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U.D.O.

U.D.O. is a German heavy metal band founded by lead singer Udo Dirkschneider in 1987. Closely tied to the name U.D.O. is Accept, founded by Udo Dirkschneider and Michael Wagener (later to become a top producer) in Solingen, which was the predecessor of U.D.O.

History

1987 - 1992

After the breaking up of Accept in 1987, a large fan community followed Udo Dirkschneider to U.D.O.

Starting with the first albums Animal House in 1987 and Mean Machine in 1988 U.D.O. proved to be pure heavy metal without any Trend-Sound influences. Both albums continued where Accept had left of in 1986 with Russian Roulette. Animal House was played in by Peter Szigeti (guitars), Frank Rittel from Warlock (bass), Mathias Dieth from Sinner (guitars),Thomas Franke (drums) and of course Udo Dirkschneider (vocals)

When Mean Machine was released in 1988 U.D.O. had a totally different look. From the line-up which had played on Animal House, remained besides Udo only Mathias Dieth (guitar). New were Andy Susemihl (guitar), Thomas Smuszynski (bass) and Stefan Schwarzmann (drums).

Even though the unwritten U.D.O. law No-Keyboards was broken, U.D.O. achieved an amazing success, with the album Faceless World, produced by ex-Accept drummer Stefan Kaufmann. At first disputed, it turned out to be, with Udo Dirkschneider (vocals), Mathias Dieth (guitar), Wolla Boehm (guitar), Thomas Smuszynski (bass) and Stefan Schwarzmann (drums), U.D.O.'s most sold album so far.

After Timebomb in 1991 U.D.O. , with a slightly new crew (Frank Fricke now played the guitar in place of Wolla Böehm), was temporarily put on ice by Udo Dirkschneider, to bring ACCEPT back to life.

1996 - present

From 1992 until 1996 Accept performed in a highly watched over reunion, and Udo released three albums together with his old Accept colleges, until the definite end was called for Accept and U.D.O. was revived. For this Udo Dirkschneider called Stefan Kaufmann (guitar), Jürgen Graf (guitars), Fitty Wienhold (bass) und Stefan Schwarzmann (drums) to him. Udo Dirkschneider and Stefan Kaufmann then went, together with the new line-up, "back to where we started" and with that to recording on the "Tribute to Judas Priest". On this compilation of Judas Priest cover songs U.D.O. performed the track "Metal Gods". On this track everything just fits together. This was not only through Stefan Kaufmann's input, but also do to his acting as an counterpart to Udo Dirkschneider.

A successful mix, which was improved on Solid in 1997. This is when the rhythmic guitar tracks and Stefan Kaufmann's solos came from. The other parts besides Dirkschneider and Kaufmann were taken by Jürgen Graf (guitar), Fitty Wienhold (bass) und Stefan Schwarzmann (drums). The title of the album shows what kind of music Udo always wanted to play: hard and heavy. And the success proved U.D.O. right. Solid was placed on the "Rock Hard" reader charts for more than a year.

Solid was followed by No Limits in 1998, another U.D.O masterpiece. The songs are full of power and continue were U.D.O. had left of with last album. Udo Dirkschneider (vocals), Stefan Kaufmann (guitar), Stefan Schwarzmann (drums), Jürgen Graf (guitar) and Fitty Wienhold (bass). The guys from U.D.O. amaze the fans with their enjoyment to play - and that world wide.

With the release of Holy Udo and Stefan decide to go back to the roots and get the original sound out of the cellar. The reaction of fans and journalists left no doubt that this was the right step. A world Tour has been the logical consequence of this album. There are important lineup changes, on the second part of the "No Limits" tour (1999), Igor Gianola, former guitar player of the swiss band Gotthard, replaces Jürgen Graf. When the No Limits tour is finished Stefan Schwarzmann quit the band, and on the Holy tour (2000) Lorenzo Milani take its place. This lineup goes further succesfully until 2004. In September 2004, Francesco Jovino replaces Lorenzo Milani.

In the early 1990's U.D.O. disbanded so Udo Dirkschneider could devote himself to the Accept reunion which produced three new Accept albums over a span of 3 years. After the 2nd incarnation of Accept ended in late 1996, Udo reformed U.D.O. and proceeded to release three albums in the late 90's which are considered by many U.D.O. fans to be the band's most creative output. The band has been consistently releasing new albums and has released a live DVD of their 2001 Tour of Russia. U.D.O. released "Metallized" in November 2007, their second "best of" album it features two unreleased tracks and an acoustic version of Accept's "Balls To The Wall".

On September 26 a DVD called Mastercutor Alive was released.

U.D.O. are currently working on a new studio album which will be released in 2009.