Guesting on Pomelo Rocker, Accept guitarist Wolf Hoffmann discussed bringing a third guitarist, Philip Shouse, into the fold following the band's orchestra shows earlier this year, saying "we discovered how incredibly well we jelled together, what a good fit he is. Long story short, we just figured, why should we let him go? We just keep him on because he's really a great addition to the band line-up, we think. It's a little bit unusual to have three guitar players, but you can really do quite a few cool things with three guitarists. When you have twin leads in certain passages, you still have another guitar player playing the rhythm stuff, so it's really powerful and really versatile in a way." 

Following is the original statement welcoming Shouse into the band, issued prior to two US shows at the beginning of November.

"Unfortunately, Uwe Lulis will not be able to join us for these two shows as he recuperates from a recent reconstructive surgery on his leg from injuries he received to it in a near fatal motorcycle accident a decade ago. Uwe has dealt with the injury for a long time and has had many surgeries as a result.

"In the process of finding coverage for Uwe for these shows, everybody remarked how they loved working with Philip Shouse during this year‘s Symphonic Terror Tour, so we asked if he could help us out for these two shows. To our and Uwe’s grbeat relief - he said yes!

"During the next few days as lots of e-mails and discussions about the Ins and Outs for the 2 gigs and rehearsals in Nashville lead the band found itself faced with an unexpected question: Why doesn‘t Phil join us and stay as a permanent member of Accept? The answer? It was unanimous! Everyone agreed and Phil did too!

"After his recovery, Uwe will continue to tour with Accept and rejoin the guys for the upcoming South American shows in December. Uwe became a great friend for all of us and after his recovery he might need to adjust his stage moves a bit - which is no problem with all the support he has from us! We are here for you, brother!”

"Accept would like to welcome Phil into the band and wish Uwe a speedy recovery and invite the fans to see this brand new Accept version with Phil, Uwe & Wolf on guitar, Christopher on drums, Martin on bass – and THE Voice: Mighty Mark Tornillo!

"P.S. 2020 will be another year we are so much looking forward to. Stay tuned... there will be good news coming your way! See ya soon!"

Lineup:

Wolf Hoffmann - Guitar
Mark Tornillo - Vocals
Christopher Williams - Drums
Uwe Lulis - Guitar
Martin Motnik - Bass
Philip Shouse - Guitar

(Photo - Paul Bossenmaier)