that I never had any doubt that this was going to work,” he says. “Sometimes it’s not a question of how good the band is, but how the fans see the band. That was the big unknown factor when we came back. There was also the timing, which was just right for Accept. I don’t know if this would have worked 10 or 15 years ago.”

When it comes to other bands doffing the cap to Accept, Hoffmann enjoys the experience.

He reflects: “We do have some people that look up to us because we’ve been around a long, long time.  We’ve always had a strong following of musicians. It’s great, and it’s a huge honour for me to meet people that are, in a lot of cases, so much more successful commercially than we’ve ever been. They look up to us, and that’s incredible.

“But… I wouldn’t mind having the attention and the success, to be honest.”