Udo Dirkschneider

by Alexandra Mrozowska
— Senior Columnist —

2020 wasn’t a year you remember fondly. And if you’re a musician, a concert venue owner, a music industry worker or a music fan – certainly one of the reasons for that is the lack of live shows throughout the most of the year. The majority of the events everyone has been looking forward to has been cancelled or postponed, including even very small club gigs, and we turned to livestreams for the lack of a better alternative.

So would you believe that it could be actually possible logistically to carefully pre-plan and organize an event for 2500 people in an amphitheater in the midst of it all? You don’t have to – this event has been filmed and recorded for posterity. The one making history was the Heavy Metal ensemble U.D.O., led by no one else but Udo Dirkschneider himself, and the concert itself took place in Plovdiv, Bulgaria in September 2020. Now, the footage and recording of this concert are going to be released under the title of Live in Bulgaria – Pandemic Survival Show. Quite an apt one, considering the circumstances! Hardrock Haven caught up with Udo to talk about the preparations before the show and its unique atmosphere – as well as to find out more about the band’s last studio album We Are One…

Hardrock Haven: In March you’re going to release a new live album, Live in Bulgaria – Pandemic Survival Show. Is it a scheduled release? Would it see the light of day without the show being as special as it was?

Udo Dirkschneider: No, that was not really planned. We got the offer to do a show in Bulgaria during the pandemic – we were invited by the government of Bulgaria – and we said, “If everything is okay, then we’ll do the show.” But it was not planned at that time to do a live record or a [live] DVD. We were not quite sure if we make it at all, but then we got lucky in September. We were able to get together in Germany as we have one guy who lives in Russia [Andrey Smirnov, U.D.O.’s guitarist] and one who lives in Slovenia [Tilen Hudrap, U.D.O.’s bass player]. It was perfect for us also to do the photo shooting there – just in case, as no one knew at the time what will happen – and rehearse, also just in case (laughs). Then we said, “Okay, we’ll wait if this is going to happen.” One week before the show they said, “Okay, everything’s fine” and let us know about location and all that stuff. And we were like, “Why not record it and also film the whole stuff,”, so our production guy started talking to the Bulgarian TV about the cameras and all that equipment. Finally, we flew to Bulgaria and everything was fine [there], no problems at all. And we ended up filming and recording the show indeed, but it was not planned initially.

Hardrock Haven: Have you or any of the band members had any hesitations or second thoughts about playing the show in the midst of the pandemic?

Udo Dirkschneider: No, that was not a problem. Nothing bad happened to us, to the band and to the crew, and also the whole hygienic regime in Bulgaria and also on the plane was strict and it made no problems at all. The hotel was kept safe, with [the staff] taking care of everything, and also the promoter in Bulgaria took care of it. When I was doing interviews there, for the TV stations or the radio stations, they were sitting two meters away from me and everyone wore the masks and so on. So everything was fine. And no, nobody in the band was really scared to do this show in Bulgaria.

Hardrock Haven: U.D.O. also played a livestream gig in November, but have you previously considered this option for a Plovdiv gig as a last resort, if something didn’t work with a regular show? And what was the livestream experience like in general?

Udo Dirkschneider: Yeah, we did that already as we filmed our rehearsals for the show in Bulgaria and it was the only one – there will be no more. And we just did it… Maybe some money came in this way, and at least we showed the people that the band is alive (laughs). It was okay and all nice, but I don’t know… Me, personally, I’m not really into that. I mean, when we played a show in Bulgaria, it was really like… you know, I’m so long in this business and I was really nervous and the whole band was really nervous, but it was a very special evening. There was a special atmosphere between the audience and the band. The audience in Bulgaria was waiting for a show for so long that it was a very special emotional evening. I think you can also hear it on the live record, and definitely on the DVD you can get the whole atmosphere of the evening. You can’t do it on a livestream.

Hardrock Haven: The atmosphere must have been special…

Udo Dirkschneider: For us, it was also the only show in 2020 and while normally we’d be on tour, all the tours and festivals were cancelled. Our tour was postponed until February this year, but it couldn’t happen again, so we have to wait until after the summer. If we’re lucky – and I hope so – we can start touring again then. But in my opinion I don’t think we’ll have any festivals taking place this summer… That’s why also for us as the band it was really special [thing] to do [a Bulgaria show] and we wanted to do it. That’s why there was a lot of energy also onstage and I think the whole band was giving it everything they’ve got there. We could finally say “Oh, here we go, we can play a show in front of people”, so the highlight of the show was that we could actually play the show. Another good thing about this show was also that the promoter made sure there was no audience in front of the stage and [everyone] was just sitting, you know – over 2500 people that were there… And after the show as well as when we were already back in Germany we asked the promoter if anything happened – if anyone got the virus. And these guys said no, nothing happened and everything was fine. So we were lucky we could do this show and nothing happened [and it’s] because these guys did a great job.

Hardrock Haven: Absolutely! The set for the night in Bulgaria was also quite special as you even revisited some Accept-era classics during it. What does it feel like to sing these songs again after so many years?

Udo Dirkschneider: Well, with U.D.O. I normally don’t play any Accept songs anymore… but the [Bulgarian] government and the promoter were asking, “Come on, this is a special night, so is it possible that you might play some classic Accept stuff?…” And we said, “Okay, here we go…” I mean, it was a really special night and the only show in 2020 (laughs). I think we did five classic Accept songs and the people were also really happy about this. They didn’t expect [them], so in a way that was a big surprise for the audience.

Hardrock Haven: After so many years and so many albums, do you find putting together concert setlists challenging?

Udo Dirkschneider: (laughs) That’s a good question! Now we have seventeen studio albums, and a new album will be out after the summer… and that is always a nightmare to put the setlist together (laughs). It’s like, U.D.O. has already have some classic songs, like “They Want War,” “Man And Machine,” “Animal House” and stuff like that and people wanna hear that, so what we always try [to do] is to change a setlist a little bit here and there. I mean, of course if you have a new album out, you wanna play some new stuff. But the people also wanna hear some old stuff and then you have to say, “Okay, last time we played a lot of songs from this album and this album, so now we change it a little bit here and there.” But believe me, this is a nightmare (laughs).

Hardrock Haven: I can imagine! The gig in Plovdiv, Bulgaria we’ve just discussed at length wasn’t all you’ve been up to in 2020, though. In July, U.D.O. released a new studio album We Are One with das Musikkorps der Bundeswehr [the official Concert Band of the German Armed Forces]. Where did the idea for this collaboration come from?

Udo Dirkschneider: We’ve already done a DVD together with the orchestra [Navy Metal Night, released in 2015]. That was when the idea came – when we said, “Come on, why are we always doing only cover songs…? It’s time we made an album with completely new songs!” Then we were sitting together, talking about the whole thing, and here we go… On We Are One, there are also two old Accept members – Stefan Kaufmann and Peter Baltes – so that was another nice thing about the album. But the best thing about it was new songs [written] for both a band and an orchestra and that was also a challenge to do something you don’t have to think [about] in terms of “Can I go this way or that way?” We felt completely free. And the album was really successful, so it’s a shame that we cannot play any shows together with the orchestra. We originally planned to do a show in 2020 at Wacken [Open Air] and maybe two or three more shows, but hopefully towards the end of this year or the beginning of the next year we’ll do something together.

Hardrock Haven: Let’s hope so! So as it’s obviously not the first time Metal and orchestral music merge, what do you think makes it work?

Udo Dirkschneider: That’s a good question! The idea’s not new, let’s say. But we’ve tried this with U.D.O. a long time ago and it was a symphonic orchestra, with cello and violins and all that stuff. And then we said, “Nah, this is too soft. This is like more for ballads…” But the orchestra we’ve worked with now is more like a brass orchestra, and this is really heavy stuff. It’s not strings in there but trumpets and the saxophone that makes it sound really heavy. And when I came up with this idea, it was when I was mixing the album Steelhammer. Our producer was a member of this orchestra and he said that he has to do a show [with them], so I said I wanted to watch this. I didn’t expect anything special – I mean, just German folk songs or whatever (laughs). They did a show at a church and that was only brass… and all of a sudden they start playing Michael Jackson, ABBA… all that and we were like, “Wow. That’s the sound that would work together with a Heavy Metal band!” That was when the whole thing started, and in the end, it was a perfect choice.

Hardrock Haven: Some people were slightly surprised by the collaboration the moment it was announced, so is the final effect exactly as you envisioned it to be?

Udo Dirkschneider: Yes, definitely. The moment that we finished the mix, we said, “Yes, that’s the result that we wanna have on this album.” So of course, if you finish an album, there’s always thoughts like, “Oh, maybe we can change this or this.” But with this one, let’s say the result at that moment was really the sound we wanted to have. So it worked. And also the guys in the orchestra were really happy about this and they weren’t like, “Arghh, now we have to play together with a Heavy Metal band.” Not at all. It was really an interesting thing to do. And also, let’s say we’ve learnt a lot, like harmony-wise. We came up with some ideas and then the arranger of the orchestra said, “Nah, I don’t think it works this way, so maybe we have to change harmonies here and there.” That was really interesting, and a good learning [experience].

Hardrock Haven: And speaking of that, what was the songwriting process with the involvement of German Armed Forces’ composers Guido Rennert and Alexander Reuber like?

Udo Dirkschneider: It worked this way – we came up with the songs and then they were making the arrangements for the orchestra, to put everything together… like, “maybe let’s change this here and there…” and worked with the songs, but they weren’t composing. But these two guys… especially Guido Rennert, he’s very famous for composing a lot of different stuff for the orchestras. He’s really famous in Germany.

Hardrock Haven: And as you’ve mentioned, the former members of Accept – Stefan Kaufmann and Peter Baltes – were also involved in the process of making the album. Stefan is also involved in making your new live album. What was the reason behind joining forces with your old bandmates?

Udo Dirkschneider: With Stefan Kaufmann, we’ve always had a long working relationship. He was a member of U.D.O. [1996-2012, temporarily in 2018] and was playing the guitar in the band as well as producing our albums. He’s always perfect for my work. And one day he called me and said, “Hey, maybe you can come up to the studio to do some demo stuff for a couple of songs…” and then, when I came into that studio, Peter Baltes was there. I haven’t seen Peter for fifteen years and we haven’t talked in fifteen years, so I was like, “Hey, what are you doing here?” And then he [said] he was out of Accept, and was like, “I’m working on some stuff with Stefan for a solo project, and this, and that…” and then… well, you can imagine we were talking about a lot of things! (laughs) And he played me some stuff of his, some ideas… I was like, “Go ahead” and that was when we got together again. He came up with really good stuff that was really interesting… and it was funny to work with the two other [former] Accept members together (laughs). Now, with the live album, Stefan Kaufmann was not the producer [this time], he was just mixing and making the video. The producer was Martin Pfeiffer, who mixed [U.D.O. albums] Steelhammer, Decadent and Steelfactory and is also working on a new album with us. But Stefan is really good at video cutting, and that’s what he’s doing at the moment for work – he’s doing a lot of video work. It’s still good to have Stefan Kaufmann – I still use him and do all the work with him. He knows my voice exactly and it’s a good thing that you can still work with one guy from the old Accept [line-up].

Hardrock Haven: And what’s the message behind the songs on the album?

Udo Dirkschneider: We Are One is all [a message] against pandemic, racism, health stuff, plastic trash everywhere, the climate… really all about the problems that we have in this world. So there’s a lot of [topics] since coming together lyric-wise. It was [there] from the very beginning since we started working on this album – we said, “Okay, we wanna have a statement of what is wrong in this world.” And I think we did some good stuff.

Hardrock Haven: Just a few days ago, U.D.O. announced the first batch of dates for your upcoming Game Over Tour 2021/2022. What are your expectations of being back on the road towards the end of the year?

Udo Dirkschneider: We hope and cross our fingers (laughs), that we can do this. At the moment, nobody knows if it really happens or not. We’ll see, but at the moment it looks a bit better… It will take a while though. I think maybe after the summer – hopefully – we can start touring again. So of course, as our promoters asked if we wanna start touring and should they start booking, we said “Let’s do this,” but now we just cross our fingers and wait if it’s gonna happen. If it happens, it will be a really, really long tour. It’s Russia, then maybe Ukraine as they’re also asking – and then the whole Europe… in 2022, we’ll play in the rest of Europe and then, as we cancelled [shows in] America and Canada [in 2020], we have to reschedule  this. We also had to cancel our South American tour, so if everything goes normal, it will be a long, long tour further into 2022.

Hardrock Haven: Fingers crossed! These are plans for the last months of 2021, so having mentioned a new album in the works, what else are you up to at the moment?

Udo Dirkschneider: At the moment we have no other projects going on. We’re thinking about something, but we’ll see. Right now we’re collecting songs – again (laughs) – even though we’re nearly finished with a new U.D.O. album – but we said, “Let’s work and work and work [on this]”. So we’re writing songs and in March I’m going to go to the studio again. It’s better than staring at the wall (laughs). We just keep on going and composing… Nobody knows what’s gonna happen next. Maybe they’ll find the way to do some smaller festivals, but I don’t think Wacken or Sweden Rock are gonna happen. But let’s hope we’ll be able to start touring again very soon.

Visit U.D.O. online