Accept 'inspired' early thrash bands

Accept guitarist Wolf Hoffmann says a string of musicians credit his band with inspiring them to play thrash metal.

The German band’s 1982 single Fast As A Shark – taken from the album Restless And Wild – is hailed by many fans and writers as one of the earliest examples of thrash or speed metal. And according to Hoffmann, other bands tell him the same thing all the time.

Asked whether he feels Accept were a big influence, he tells Mariskal Rock TV: “According to a lot of people, a lot of journalists, it has been, because we wrote the first speed metal song ever, and a lot of other musicians have told me that.

“Definitely, we have a big influence on a lot of people’s career. There’s a lot of people that we never even expected to hear this from, but who said to me over the years, ‘You know, when I heard Restless And Wild back in the 80s, it changed my life and it made me become who I am as a musician.’ So a lot of musicians took that as a starting point to form their own careers.”

Accept released their latest album Blind Rage last August. But in December, they parted ways with guitarist Herman Frank and drummer Stefan Schwarzmann who left to concentrate on their own band, The German Panzer.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.