Al.com conducted an interview with new Accept guitarist Philip Shouse.

On landing the gig with Accept:

“I was asked to do that in 2017 when they played Wacken (Open Air, a massive heavy-metal music festival held in Germany). They headlined Wacken one night and it was a big, big huge deal. It was the first time they had played with an orchestra and (Accept lead guitarist) Wolf Hoffmann did a solo record a few years previous called Headbangers Symphony, where he and his arranger Melo Mafali from Italy took all these classical pieces, and arranged them for a four-piece metal band, with riffs and solos but also for an orchestra as well.

“A 30-minute segment of the two-hour Wacken performance was going to be Wolf's Headbangers Symphony, so I got asked to do that, and then Accept came out and played an hour with the orchestra.

“It started out as just that, the one time. And then two years later I got asked to do the Symphonic Terror Tour, a whole tour all across Europe with the orchestra, where it was half Accept songs and half classical pieces. All with the orchestra.

And so that went great, I loved it, it was challenging, got along with everybody and at the end of that, they were like, ‘Uh hey, you want to join the band?’ [Laughs] And I said, ‘Yeah I was hoping you were going to ask me.’ They kind of hinted at it very late in the tour, and then I think Wolf and I went to this Thai place that's right by where Wolf's studio is. He kind of asked me then. So, they just added me and now it's a three-guitar band. Everybody likes to call it The Six-Pack.”

On what he loves about playing with Accept:

“Every show for me is a challenge. ‘Fast As A Shark’ is a really difficult song to play and if I play that well, I'm happy. I heard an interview (the late Rush drummer) Neil Peart did and he said the same thing about (playing the Rush song) ‘Tom Sawyer.’

And it's fun to do all the moves with Wolf. We do the ‘Balls To The Wall’ choreography and I get a kick out of it every time. And it's funny, when you're as a big of a poser as I am, you realize that each band that did the choreography kind of thing had their own style of doing it. KISS had their own way obviously, Priest had their own way. Priest was kind of forward on the two, like if we're talking about beats of four. Now, Accept does it, the movement is more all in the hips, but Accept is forward on the one and backward on the two. So, the one and three are forward, and it's mainly a bending of the knees and hips and a lot of elbows, is the Accept way of doing it. If you look back, the Scorpions had their own way … More than you every wanted to know about guitar posturing. [Laughs]”

Following is the original statement welcoming Shouse into the band, issued prior to two US shows at the beginning of November 2019 .

"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)