Mainz, Germany has given us greatness and he goes by the name Wolf Hoffmann and he is known for several things. He has been the lead guitarist for the heavy metal band Accept since 1976. He has been a contributing artist to other musicians’ work not related to Accept such as Sebastian Bach, Joe Lynn Turner, and Skew Siskin. He has a keen eye for photography and as a result, is also a professional photographer. What some may not know is that there is a reason that his musical contributions to Accept have always had a classical undertone. He is a devoted classical music admirer. His passion for the timeless creations from eras long ago have inspired him as long as he can remember. They have provided him with a strong foundation to create not one, but two amazing compilations of classical music woven together with his powerhouse guitar playing skills. The new album is pure genius. Hearing this infused music from a heavy metal artists’ point of view is remarkable. Words alone cannot describe the beauty that Headbangers Symphony brings to the table or the emotion that overcomes you as you hang on to every note. With each dynamic guitar chord played, the music we’ve all heard purely from a symphonic point of view is revitalized and refreshed with new life and deliberate but unanticipated energy. As Wolf spoke with me today, it became quickly evident that music engulfs him; his heart, his soul, and his mind. He simply wants to share the splendor of his intertwined masterpiece with the world.
Interview with Wolf Hoffmann of Accept
By: Leslie Elder Rogers
Metal Exiles: With a career dating all the way back to the 70's, what is the biggest challenges as a musician, you feel like you face today that you didn't back then?
Wolf: Circumstances change a lot, but being a musician has never been easy. The challenges…there are so many. Keeping yourself motivated, keeping yourself inspired and to stay focused, is always tough. Then of course, we have the ever changing landscape of the digital age nowadays and the rules get changed under your feet everyday it seems, almost. Everything is changing so fast. It’s hard to keep up with all that stuff.
Metal Exiles: Headbangers Symphony is your second solo album and your previous one was released about 20 years ago. You’ve taken on some amazing and timeless classical masterpieces with this new album. What inspired you to make a second album of such musical magnitude?
Wolf: It’s really the fact that the first album got such a great reception from the fans worldwide over the years so I was inspired to do a follow up album. It’s been in the works forever and ever, even before Accept got back together. I wanted to do more of this stuff and I actually started on it and then Accept happened and it had to wait and sit there on the sideline for many years until I had the time to finally finish it. So, this album has been in the making for a long, long time. It’s something that I really, very much enjoy. I don’t really have any other huge plans with it at the moment. I just wanted to get it out of my system and finally released.
Metal Exiles: You got back with Accept around 2010, correct?
Wolf: We got back together around 2009 and stated touring in 2010. You can hear even on the opening track, there’s a riff that we used with Accept for “Teutonic Terror”. The riff really was written for this project, for the “Scherzo” piece and we just sort of stole it for Accept, or borrowed it and used it to build a song around it because the guys liked it so much. I stole from myself in a way but I guess that’s legal.
Metal Exiles: Coming off of the Blind Rage Tour, it’s a good time for you to get this album out there to the public. It drops, July 1st, right?
Wolf: Yeah, that’s correct. The timing was right because we’ve been touring with Blind Rage for so long and we pretty much came to a finish line last December and I though “Well, I really ought to use this time now to get this done and out of my system. It’s sort of now or never before the new cycle with Accept starts”. That’s already happening right now. We’re already in the studio for the next album, writing songs, so right now I wouldn’t even have the time to finish it or so the mix and all that, so I’m glad I did it when I could.
Metal Exiles: You created mind-blowing riffs and solos that "Hoffmannize" each song. Bringing in Peter Baltes for the bass lines perfected the sound you were digging for. Do you feel that collaborating with Italian musician and arranger, Melo Mafali solidified what you wanted to express with this album?
Wolf: I like that word “Hoffmannize”. It sounds sort of, I don’t know, official. I might use that from now on. Melo is a huge part of this project really. He is my partner in crime and all. I couldn’t have done it without him. He wrote all the string arrangements and also gave me many inspirations for which songs we should attempt to do. He and I really wrote these songs or arranged these songs together where I ‘m more the metal guy with a passion for classical music and he is more the classical guy with a passion for rock and metal music. We really gel together very well and I knew of course, eventually I’d need a bass player so I recruited Peter to play some of the more metal tunes on this album. There’s a bunch of other guys involved in this album as well; two more bass players and a drummer from England named Jason Bowld. A handful of people helped me do this.
Metal Exiles: I love classical music in the first place and I grew up with heavy metal thanks to my brother who played the guitar back in the day in local bands around town. Accept was one of the bands he taught me about early on and “Balls to the Wall” was an anthem for him. Heavy metal has always been in my bones but it’s nice to see you mix that into classical music to create the magnificence that you created. Some of the stand out songs for me are "Madame Butterfly", "Pathetique" (which I’d never heard before), "Meditation", "Air on the G String", and “Swan Lake”. I love the diverse nature of how you connect the upbeat and fast pace riffs with the serene sound of the slower melodies. What songs are you most proud of on this album?
Wolf: Maybe “Bald Mountain” because it’s really well-rounded since it’s really the most metal song of all of them. I’m quite happy with that. I like them all of course, for different reasons or I wouldn’t have chosen them. Actually there was one more song that didn’t make it on the album for legal reasons which is too bad but it’s going to be released as a bonus track at some point I hope. In general, I chose a bunch of songs that were favorite classical tracks that I’ve always admired. It’s not that easy though. I have a huge archive of classical music that I listen to at home all the time but 99% of the stuff that’s out there is not really usable as a guitar player. There are so many orchestral pieces that are beautiful but they don’t really lend themselves to being played with a metal band. Only very few pieces are usable in my mind, the way I want to do it, so it’s a little bit of a challenge to even find songs that are doable.
Metal Exiles: Not knowing that you were involved in that style of music, I went back and listened to the first album and it is truly just as amazing as the new album. It’s amazing what you do and how you contribute and make the songs seem fresh and new.
Wolf: Thank you! I’ve always wanted to do rock instrumentals out of these classical songs and a lot of times I only use certain parts of the original compositions. That’s the case with symphonies and stuff. They last about 20 minutes in some cases, or 15 minutes and I’m really just using the main scene and using that a few times to build my own stuff around it. It’s really not very authentic if you want.
Metal Exiles: You have a guitar deal with Framus guitars. Did you use the Framus guitars a lot on the album? If so, which models you use?
Wolf: I did, I actually used them for the first time. I actually use almost identical guitars in studio and on stage for a few years now, ever since I had that custom Framus signature model. They’ve made a few other models for me with beautiful finishes. I have about three or four and they’re all gorgeous. I did use them; not exclusively but a ton of the tracks I played with those guitars. Like I said, this album goes back many years and I started doing some stuff even before I had the Framus deal. In some cases and even in some demos from years and years ago I left intact and didn’t replace because I like the original takes. It’s weird, sometimes I play something and you can never get it quite the same way again. Sometimes there’s something very authentic and very fresh about doing spontaneous takes and I like to keep it there if it’s usable. All of the guitars are very identical and only the finishes are different, but they’re all pretty identical otherwise.
Metal Exiles: Your carbon fiber signature series guitar is pretty bad ass. Did you help with the design and creation of it?
Wolf: Just about always I do. Yes, I always give them my ideas and they do a tremendous job of making them even better than I can imagine. Like in this case, they came up with a design that was very detailed aluminum looking lines on it. It’s a very beautiful guitar.
With the Blind Rage Tour over, now that you've moved on to the release of the solo album, what's next in line as far as touring?
Metal Exiles: Off topic from the album, you're a professional photographer. What do you like to shoot?
Wolf: I never do concert photography or music photography. It’s strictly commercial photography. I’ve been a professional commercial photographer for all these years that Accept was in existence. I was doing it for a long time, even while we were touring and when we were not touring, I was shooting still. This last year, I’ve hardly had the chance to do any photo shoots so I’m afraid my photo career is on the phasing out stage right now. That’s ok with me because I’d much rather be on stage doing what I do. I mean I love photography but music will always be my first love.
Metal Exiles: Once you get back to the band aspect of things, do you plan to bring some of this music independently to the stage as well when you tour or is this you and only you?
Wolf: I don’t know what we’re going to do just yet. There’s different scenarios that are possible. First and foremost, we have to figure out how we get it onstage with an orchestra. We’re talking to several orchestras right now and we’re trying to figure out what we can do to bring that to stage anywhere. Then we have to figure out is it just going to be the classical stuff or is Accept going to be involved in that as well. Who knows? Anything is possible. We just have to see when the time comes, what is going to be realized but I’d love to present this stuff on stage. I think it would be a lot of fun.
Metal Exiles: Sometimes the music alone can bring the fans to their knees. It doesn’t always have to revolve around the lyrics. The music is the heart of the music with the guitar riffs, the solos, and the drum beats. Conveying this type of diversity in joining the classical with the heavy metal instrumentation, I can only imagine that people will love it live.
Wolf: We definitely have to figure out how we’re going to do it and when and where. It’s for sure an interesting concept and idea and very tempting so I am sure something will be realized. Probably not this year because we have to finish our Accept album first but most likely next year at some point. The goal for Accept is to have their new album out the first of next year. The whole crazy mess will start again next year.
Metal Exiles: Do you plan to incorporate North American into the next set of touring as well?
Wolf: We’d love to as we love coming to America. I live here so of course I love America and would love to tour here so hopefully we can realize that too.
Metal Exiles: I’m gonna keep watching for you here in Georgia and definitely gonna keep rockin’ out to the new album. You may have to dig deeper into that library of classical music and work on a third album.
Wolf: We might, I might actually do that. To me it’s got a lot of staying power. The first album came out almost 20 years ago and people still come up to me all the time and tell me how much they like and that they listen to it all the time so I know there’s a reason why these compositions lasted for centuries. They’re just fabulous. They even survive my treatment.
Follow Wolf on Facebook @: www.facebook.com/wolfhoffmannofficial
Follow Wolf on Twitter @: https://twitter.com/thewolfhoffmann
Wolf Hoffman website @: http://www.wolfhoffmann.com
Order Headbangers Symphony @: http://nblast.de/WolfHoffmannSymphony
Purchase Headbangers Symphony here:
Limited Edition Red Vinyl:
http://bit.ly/WolfHoffmannRedVinyl
Limited Edition Vinyl:
http://bit.ly/WolfHoffmannVinylAmz...
Digipack CD:
http://bit.ly/WolfHoffmannCDAmz
Digital Album:
http://bit.ly/WolfHoffmanniTunes
Interview with Wolf Hoffmann of Accept
By: Leslie Elder Rogers
Metal Exiles: With a career dating all the way back to the 70's, what is the biggest challenges as a musician, you feel like you face today that you didn't back then?
Wolf: Circumstances change a lot, but being a musician has never been easy. The challenges…there are so many. Keeping yourself motivated, keeping yourself inspired and to stay focused, is always tough. Then of course, we have the ever changing landscape of the digital age nowadays and the rules get changed under your feet everyday it seems, almost. Everything is changing so fast. It’s hard to keep up with all that stuff.
Metal Exiles: Headbangers Symphony is your second solo album and your previous one was released about 20 years ago. You’ve taken on some amazing and timeless classical masterpieces with this new album. What inspired you to make a second album of such musical magnitude?
Wolf: It’s really the fact that the first album got such a great reception from the fans worldwide over the years so I was inspired to do a follow up album. It’s been in the works forever and ever, even before Accept got back together. I wanted to do more of this stuff and I actually started on it and then Accept happened and it had to wait and sit there on the sideline for many years until I had the time to finally finish it. So, this album has been in the making for a long, long time. It’s something that I really, very much enjoy. I don’t really have any other huge plans with it at the moment. I just wanted to get it out of my system and finally released.
Metal Exiles: You got back with Accept around 2010, correct?
Wolf: We got back together around 2009 and stated touring in 2010. You can hear even on the opening track, there’s a riff that we used with Accept for “Teutonic Terror”. The riff really was written for this project, for the “Scherzo” piece and we just sort of stole it for Accept, or borrowed it and used it to build a song around it because the guys liked it so much. I stole from myself in a way but I guess that’s legal.
Metal Exiles: Coming off of the Blind Rage Tour, it’s a good time for you to get this album out there to the public. It drops, July 1st, right?
Wolf: Yeah, that’s correct. The timing was right because we’ve been touring with Blind Rage for so long and we pretty much came to a finish line last December and I though “Well, I really ought to use this time now to get this done and out of my system. It’s sort of now or never before the new cycle with Accept starts”. That’s already happening right now. We’re already in the studio for the next album, writing songs, so right now I wouldn’t even have the time to finish it or so the mix and all that, so I’m glad I did it when I could.
Metal Exiles: You created mind-blowing riffs and solos that "Hoffmannize" each song. Bringing in Peter Baltes for the bass lines perfected the sound you were digging for. Do you feel that collaborating with Italian musician and arranger, Melo Mafali solidified what you wanted to express with this album?
Wolf: I like that word “Hoffmannize”. It sounds sort of, I don’t know, official. I might use that from now on. Melo is a huge part of this project really. He is my partner in crime and all. I couldn’t have done it without him. He wrote all the string arrangements and also gave me many inspirations for which songs we should attempt to do. He and I really wrote these songs or arranged these songs together where I ‘m more the metal guy with a passion for classical music and he is more the classical guy with a passion for rock and metal music. We really gel together very well and I knew of course, eventually I’d need a bass player so I recruited Peter to play some of the more metal tunes on this album. There’s a bunch of other guys involved in this album as well; two more bass players and a drummer from England named Jason Bowld. A handful of people helped me do this.
Metal Exiles: I love classical music in the first place and I grew up with heavy metal thanks to my brother who played the guitar back in the day in local bands around town. Accept was one of the bands he taught me about early on and “Balls to the Wall” was an anthem for him. Heavy metal has always been in my bones but it’s nice to see you mix that into classical music to create the magnificence that you created. Some of the stand out songs for me are "Madame Butterfly", "Pathetique" (which I’d never heard before), "Meditation", "Air on the G String", and “Swan Lake”. I love the diverse nature of how you connect the upbeat and fast pace riffs with the serene sound of the slower melodies. What songs are you most proud of on this album?
Wolf: Maybe “Bald Mountain” because it’s really well-rounded since it’s really the most metal song of all of them. I’m quite happy with that. I like them all of course, for different reasons or I wouldn’t have chosen them. Actually there was one more song that didn’t make it on the album for legal reasons which is too bad but it’s going to be released as a bonus track at some point I hope. In general, I chose a bunch of songs that were favorite classical tracks that I’ve always admired. It’s not that easy though. I have a huge archive of classical music that I listen to at home all the time but 99% of the stuff that’s out there is not really usable as a guitar player. There are so many orchestral pieces that are beautiful but they don’t really lend themselves to being played with a metal band. Only very few pieces are usable in my mind, the way I want to do it, so it’s a little bit of a challenge to even find songs that are doable.
Metal Exiles: Not knowing that you were involved in that style of music, I went back and listened to the first album and it is truly just as amazing as the new album. It’s amazing what you do and how you contribute and make the songs seem fresh and new.
Wolf: Thank you! I’ve always wanted to do rock instrumentals out of these classical songs and a lot of times I only use certain parts of the original compositions. That’s the case with symphonies and stuff. They last about 20 minutes in some cases, or 15 minutes and I’m really just using the main scene and using that a few times to build my own stuff around it. It’s really not very authentic if you want.
Metal Exiles: You have a guitar deal with Framus guitars. Did you use the Framus guitars a lot on the album? If so, which models you use?
Wolf: I did, I actually used them for the first time. I actually use almost identical guitars in studio and on stage for a few years now, ever since I had that custom Framus signature model. They’ve made a few other models for me with beautiful finishes. I have about three or four and they’re all gorgeous. I did use them; not exclusively but a ton of the tracks I played with those guitars. Like I said, this album goes back many years and I started doing some stuff even before I had the Framus deal. In some cases and even in some demos from years and years ago I left intact and didn’t replace because I like the original takes. It’s weird, sometimes I play something and you can never get it quite the same way again. Sometimes there’s something very authentic and very fresh about doing spontaneous takes and I like to keep it there if it’s usable. All of the guitars are very identical and only the finishes are different, but they’re all pretty identical otherwise.
Metal Exiles: Your carbon fiber signature series guitar is pretty bad ass. Did you help with the design and creation of it?
Wolf: Just about always I do. Yes, I always give them my ideas and they do a tremendous job of making them even better than I can imagine. Like in this case, they came up with a design that was very detailed aluminum looking lines on it. It’s a very beautiful guitar.
With the Blind Rage Tour over, now that you've moved on to the release of the solo album, what's next in line as far as touring?
Metal Exiles: Off topic from the album, you're a professional photographer. What do you like to shoot?
Wolf: I never do concert photography or music photography. It’s strictly commercial photography. I’ve been a professional commercial photographer for all these years that Accept was in existence. I was doing it for a long time, even while we were touring and when we were not touring, I was shooting still. This last year, I’ve hardly had the chance to do any photo shoots so I’m afraid my photo career is on the phasing out stage right now. That’s ok with me because I’d much rather be on stage doing what I do. I mean I love photography but music will always be my first love.
Metal Exiles: Once you get back to the band aspect of things, do you plan to bring some of this music independently to the stage as well when you tour or is this you and only you?
Wolf: I don’t know what we’re going to do just yet. There’s different scenarios that are possible. First and foremost, we have to figure out how we get it onstage with an orchestra. We’re talking to several orchestras right now and we’re trying to figure out what we can do to bring that to stage anywhere. Then we have to figure out is it just going to be the classical stuff or is Accept going to be involved in that as well. Who knows? Anything is possible. We just have to see when the time comes, what is going to be realized but I’d love to present this stuff on stage. I think it would be a lot of fun.
Metal Exiles: Sometimes the music alone can bring the fans to their knees. It doesn’t always have to revolve around the lyrics. The music is the heart of the music with the guitar riffs, the solos, and the drum beats. Conveying this type of diversity in joining the classical with the heavy metal instrumentation, I can only imagine that people will love it live.
Wolf: We definitely have to figure out how we’re going to do it and when and where. It’s for sure an interesting concept and idea and very tempting so I am sure something will be realized. Probably not this year because we have to finish our Accept album first but most likely next year at some point. The goal for Accept is to have their new album out the first of next year. The whole crazy mess will start again next year.
Metal Exiles: Do you plan to incorporate North American into the next set of touring as well?
Wolf: We’d love to as we love coming to America. I live here so of course I love America and would love to tour here so hopefully we can realize that too.
Metal Exiles: I’m gonna keep watching for you here in Georgia and definitely gonna keep rockin’ out to the new album. You may have to dig deeper into that library of classical music and work on a third album.
Wolf: We might, I might actually do that. To me it’s got a lot of staying power. The first album came out almost 20 years ago and people still come up to me all the time and tell me how much they like and that they listen to it all the time so I know there’s a reason why these compositions lasted for centuries. They’re just fabulous. They even survive my treatment.
Follow Wolf on Facebook @: www.facebook.com/wolfhoffmannofficial
Follow Wolf on Twitter @: https://twitter.com/thewolfhoffmann
Wolf Hoffman website @: http://www.wolfhoffmann.com
Order Headbangers Symphony @: http://nblast.de/WolfHoffmannSymphony
Purchase Headbangers Symphony here:
Limited Edition Red Vinyl:
http://bit.ly/WolfHoffmannRedVinyl
Limited Edition Vinyl:
http://bit.ly/WolfHoffmannVinylAmz...
Digipack CD:
http://bit.ly/WolfHoffmannCDAmz
Digital Album:
http://bit.ly/WolfHoffmanniTunes