Udo Dirkschneider
Vocals
Date of Birth: Apr 06 1952
Place of Birth: Wuppertal Germany
My first glance at the world was on April the 6.th of 1952 exactly at 1.pm in the beautiful town called Wuppertal. As the years were passing by at the age of 12 I received as a gift from my parents the Beatles record "I'm Down" From then on I was obsessed with music. Then the Rolling Stones came into my life and from that momment on the Beatles were only wimps.
I got my first portable Recordplayer for Christmas. All my teachers hated me because I took it always with me to school my schoolmate was the world famous producer Michael Wagener and together with him I started my music carrier.
At this time I was not interested in using my voice I was more into keyboards and so my parents made me a gift at the age of 14. Of course a keyboard! At the same time Michael got his first electric guitar and the radio of his parents becames the amplifier. Of course they didn't liked it! From this time on the route was marked. Michael was working hard on the guitar and I was trying to play the keyboards propper. More and more I got into singing and the result was that I liked it more then playing .
I created the first Band BAND X when I was sixteen. We played 3 years in Clubs and in the year 1971 Michael and I changed the name of this Band. From this time on we were ACCEPT. At the same time Michael faced himself with the fact that he was not a good guitarplayer and he changed to studio work. It needed 4 years to find the right Line up which gets the break through under the name ACCEPT.
On a competition in Düsseldorf we reached the third place and we got our first record deal. 1978 was the year of our first Album called "Accept" and at this time our music was a revolution. In the end of 1979 the second album was out under the title "I`m A Rebel" it was a work of research for a style. In 1980 with the release of "Breaker" the music scene was shocked by the sound of this album surprised with this kind of agressive music from Germany and this was also a breakthrough for the band all over Europe and also it was the first time that we did a big headline tour in Germany and the european tour with JUDAS PRIEST and so we decided this would be our profession.
With the next album "Restless And Wild" for the first time America was interested in us but in our opinion it was to early. During this time together with Michael Wagner I made a production company called "DOUBLE TROUBLE" and produced bands like RAVEN FAITHFULL BREATH STREET FIGHTER etc.
At this time there were rumors that I would quit ACCEPT but it was not true. Then in 1983 with the release of "Balls To The Wall" we had world wide success and than the time for America was right.
............ the rest of my carrier fans know it !
Udo....
Zack Kirkorian
A captivating original artist whose mastery of modern production techniques and blistering guitar combine into one mesmerizing must see event. Zack is a marvel at pulling the right sounds out of his guitar and synthesizers.
Born disabled Zack Kirkorian didn't take to sports but found his outlet in music.
Zack's musical education began at the age of five with violin and continued throughout his life culminating in graduation from the Grove School of Music.
Zack recalls his fondest memories of touring the country and playing the Sunset Strip in the days when Gazzarri's The Roxy and Whiskey a Go Go ruled. That fertile musical period in Los Angeles lead to Zack's role as keyboardist for international platinum-selling recording artists Warrant.
As the vibe died on the Sunset Strip Zack had to reinvent himself landing a technician's position at Steinberg GmbH one of the world's leading musical software companies and developers of Cubase a popular music recording arranging and editing software used in digital audio workstations.
Zack's tenure at Steinberg gave him the mastery of studio techniques drawing the attention of Leon Russell who hired Zack as his in-house engineer.
In 2019 Zack Kirkorian achieved a career milestone and was placed on the Official Ballot for The Grammy Awards by The Recording Academy for the single "I've Got Plenty of Reasons" for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song.
Today Zack brings all his experience back to creating music for mass consumption. Compared to Frank Zappa Beck and The Tubes all rolled into one audio experience not explored by today's sample based artists.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Stages Bar, 604 E Dyer Rd, Santa Ana, CA 92705, United States, Irvine
