{"id":69240,"date":"2021-02-07T04:50:04","date_gmt":"2021-02-07T09:50:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=69240"},"modified":"2021-02-07T04:50:07","modified_gmt":"2021-02-07T09:50:07","slug":"interview-with-udo-dirkschneider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2021\/interview-with-udo-dirkschneider\/","title":{"rendered":"Udo Dirkschneider"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Alexandra Mrozowska
\u2014 Senior Columnist \u2014<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

2020 wasn\u2019t a year you remember fondly. And if you\u2019re a musician, a concert venue owner, a music industry worker or a music fan \u2013 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019t have to \u2013 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 \u2013 Pandemic Survival Show<\/em>. 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 \u2013 as well as to find out more about the band\u2019s last studio album We Are One<\/em>…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hardrock Haven: In March you\u2019re going to release a new live album, Live in Bulgaria \u2013 Pandemic Survival Show<\/em>. Is it a scheduled release? Would it see the light of day without the show being as special as it was?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Udo Dirkschneider: No, that was not really planned. We got the offer to do a show in Bulgaria during the pandemic \u2013 we were invited by the government of Bulgaria \u2013 and we said, \u201cIf everything is okay, then we\u2019ll do the show.\u201d 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.\u2019s bass player]. It was perfect for us also to do the photo shooting there \u2013 just in case, as no one knew at the time what will happen \u2013 and rehearse, also just in case (laughs). Then we said, \u201cOkay, we\u2019ll wait if this is going to happen.\u201d One week before the show they said, \u201cOkay, everything\u2019s fine\u201d and let us know about location and all that stuff. And we were like, \u201cWhy not record it and also film the whole stuff,\u201d, 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019t work with a regular show? And what was the livestream experience like in general?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Udo Dirkschneider: Yeah, we did that already as we filmed our rehearsals for the show in Bulgaria and it was the only one \u2013 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\u2019t know… Me, personally, I\u2019m not really into that. I mean, when we played a show in Bulgaria, it was really like… you know, I\u2019m 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\u2019t do it on a livestream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: The atmosphere must have been special…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Udo Dirkschneider: For us, it was also the only show in 2020 and while normally we\u2019d be on tour, all the tours and festivals were cancelled. Our tour was postponed until February this year, but it couldn\u2019t happen again, so we have to wait until after the summer. If we\u2019re lucky \u2013 and I hope so \u2013 we can start touring again then. But in my opinion I don\u2019t think we\u2019ll have any festivals taking place this summer… That\u2019s why also for us as the band it was really special [thing] to do [a Bulgaria show] and we wanted to do it. That\u2019s why there was a lot of energy also onstage and I think the whole band was giving it everything they\u2019ve got there. We could finally say \u201cOh, here we go, we can play a show in front of people\u201d, 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 \u2013 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 \u2013 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\u2019s] because these guys did a great job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Udo Dirkschneider: Well, with U.D.O. I normally don\u2019t play any Accept songs anymore… but the [Bulgarian] government and the promoter were asking, \u201cCome on, this is a special night, so is it possible that you might play some classic Accept stuff?…\u201d And we said, \u201cOkay, here we go…\u201d 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\u2019t expect [them], so in a way that was a big surprise for the audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: After so many years and so many albums, do you find putting together concert setlists challenging?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Udo Dirkschneider: (laughs) That\u2019s 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\u2019s like, U.D.O. has already have some classic songs, like \u201cThey Want War,\u201d \u201cMan And Machine,\u201d \u201cAnimal House\u201d 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, \u201cOkay, 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.\u201d But believe me, this is a nightmare (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: I can imagine! The gig in Plovdiv, Bulgaria we\u2019ve just discussed at length wasn\u2019t all you\u2019ve been up to in 2020, though. In July, U.D.O. released a new studio album We Are One<\/em> with das Musikkorps der Bundeswehr [the official Concert Band of the German Armed Forces]. Where did the idea for this collaboration come from?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Udo Dirkschneider: We\u2019ve already done a DVD together with the orchestra [Navy Metal Night<\/em>, released in 2015]. That was when the idea came \u2013 when we said, \u201cCome on, why are we always doing only cover songs…? It\u2019s time we made an album with completely new songs!\u201d Then we were sitting together, talking about the whole thing, and here we go… On We Are One<\/em>, there are also two old Accept members \u2013 Stefan Kaufmann and Peter Baltes \u2013 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\u2019t have to think [about] in terms of \u201cCan I go this way or that way?\u201d We felt completely free. And the album was really successful, so it\u2019s 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\u2019ll do something together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Let\u2019s hope so! So as it\u2019s obviously not the first time Metal and orchestral music merge, what do you think makes it work?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Udo Dirkschneider: That\u2019s a good question! The idea\u2019s not new, let\u2019s say. But we\u2019ve 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, \u201cNah, this is too soft. This is like more for ballads…\u201d But the orchestra we\u2019ve worked with now is more like a brass orchestra, and this is really heavy stuff. It\u2019s 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<\/em>. 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\u2019t expect anything special \u2013 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, \u201cWow. That\u2019s the sound that would work together with a Heavy Metal band!\u201d That was when the whole thing started, and in the end, it was a perfect choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Udo Dirkschneider: Yes, definitely. The moment that we finished the mix, we said, \u201cYes, that\u2019s the result that we wanna have on this album.\u201d So of course, if you finish an album, there\u2019s always thoughts like, \u201cOh, maybe we can change this or this.\u201d But with this one, let\u2019s 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\u2019t like, \u201cArghh, now we have to play together with a Heavy Metal band.\u201d Not at all. It was really an interesting thing to do. And also, let\u2019s say we\u2019ve learnt a lot, like harmony-wise. We came up with some ideas and then the arranger of the orchestra said, \u201cNah, I don\u2019t think it works this way, so maybe we have to change harmonies here and there.\u201d That was really interesting, and a good learning [experience].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: And speaking of that, what was the songwriting process with the involvement of German Armed Forces\u2019 composers Guido Rennert and Alexander Reuber like?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Udo Dirkschneider: It worked this way \u2013 we came up with the songs and then they were making the arrangements for the orchestra, to put everything together… like, \u201cmaybe let\u2019s change this here and there…\u201d and worked with the songs, but they weren\u2019t composing. But these two guys… especially Guido Rennert, he\u2019s very famous for composing a lot of different stuff for the orchestras. He\u2019s really famous in Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: And as you\u2019ve mentioned, the former members of Accept \u2013 Stefan Kaufmann and Peter Baltes \u2013 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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Udo Dirkschneider: With Stefan Kaufmann, we\u2019ve 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\u2019s always perfect for my work. And one day he called me and said, \u201cHey, maybe you can come up to the studio to do some demo stuff for a couple of songs…\u201d and then, when I came into that studio, Peter Baltes was there. I haven\u2019t seen Peter for fifteen years and we haven\u2019t talked in fifteen years, so I was like, \u201cHey, what are you doing here?\u201d And then he [said] he was out of Accept, and was like, \u201cI\u2019m working on some stuff with Stefan for a solo project, and this, and that…\u201d 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, \u201cGo ahead\u201d 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<\/em>, Decadent<\/em> and Steelfactory <\/em>and is also working on a new album with us. But Stefan is really good at video cutting, and that\u2019s what he\u2019s doing at the moment for work \u2013 he\u2019s doing a lot of video work. It\u2019s still good to have Stefan Kaufmann \u2013 I still use him and do all the work with him. He knows my voice exactly and it\u2019s a good thing that you can still work with one guy from the old Accept [line-up].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: And what\u2019s the message behind the songs on the album?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Udo Dirkschneider: We Are One <\/em>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\u2019s a lot of [topics] since coming together lyric-wise. It was [there] from the very beginning since we started working on this album \u2013 we said, \u201cOkay, we wanna have a statement of what is wrong in this world.\u201d And I think we did some good stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019ll see, but at the moment it looks a bit better… It will take a while though. I think maybe after the summer \u2013 hopefully \u2013 we can start touring again. So of course, as our promoters asked if we wanna start touring and should they start booking, we said \u201cLet\u2019s do this,\u201d but now we just cross our fingers and wait if it\u2019s gonna happen. If it happens, it will be a really, really long tour. It\u2019s Russia, then maybe Ukraine as they\u2019re also asking \u2013 and then the whole Europe… in 2022, we\u2019ll play in the rest of Europe and then, as we cancelled [shows in] America and Canada [in 2020], we have to reschedule\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Udo Dirkschneider: At the moment we have no other projects going on. We\u2019re thinking about something, but we\u2019ll see. Right now we\u2019re collecting songs \u2013 again (laughs) \u2013 even though we\u2019re nearly finished with a new U.D.O. album \u2013 but we said, \u201cLet\u2019s work and work and work [on this]\u201d. So we\u2019re writing songs and in March I\u2019m going to go to the studio again. It\u2019s better than staring at the wall (laughs). We just keep on going and composing… Nobody knows what\u2019s gonna happen next. Maybe they\u2019ll find the way to do some smaller festivals, but I don\u2019t think Wacken or Sweden Rock are gonna happen. But let\u2019s hope we\u2019ll be able to start touring again very soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visit U.D.O. online<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska\u2014 Senior Columnist \u2014 2020 wasn\u2019t a year you remember fondly. And if you\u2019re a musician, a concert venue owner, a music industry worker or a music fan \u2013 certainly one of the […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":69242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[8645,203,15317,490],"class_list":{"0":"post-69240","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-interviews-recent","8":"tag-afm-records","9":"tag-interview","10":"tag-udo-2","11":"tag-udo-dirkschneider"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}