LH: Hello Udo! Well, first of all I wanted to congratulate you, both on turning 55 and on your new album “Mastercutor” entering the charts at number 39 at home on its release earlier this year. How are you doing?

UDO: Well, I’m feeling great right now despite the age you‘re reminding me of, ha! ha!. No, it’s been a while since we had an album out - 2005 “Mission No. X” - so it’s good to know the fans are still supporting us, and, of course, we’re out on tour with Primal Fear now which is going really well also, so I don’t think we can complain.

LH: I’d like to ask a few questions about your new album “Mastercutor“. Where did you get the idea to use the game show introduction and how significant is this to the album in its entirety? Is there a theme that somehow links together some of the songs on the album?

UDO - Well, the ‘Mastercutor’ is the main character for sure; he’s the show-master, he’s directing the game show that makes up the basic idea for the cover, the artwork, and everything.

What basically started all this off was ideas that tried to talk about these stupid game shows and reality TV shows that dominate everything we see on our screen these days. I went into my sons room - he’s still a young boy - and he has posters in his room which have pretty strong images. One was this scary face from TV I think, that, like Eddie for Iron Maiden, just struck me as the perfect character for this idea…., and the Mastercutor was born.

I don’t want people to think it is a concept album because that would be unfair to it, but if you think about a string of game shows or reality TV shows, then it can be a theme that runs through the record. The Mastercutor announces at the end of “Crash, Bang, Crash” - which is a pretty straight Rock And Roll song by the way - “thank you for coming”, etc and that pretty much sums it up.

LH: Unlike a lot of bands you begin the writing process with the lyrics and then work out the music afterwards. Could you tell us a bit more about how you go about this, and who did most of the song writing on this album?

UDO: This is true, but for this album it was a little different again. We started writing in May last year, had a break for the festival season, then started writing again and, of course, recording afterwards. This time it was more about creating the right atmosphere for the melodies and the music rather than just starting with the lyrics and working ideas out. All the members got together and worked on ideas. Stefan and Igor work one way because they are guitar players. Maybe, I work a different way - they might try things even in sound checks - but I had plenty of stories this time and it was all about finding the mood that expressed them. I had maybe 35 ideas at the start, and they evolve over time into finished ideas.

LH: After doing so many albums does it ever become a struggle for you to come up with fresh material that you are really happy with? Some bands seem to reach a point where they just can’t come up with the goods any more and yet your latest album proves that you still have some killer songs left in you.

UDO: No, it’s still relatively easy to come up with stories, you just need to satisfy yourself that the music is fresh. We haven’t changed the way we work that much - we’ve pretty much kept to the same way of working since 2002’s “Man And Machine”, but I’m very happy with this because it produces consistently good work from all the band members and keeps us all motivated and happy, together, which is the most important thing.

LH: How happy would you say you are with the album and do you feel this is your best album to date? Do you have any favourite tracks?

UDO: I’m very happy. Sure, we haven’t changed too much, as I said, but you can’t expect us to change too radically now. The album has a modern sound, it’s very strong - we took our live sound engineer into the studio with Stefan which makes the songs very dynamic I feel, and it came out really well because it challenges the band U.D.O. to keep fresh and to be able to take the songs properly into the live arena where we spend so much of our time these days. The image is very strong and the music is too !!

Favourite tracks? Well, “Mastercutor” is a great opener for the set, “Vendetta” is a great song, but one of the favorites for me is “Tears Of A Clown” because it is a very emotional ballad but it is a song with many personal faces because a clown must always be an entertainer whilst his private life is covered and must stay so? Whilst we were doing the backing tracks for this album, my mother was very ill with cancer and of course, I felt a little like this too. Always having to entertain and keeping your private life private. It’s a very personal track for me.

The set was very hard to put together for this tour believe me - we actually went to our home page, where we have also done a poll to find out which tracks we should pick for a special “Best Of…” package that will be out for Xmas (called “Metallized - 20 Years Of Metal”) and we asked the fans first. I hope they’re happy with the results !!

The album was produced once again by Stephen Kaufmann. Does it make the process go any quicker or smoother working with a producer who you have worked with for such a long time and who knows the band so well?

UDO: Of course, but one thing I would say that illustrates just how easy it is, is if I tell you how easy it was for me to sing the material for this album. The vocals for me are very strong and it’s been one of the most relaxed records I’ve been involved with personally. I don’t know quite why; possibly, because of the time we gave ourselves, but it has definitely helped me and when you listen to the record, I feel you hear a whole band, not just talented individuals playing their parts.”

LH: Could you tell us about the concept for the video for “The Wrong Side of Midnight”?

UDO: The idea is basically that the Mastercutor is the character looking for a stage where he can act out the madness that has been created by the people experimenting with his brain, you know? The face changes, and he’s looking for a way out. He can be a clown, he can be a nice guy, he can be an evil character on “The Wrong Side Of Midnight” - it is an image that can be developed again, maybe for the next record too?

The video came out really well actually. The team that put it together used a very new format for recording - Forward Stop Motion Video I think it’s called - something I’d never seen before - but when we saw the first tapes it was amazing!! It was like watching Modern Art! Truly amazing!”

LH: What are your opinions on the metal scene at the moment? One thing I have noticed recently is that some of the classic bands are becoming popular among the younger audience who you may not expect to be listening to stuff like Accept, Helloween, Priest, etc. Do you think it is a good thing that this type of metal is getting big again so to speak?

UDO: Absolutely and I hope we benefit, ha! ha! No, I see it in other ways too. Because we’ve been to so many countries now, you often get asked to sing on a track with somebody or play on a track, and these bands are all young, you know? Like, I did a track with the guys from Lordi and it could have been an U.D.O. song. I went to Helsinki to meet up with them, and he’s going, “I never missed a show of yours here!” they all turned up in the studio to watch me doing the track and it was great. Beautiful. No one would know of course that they were going to go on to win Eurovision, but it was just such a strangely wonderful afternoon.”

LH: After such a long and successful career do you feel there is anything left for you to achieve that you haven’t already, and do you think you will ever retire from music?

UDO: I guess, one day? But everyday I hear something that gives me the impetus to carry on and that’s what is so great about this music. There are a lot of new bands around, some influenced by our style, others by others - a lot mention Accept actually - but largely we should just concentrate on what we have achieved and try to better it each time, not change now. Who wants to see us trying to cross generations? Nobody!

We try to be as modern as possible in our studio work and professional as possible live, and that’s it really!! I’d love to work with Ronnie James Dio one day if it’s possible - that’s definitely still a big ambition, but you never know what can happen.

LH: In quite a few interviews I’ve read you have been asked if you plan on doing an Accept reunion again. Do you get tired of being asked this question, and also of your current band being compared to Accept?

UDO: Ha ! Ha ! There are always these questions but really I can’t say too much on this. People like to remember the past and that’s fine. As to my band, what can I say. I reckon that as far as the band goes we’re now in as good a position personally as was in the heyday of Accept, so why break that? The chemistry is fantastic, we’ve been together for a long time and although people live in different countries, we never really feel apart.

LH: You reformed Accept back in 2005 and did a few shows together. Do you have any plans to do this again in the near future? I have heard one or two rumours of this happening in 2008.

UDO: As I said, I very much doubt it will happen again. When it happened, there was a strong and defined reason behind it. Just do a few festivals, etc and that’s it. I’ve heard that Wolf may be doing music again but it’s not a serious worry for me!

LH: You are touring over the next few months with U.D.O. of course. In fact, currently with Primal Fear…. Is there any possibility of you paying the UK a visit?

UDO: I hope so but to do anything else other than just a show in London is pretty hard right now. We really need one of the UK’s bands like a Motorhead or a Saxon to go out with, or maybe do a festival where we can open up a few doors. It is disappointing in a way that the current tour doesn’t go to London, but you have to keep your fingers crossed and hope.

LH: You’ve toured quite a bit over the years, so I was wondering in which countries you tend to get the best crowds and what has been the most memorable tour experience to date?

UDO: God, that’s very difficult to say. Sweden Rocks, some of the South American stuff like Mexico where you get incredible crowds; Russia, Spain, Norway, but every crowd is different you know. Sometimes you can go to the smallest club, like I remember with the Underworld when we played there in London, and you get an astonishing reaction. We’re still to play China - I know they’re asking - so maybe the best is still to come?

LH: What are the best, and the worst things you find about touring? I know you have a family so I imagine you miss them a lot when you go out on the road. You have a teenage son too who is also into heavy music. What bands is he into and is he a fan of U.D.O.? Would you encourage him to follow in your footsteps and play in a band and if you could give him any piece of advice about being in the music industry what would it be?

UDO - “It’s strange, you know? Yes, I miss the family a lot of course, we all do when we are on tour but this type of music has a very strong element of family about it too. You need a balance - you need to get away with your family and spend time with them and I hope I do that. My son is like all kids - he loves music but I don’t really know if he’s a fan of ours… Ha! Ha!”

“I’d like to think he will appreciate it but I don’t want to force it on him. If he wanted to do this, I’d definitely only give him one word of advice. Don’t sign anything until you’re 100% sure.”

www.udo-online.de
www.afm-records.de

Interviewed by Luci Herbert

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