Accept have vowed to continue “full steam ahead” despite their original bass player Peter Baltes quitting the band.
Baltes shared a post on the band’s website earlier today, saying: “To all Accept fans: I hereby like to announce my departure as Bass player from Accept. I have been with the band from the very beginning – many of you have been there as well.
“I like to thank you all for the great years we shared together. Keep it metal.”
The band then followed his post with one of their own saying they were “heartbroken” at the decision, adding: “Peter needed a change in his life and we wish him all the best. He will always be part of the Accept family and to honour his tribute to music history, we should all wish him well.
“Accept will keep it metal!”
Guitarist Wolf Hoffmann then issued a statement of his own reporting that Baltes’ departure “saddens me immensely” but also insisting that the band will forge ahead.
Hoffmann says: “We spent four decades together and went through thick and thin, ups and downs and I remember some incredible moments on stage. There was a blind understanding between us, personally and musically, that is very rare in this business!
“Looking back, I will forever cherish the carefree early years, the countless hours we spent writing songs, goofing around or roaming the cities together on tour – just having a good ol’ time!
“Especially these last 10 years after the revival of Accept being so much fun and so successful that I thought we would continue forever and sail into the proverbial sunset together – maybe until one of us would drop dead on stage.
“But I guess I was wrong, it wasn’t meant to be.”
He adds: “To see Peter leave Accept now saddens me immensely but there’s nothing I can do but to wish him well – hoping that this is the right decision for him and that he will find whatever he is looking for. I will certainly miss my musical brother!
“One thing is certain, however: Accept will continue full steam ahead!”
The news comes just days after the band released their new album Symphonic Terror: Live At Wacken 2017 via Nuclear Blast and announced that they’d head out for live dates in the spring next year.
