ACCEPT guitarist Wolf Hoffmann spoke to RJ Bayley of Metal Empire about the origin of the band's unusual name. He said (hear audio below): "It actually existed before I joined the band, believe it or not. The guys had already performed under that name locally a couple of times. It was basically a neighborhood band, and they had that name. I was never completely happy with it, but, of course, it stuck and we kept it over the years. I think if came off an album, or I know it did — there was an album by a [blues] band called CHICKEN SHACK, believe it or not. And they had an album [in 1970] called 'Accept'. And I always thought, 'How bizarre? How odd? Why would you name a metal band after an album by CHICKEN [SHACK]?' But they did it, and it was already a done deal, and we kept it all these years. But it's still a bit of an odd mystery, the whole thing." Asked what the ACCEPT name means to him personally, Wolf said: "Nothing, really. It's just a name. I never thought it was a metal name. I mean, fans tell me they love the name; they think it's great. But I always thought, ACCEPT, the meaning of it is really not very metal, is it? … The name was already there when I joined the band, and we kept it for all these years. And after a while, you keep forgetting about it, what it actually means, because you're so used to it. But I never thought it was a brilliant band name or anything. I thought other bands had much cooler names, like BLACK SABBATH, for instance, or JUDAS PRIEST — that's totally metal. On the other hand, there's some dumb band names, like DEF LEPPARD; I never thought that was very cool… That's an odd one. I'm sure there's examples in both ways, and we fall somewhere in the middle, I think." Hoffmann is the sole remaining original member of ACCEPT, which he formed in 1976 in the town of Solingen, Germany with singer Udo Dirkschneider and bassist Peter Baltes. ACCEPT's new studio album, "Too Mean To Die", will be released on January 15, 2021 via Nuclear Blast. The LP will be the group's first without bassist Peter Baltes, who exited ACCEPT in November 2018. He has since been replaced by Martin Motnik. ACCEPT's lineup has also been expanded with the addition of a third guitarist, Philip Shouse, who originally filled in for Uwe Lulis during last year's "Symphonic Terror" tour, before being asked to join the band permanently. "Too Mean To Die" was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee with British producer Andy Sneap (JUDAS PRIEST, MEGADETH), who has been responsible for the magnificent studio sound of ACCEPT since 2010. ACCEPT's last album, 2017's "The Rise Of Chaos", marked the band's first release with guitarist Uwe Lulis and drummer Christopher Williams, replacing Herman Frank and Stefan Schwarzmann, respectively. ACCEPT's latest release was "Symphonic Terror - Live At Wacken 2017", featuring the band's performance at the Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany.
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