face to face interview  by Dimitris  "Heartcollector83" Theodoropoulos__ 

organized by Didi Music and gryphonmetal.ch

Thessaloniki 28/05/2004 - 3 hours before the show, outside of the venue  

Dimitris-Hello!
UDO-Hello!

D-Welcome to Greece
U-Yeah, thank you

D-How's the tour going so far?
U-Very good, we played lots of countries and so far it's going very good.

Are you satisfied with your new album?
Yeah, definitely,i think it's one of the best UDO albums we ever did. It goes in a way back to the roots of Accept,i think we did a very good album.

D-Did it come out as you expected it to be?
U-Ah, when we start writting or recording we never think too much, we just write songs and see whats coming out then. And here is the result Thunderball.

D-How would you compare it with your previous solo works?
U-I think Thunderball is definetely an album the whole band was looking for,before it was more work between Stefan and me but now since the Man and Machine album the band comes closer and closer so Thunderball is a real band album.

D-What about the lyrics? What are they talking about?
U-Most of the lyrics are against terrorism, war, weapons and all that stuff. When that war started in Iraq i think lots of shit happens to the world. It influenced me.

D-Should we expect any Accept songs tonight?
U-Yeah of course, we'll definetely be playing most of the classic stuff and some surprises.

D-Do you recall the days you had with Accept?
U-Yes of course, we had very good times with Accept. Most of the time was good, of course some times there was some trouble but most of the time was perfect.

D-How did you get into rock music? What were the first bands you used to listen when you were young?
U-It was stuff like Sweet, Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix and of course ACDC.

D-At what age did you join your first band?
U-At the age of 16 and it was a band called Band X and then i went to the band Accept in 1971.

D-Since you are from Germany, what's your opinion about Rammstein?
U-I think they are a very good band, they're singing in German and they're been successful, in a way they have their own style.

D-Do you like any other new bands?
U-There are many good bands around at the moment. We have on tour with us now Majesty i think they can make it. Don't ask names i can't remember but there are lot of good names but i think at the moment for new bands it's really hard to become internationally active, directors of companies don't support them, they don't give them enough money, its a hard time.

D-How do you spend your free time when you're not touring or recording?
U-Definitely with my family, that's the most important thing.

D-What are your favourite bands?
U-I am huge Judas Priest fan, hopefully they'll do a good album and of course ACDC and Ronnie James Dio. I also like Ozzy and i am not so big fan of Iron Maiden and i also like Rainbow, i heard two years ago that there was going to be a reunion with Ritchie and Dio but Ritchie is so successful with Blackmore's Night so i don't think it will happen.

D-Are you satisfied with your life? Have you achieved all your goals?
U-Hm, good question...in a way i can say yes. I mean i saw the whole world, i was successful with Accept, what more can you have.

D-Which singers have influenced you?
U-I was a big fan of Bon Scott.

D-Were you always dreaming of becoming a professional musician or it just happened?
U-It just happened, i was never thinking that one day i would become a professional musician. I started it as a hobby, i had a band at school and step by step i started becoming more and more professional.

D-Is there any message behind your military outfit?
U-No, we have nothing to do with any military stuff, it's just an outfit. When we became more and more successful with Accept in the 80's we went into an outfit shop and i put it on and they said yeah its good but you have to cut your hair, you have to look different to the other. It's just an image but lot of people get it wrong, i mean we are talking against this stuff. I tried to get away of this image when we did the reunion with Accept and everybody came out and said what is this. So here we go again!

D-You covered Born to be wild right?
U-Yeah we did this with Raven a long time ago, it was 1982 or 1983.I was producing Raven together with Michael and we had some beers and then we did a session in the studio and we were playing born to be wild and Michael pushed the record button!

D-Have you ever thought of becoming a producer in a full time basis?
U-No, i mean i did it in the 80's,i was producing Raven and some others but it's not really my thing. When i'll stop playing music i will concentrate to help young bands and tell them how they can survive in music business.

D-What's the meaning of the dots between the U D O letters?
U-We were looking for a logo and we made it like this so it looks like it's nailed. You can also say it means United Democratic Organisation!

D-How is your brother Peter doing?
U-He is doing a new album at the moment i think, he got the old guitar player back and when i get home he will give me some new demo stuff and then we'll what will happen.

D-You seem to have a big interest in Russia.
U-Accept were very big in Russia, we are one of the bands that can tour the whole country not only Moscow or Saint Petersburg. We can go anywhere and you can say UDO in Russia is like Iron Maiden.

D-Are your kids interested in your music?
U-My son is 11 and he started playing the drums far too loud, he's mainly interested in the heavy stuff and my daughter is changing every six months. At the moment she's into reggae music and she listens some time to Limp Bizkit and Korn and stuff like that.

D-Would you like them to become musicians like you?
U-I don't know,my daughter is surely not interested. Maybe my son, he is very much into music and plays the drums really well,so far he can play some songs from Accept and UDO.

D-Well maybe you can jam together.
U-Yeah, maybe in five years!

D-What is the funniest thing that happened to you while you were on stage?
U-Ah...good question, in a way it wasn't that funny but it's interesting, we had a concert in Scandinavia and the whole PA system went out and we did some songs in acoustic versions and we never did this before. We did this for 20 minutes, we started jamming and it was in a way funny. Another funny thing is when i had my 50th birthday on stage. It was very funny!

D-Thank you very much!
U-Ok,you're welcome!