2000 sees the US release of his latest album, the metal to the bone Holy.  As the band continues their European tour and prepares to invade America, Udo took some time to give me a ring and answer a few questions…

Now that it's done and out, what are your feelings about Holy?
Ohhh….I can't say that much for the US, but the album has been out in Europe since October of last year.  It's doing very well here in Europe and, looking forward, hopefully we'll have the same in the US.

What made you decide on 'Holy' for the title?
The idea came up with… A lot of people have said they are very appreciative that we've stuck to the same kind of music.  In the studio, we were talking about religion and we came up with the name 'holy.'  Then we said, okay, that means in a way…one idea led to another.  'Holy' was the first thing there, then 'metal is our religion' and this kind of music is holy to us, but don't take it too seriously.  Then the idea came up for the cover and there was a little concept behind everything.

Can you tell me a bit about the artwork?
The artwork for the album is by a guy named Andreas Marschall - he's quite famous here in Germany.  In a way, he's a little bit crazy. (laughs)  So when I was talking to him about the cover artwork, I told him we want to have a church but not a real looking church - it has to look like a metal church.  And he understood what the meaning was and started working on it.  Then we came up with the idea for the priest in the corner, as we wanted to do something funny.  There were a lot of scandals going on at that time at the Vatican in Italy.  I worked already two times with Andreas, as he did the covers for the Timebomb and Solid U.D.O. albums.

How are the songs written and arranged these days in UDO?
Normally, Stefan does the music - he comes up with the rough ideas.  Then I start putting the melodies on it and start working on the final lyrics.  Then we start arranging it in the studio and sometimes we change some of the melody lines, and some guitar parts or breaks or whatever.

You've been writing and playing music for a long time now.  Has your songwriting method changed at all?  Do you find it harder/easier now than in the past? 
I think I can say it is easier.  We are lucky because Stefan Kaufmann has his own studio.  So we don't have to book a studio - we can go in whenever we want.  And it's just five minutes from my home, so it's easy.  You don't watch the red light anymore, it's off (laughs).  There's no pressure.

Can you tell me a bit about some of the lyrics on the new album: 

Raiders of Beyond
The idea came from the TV series Stargate, so it has science-fiction lyrics.

Recall the Sin
This one is about myself and if somebody asks me if I want to do the whole thing again, I will say yes.

State Run Operation
The government in Germany about a year ago was making a law that they can now watch your apartment, they can put some cameras in there and listen to your television.  It's also a bit like a James Bond story, but it's also a true story.  So, yeah, I'm not happy with this! (laughs)

Are there things you can do with U.D.O. that you weren't able to with Accept?
In a way, it is the same.  When we were writing songs in Accept, it was 4 or 5 people, but now it's just two people, so in a way it's much easier. (laughs)  I was very satisfied with the songs with Accept - not all of them, but you have to make some compromise.  Of course, I'm very happy with the songwriting with Stefan in U.D.O.

When you rejoined Accept in the 90s, did you always plan to return to U.D.O. afterwards?
In the first place, what we had with Accept in '87.  That was…how can I say it in short words (laughs)…  The rest of the band listened to the wrong people.  There were a lot of people around Accept that said, 'Okay, now you have to be more commercial to break the US market' and they believed that.  So they said, okay, we want to be more commercial, we want to have a different singer who can sing more melodies and stuff.  And I said, 'Okay…if you want to do this.  I don't want to do this.  I don't want to sing too much commercial stuff.'  Then there was a point when I did U.D.O. for the first time and they were looking for a different singer, but we never had bad feelings between the band and me.  We were still good friends and ended up working at the same studio at the same time.  They were working on Eat the Heat and I was doing Animal House.  The re-union with Accept came up…it wasn't really planned.  I had already had 4 albums out with U.D.O. and had quite a good success with U.D.O.  In 1991, the Staying a Life album came out and this was a big success, so we got tons of fans letters from all over the world asking us to get back together.  So in '92, we had a meeting with all the members of Accept and were talking about re-union, but it was not easy for me to stop U.D.O. and do Accept again.  In the end, we did the reunion and after the Predator album, the atmosphere music-wise was not right anymore.  There were too many different directions and I think it was the right point to stop Accept.  For me, it was not planned to stop Accept, it was more Wolf and Peter who said they don't want to do it anymore, so I said okay.  I didn't want to stop making music, so I did U.D.O. again.

Are you going to shoot any videos for this album?
(emphatically) NO.  To spend money for a video, this is a waste at the moment.  In Europe, we don't have any TV stations that play this kind of music.  They all play teeny-stuff and boy-groups and hip-hop or whatever, but they don't play heavy metal videos.  So to put this money into a video, maybe you could use it for touring and this would be much better.

How did you initially hook up wtih Nuclear Blast? 
No, I have my own label called Breaker Records.  What I did was a cooperation with Nuclear Blast.  They handle everything for Breaker Records - they do all the promotional stuff and distribution, but the album is on my label.

Will you just release U.D.O. albums or are you thinking of releasing other bands?
Yeah, I have already 3 bands from Germany.  They're very young and new in a way.  Maybe, I don't know when (laughs) the day will come when I stop being a musician and then I will want to work with young bands and maybe I can help them.

Do you keep up much with the metal scene at large?
Yeah, if I have time, then I go to small clubs and see new bands.  Right at the moment, we have a lot of good bands around Germany.  It's interesting, they're all playing this traditional heavy metal stuff.  Also good bands are coming from Sweden and Norway, so at the moment, this kind of music is coming up again.

What kind of music do you enjoy listening to outside of metal? 
Everything that is good.  Whenever I'm at home or in the car, I switch the radio on and listen to all kinds of music.  Nothing special.  I like a lot of Spanish guitar music and classical music, but the rest is just what is played on the radio.

Do you do anything to keep your voice in shape?
(laughing)  No.  I think in a way I'm very lucky.  I've never had any problems with my voice, except when I have a cold, but that is normal.  There has never been a serious problem, you know.  When I go on stage, I never do a warm up.  I just go on stage and start singing.  I'm still smoking.  So, I'm lucky.  I know a lot of heavy metal singers who have had a lot of trouble with their voice.

Do you plan to tour the States for this album?
Yes!  Nuclear Blast will try to get us over to the U.S. between the 27th of May and the 10th of June.  Nothing is confirmed yet, but they're working on it.  What they want to do is that we do maybe 8 or 10 shows, do more promotion, and see how the scene is going.  Then in October or November we'll do a proper tour.

What kind of material do you do in your set these days?
Let's say 60% U.D.O. stuff and 40% Accept stuff, so the people get what they want. (laughs)