Former Accept frontman Udo Dirkschneider’s band, Dirkschneider, recently released the new album, Balls To The Wall Reloaded, a re-recorded version of the classic Accept album, Balls To The Wall. The album is available via RPM.
In a new interview with Metal-Rules.com, Udo discusses his present and future, while also reflecting on selected events from the past. Excerpts from the chat follow…
Metal-Rules.com: Let’s start with the ongoing Balls To The Wall Anniversary Tour and, of course, the album itself, which celebrated its 40th anniversary last year. How significant of a milestone do you consider Balls To The Wall for Accept and your overall career?
Udo Dirkschneider: “I would say it is the most essential album for both Accept and myself. Before this album, we were already quite a big band in Europe, but the American breakthrough happened almost overnight when Balls To The Wall came out. Over 120 radio stations added us to their playlists, and MTV – still a new thing at the time – put the Balls To The Wall video in heavy rotation.
Then, we started touring with KISS, which marked the beginning of Accept’s worldwide success. Nobody expected this level of recognition from us with this album. Of course, we knew it was something special – there’s no filler, every song is strong – but the massive impact still took us by surprise. So, here we are. It’s a very important album for all of us.”
Metal-Rules.com: What was the reason you decided to re-record the album?
Dirkschneider: “Well, that wasn’t really planned. The only thing planned was to do a tour for the 40th anniversary of Balls To The Wall—originally last year, but another band was on tour in Europe, so that wasn’t possible. And… yeah. Then something else came up, and we were asked, ‘Oh, what are you doing? Are you doing something special for the Balls To The Wall 40th anniversary?’ And we said, ‘Yeah, we want to go on tour.’ A lot of things happened. I said, ‘Yeah, that’s my favorite album. I would love to sing a song, blah, blah, blah.’ And then, on and on and on. And then we said, ‘Hmm.’ To re-record the whole album was already… don’t touch the holy cow, you know? But then, of course, we made up a list of singers. We thought, ‘Okay, they could be the right ones.’ And… yeah. Then the rest… My son got in contact with all the singers. And that wasn’t so easy – quite busy in the studio, and this and this and this. But in the end, at the last moment, Joakim from Hammerfall was planned for ‘Guardian Of The Night’. But then he said, ‘Oh, I can’t do this, I have no time, blah, blah, blah,’ a lot of things were going on. And so, that was the last song missing a singer, so I said, ‘Okay, come on, call Ripper Owens.’ And then he said, ‘Yeah, of course, I’ll do this.’
“So, yeah. I think everybody did a great job on this album. That also makes it, let’s say, different with guest singers. I could have done this alone with my vocals, but then it’s like, ‘No, don’t do it.’ But now, I mean, an important thing was we told them, ‘Okay, please sing the whole song and put your own character on it, and don’t try to imitate anything.’ And yeah, then they did everything. It was very funny when I listened to the first song, ‘London Leatherboys’ with Biff Byford. When he sang the whole song, I thought, ‘Okay, this could also be a Saxon song.’ [chuckle] Or Michael Kiske – he was like, ‘Oh, hmm,’ but then the sound is a little bit like Helloween.’ I said, ‘Yeah, come on. That’s what we want.’ And so… It wasn’t like we just said, ‘Okay, yeah, we’ll do it.’ They were really into it, and that was really, really nice. In the end, I think it’s an interesting album. And yeah, I hope we can get some guest singers on tour, definitely at the festivals, but we’ll see. I don’t know yet.”
Metal-Rules.com: Speaking of the guests on the album, did you have any names you wanted as guests, but there was no chance because of the timeline or other reasons?
Dirkschneider: “We were in contact with Till Lindemann from Rammstein. He wrote us an email and said, ‘Oh, I would love to do it,’ but he was in the hospital and had an operation. And then there was Lzzy Hale – she was originally planned for ‘Turn Me On’, but then, yeah, business, management, blah, blah. They were working on a new album at the time, and her management said, ‘No, she can’t do this. It’s too close to the same release period,’ and so on. But they were the only two we didn’t get.
“Of course, there are so many other singers we could say, ‘Okay, we want this one, this one, and this one.’ But I think this album has a great selection of guest singers. And, so far, everybody has said, ‘Yeah, it’s a great album with interesting stuff.’ Of course, some people always criticize – for example, saying, ‘We don’t like Joakim from Sabaton on Balls.’ But it’s always been the same – I’ve known that for over 40 years. It’s the same every time a U.D.O. album comes out. But anyway, in general, everything has been really positive. We reached number 10 on the German charts, so everything is fine. And here we go.”
Read the complete interview at Metal-Rules.com.
Balls To The Wall Reloaded can be ordered in various physical formats and digitally or saved on your favourite digital service provider (DSP) worldwide, here.
Formats:
– CD-digipak + patch bundle (RPM EU excl.)
– CD-digipak
– jewelcase-CD
– various coloured 1LP vinyl (‘guardian of the night,’ ‘red hot marbled,’ ‘winter blue’)
– digital
Tracklisting:
“Balls To The Wall” (feat. Joakim Brodén of Sabaton)
“London Leatherboys” (feat. Biff Byford of Saxon)
“Fight It Back” (feat. Mille Petrozza of Kreator)
“Head Over Heels” (feat. Nils Molin of Dynazty / Amaranthe)
“Losing More Than You’ve Ever Had” (feat. Michael Kiske of Helloween)
“Love Child” (feat. Ylva Eriksson of Brothers Of Metal)
“Turn Me On” (feat. Danko Jones)
“Losers And Winners” (feat. Dee Snider of Twisted Sister)
“Guardian Of The Night” (feat. Tim “Ripper” Owens of KK’s Priest / formerly of Judas Priest)
“Winter Dreams” (feat. Doro Pesch)
“London Leatherboys” video:
“Winter Dreams” video:
“Balls To The Wall” lyric video:
The post UDO DIRKSCHNEIDER Says Touring With KISS “Marked The Beginning Of ACCEPT’s Worldwide Success” appeared first on BraveWords - Where Music Lives.
Continue reading...
In a new interview with Metal-Rules.com, Udo discusses his present and future, while also reflecting on selected events from the past. Excerpts from the chat follow…
Metal-Rules.com: Let’s start with the ongoing Balls To The Wall Anniversary Tour and, of course, the album itself, which celebrated its 40th anniversary last year. How significant of a milestone do you consider Balls To The Wall for Accept and your overall career?
Udo Dirkschneider: “I would say it is the most essential album for both Accept and myself. Before this album, we were already quite a big band in Europe, but the American breakthrough happened almost overnight when Balls To The Wall came out. Over 120 radio stations added us to their playlists, and MTV – still a new thing at the time – put the Balls To The Wall video in heavy rotation.
Then, we started touring with KISS, which marked the beginning of Accept’s worldwide success. Nobody expected this level of recognition from us with this album. Of course, we knew it was something special – there’s no filler, every song is strong – but the massive impact still took us by surprise. So, here we are. It’s a very important album for all of us.”
Metal-Rules.com: What was the reason you decided to re-record the album?
Dirkschneider: “Well, that wasn’t really planned. The only thing planned was to do a tour for the 40th anniversary of Balls To The Wall—originally last year, but another band was on tour in Europe, so that wasn’t possible. And… yeah. Then something else came up, and we were asked, ‘Oh, what are you doing? Are you doing something special for the Balls To The Wall 40th anniversary?’ And we said, ‘Yeah, we want to go on tour.’ A lot of things happened. I said, ‘Yeah, that’s my favorite album. I would love to sing a song, blah, blah, blah.’ And then, on and on and on. And then we said, ‘Hmm.’ To re-record the whole album was already… don’t touch the holy cow, you know? But then, of course, we made up a list of singers. We thought, ‘Okay, they could be the right ones.’ And… yeah. Then the rest… My son got in contact with all the singers. And that wasn’t so easy – quite busy in the studio, and this and this and this. But in the end, at the last moment, Joakim from Hammerfall was planned for ‘Guardian Of The Night’. But then he said, ‘Oh, I can’t do this, I have no time, blah, blah, blah,’ a lot of things were going on. And so, that was the last song missing a singer, so I said, ‘Okay, come on, call Ripper Owens.’ And then he said, ‘Yeah, of course, I’ll do this.’
“So, yeah. I think everybody did a great job on this album. That also makes it, let’s say, different with guest singers. I could have done this alone with my vocals, but then it’s like, ‘No, don’t do it.’ But now, I mean, an important thing was we told them, ‘Okay, please sing the whole song and put your own character on it, and don’t try to imitate anything.’ And yeah, then they did everything. It was very funny when I listened to the first song, ‘London Leatherboys’ with Biff Byford. When he sang the whole song, I thought, ‘Okay, this could also be a Saxon song.’ [chuckle] Or Michael Kiske – he was like, ‘Oh, hmm,’ but then the sound is a little bit like Helloween.’ I said, ‘Yeah, come on. That’s what we want.’ And so… It wasn’t like we just said, ‘Okay, yeah, we’ll do it.’ They were really into it, and that was really, really nice. In the end, I think it’s an interesting album. And yeah, I hope we can get some guest singers on tour, definitely at the festivals, but we’ll see. I don’t know yet.”
Metal-Rules.com: Speaking of the guests on the album, did you have any names you wanted as guests, but there was no chance because of the timeline or other reasons?
Dirkschneider: “We were in contact with Till Lindemann from Rammstein. He wrote us an email and said, ‘Oh, I would love to do it,’ but he was in the hospital and had an operation. And then there was Lzzy Hale – she was originally planned for ‘Turn Me On’, but then, yeah, business, management, blah, blah. They were working on a new album at the time, and her management said, ‘No, she can’t do this. It’s too close to the same release period,’ and so on. But they were the only two we didn’t get.
“Of course, there are so many other singers we could say, ‘Okay, we want this one, this one, and this one.’ But I think this album has a great selection of guest singers. And, so far, everybody has said, ‘Yeah, it’s a great album with interesting stuff.’ Of course, some people always criticize – for example, saying, ‘We don’t like Joakim from Sabaton on Balls.’ But it’s always been the same – I’ve known that for over 40 years. It’s the same every time a U.D.O. album comes out. But anyway, in general, everything has been really positive. We reached number 10 on the German charts, so everything is fine. And here we go.”
Read the complete interview at Metal-Rules.com.
Balls To The Wall Reloaded can be ordered in various physical formats and digitally or saved on your favourite digital service provider (DSP) worldwide, here.
Formats:
– CD-digipak + patch bundle (RPM EU excl.)
– CD-digipak
– jewelcase-CD
– various coloured 1LP vinyl (‘guardian of the night,’ ‘red hot marbled,’ ‘winter blue’)
– digital
Tracklisting:
“Balls To The Wall” (feat. Joakim Brodén of Sabaton)
“London Leatherboys” (feat. Biff Byford of Saxon)
“Fight It Back” (feat. Mille Petrozza of Kreator)
“Head Over Heels” (feat. Nils Molin of Dynazty / Amaranthe)
“Losing More Than You’ve Ever Had” (feat. Michael Kiske of Helloween)
“Love Child” (feat. Ylva Eriksson of Brothers Of Metal)
“Turn Me On” (feat. Danko Jones)
“Losers And Winners” (feat. Dee Snider of Twisted Sister)
“Guardian Of The Night” (feat. Tim “Ripper” Owens of KK’s Priest / formerly of Judas Priest)
“Winter Dreams” (feat. Doro Pesch)
“London Leatherboys” video:
“Winter Dreams” video:
“Balls To The Wall” lyric video:
The post UDO DIRKSCHNEIDER Says Touring With KISS “Marked The Beginning Of ACCEPT’s Worldwide Success” appeared first on BraveWords - Where Music Lives.
Continue reading...
