ACCEPT U. D. O.
Metallica
F
ormer Accept and current U. D. O. vocalist Udo Dirkschneider is saying farewell to his former band’ s material with his Dirkschneider band’ s live album, LIVE— Back To The Roots Tour. The album features 25 classic Accept tracks performed by his U. D. O. band in their native Deutschland on April 2nd, 2016. The live album and current Farewell To Accept North American Tour is Udo’ s way of closing the book on the Accept chapter in his career, as his full time band U. D. O. will stop performing Accept songs in his live set as long as the current Accept exists. It’ s Udo’ s musical statement to go out in style by giving these songs – in which he had a hand in writing and performing – a proper send-off. The tour
By Kelley Simms
makes a stop in Chicago at Concord Music Hall on January 13, will be Dirkschneider’ s swan song of his days of singing Accept songs.
Mosh: Going by your surname Dirkschneider and playing strictly Accept tunes, are you trying to distinguish between it and your U. D. O. band? Udo Dirkschneider: Yes, definitely. It can be a little bit of a misunderstanding if you do all the Accept songs under U. D. O. That’ s why we use the name Dirkschneider, it’ s the same band but it’ s different and has nothing to do with U. D. O.
IE I think no matter which band name go with, fans will always associate you with
Accept. But is this new album and upcoming tour is your way of saying goodbye to that era of your life? Udo Dirkschneider: Yeah, I always say in a way I want to close the book. So Accept is still existing at the moment and are doing quite well, but I’ m also a little bit tired of always being compared of [ sic ] who’ s better, or who’ s playing“ Metal Heart” better, who’ s playing“ Balls to the Wall” better and on and on. I do it for the last time. Then after this, the U. D. O. set will be without any Accept songs.
IE: The album was recorded in Germany – what was that night like? Why did you pick that venue and did you feel the recording captured the energy of the show? Udo Dirkschneider: We played in this place very often and we knew that there’ s a really good audience and a really good atmosphere. That’ s why we chose this place to do the recording. We knew that they were really into it and they were singing along even when we played there with U. D. O. So we knew that it would be the right place to do it.
IE: I like what Accept has done on its last three albums, but the way you pull off these Accept songs on the new live CD is pretty spot-on. How did you go about picking the setlist? Udo Dirkschneider: It wasn’ t so easy to pick the songs for the setlist. In a way, I knew which songs the people like, but I also put some songs on it that I like very much, such as“ Neon Nights,”“ Wrong is Right,”“ Up to the Limit,” Son of a Bitch” and“ Flash Rockin’ Man.” I think there’ s a good mix, but already there are people asking how come we’ re not playing this song or this song or this song! There are so many great Accept songs, but we already are playing for over two hours. So it was not easy to pick out all
the songs, but I think in the end everybody is satisfied.
IE: The album sounds so crisp and clear, almost flawless. Were there any overdubs or extra mixing in the studio? Udo Dirkschneider: Believe it or not, there are no overdubs. Nothing. I hate doing overdubs. When we were recording this show, we had already done nearly two months on tour, and it shows that the band is really tight. They play really good and my voice is still going! The guy who did the mixing is also our producer, Martin Pfeifer, and he did a brilliant job.
IE: The band does sound tight, including your son on the drums. Was there extensive rehearsal time before the night of the show? I assume the guys already knew the classic Accept songs as well? Udo Dirkschneider: Yeah, they knew the songs and we did a very long rehearsal before we started the tour. Also, Stephan Kaufman( former Accept drummer) came to the studio. He was also in U. D. O. as a very brilliant rhythm guitar player, and he was talking to my guitar players about how to play exactly the Accept songs; little tricks here and there.
IE: Your voice sounds in fine form on the record, and I assume you must have been really satisfied by your performance? Udo Dirkschneider: Yeah, I’ m really happy. It was also a good night. My voice is still doing well and there was nothing really special for me to rehearse or warm up. I just go on stage and do it. So I’ ve been really lucky with my voice.
IE: For this North American Farewell to Accept Tour, you’ ve stated that this is your
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34 illinoisentertainer. com january 2017