Sven Dirkschneider, son of legendary U.D.O. and Accept frontman Udo Dirkschneider and drummer for U.D.O., has had to drop off the U.D.O. North American tour for “private, personal reasons.” Here’s what the band wrote on their Instagram:
“Whilst the last shows of this amazing US & Canada run will go ahead with full force, unfortunately, Sven has been forced to fly home due to private, personal reasons, and extends sincere apologies to all the fans attending the shows.
“We will play all shows as planned with no one but Sven’s drum tech Matthias Kassner taking the drum duties while Sven takes care of other important factors – Please respect his privacy at this time.
“This is a decision we have made to ensure these dates go ahead, rather than cancel. Rock with us, because we can’t wait to see you all!”
In 2008, Sven founded his first band formation DAMAGED, which started out as a cover band, then they wrote more and more of their own songs, played gigs in German clubs and produced an EP, with the support of former ACCEPT drummer Stefan Kaufmann. The highlights of the band’s history (which ended in 2015) included gigs in Germany and the Czech Republic as a support act for U.D.O., his father’s band.
When SAXON had to cancel some shows in December 2014 due to health problems of their regular drummer Nigel Glockler, they had to maybe reschedule the tour dates for February 2015. Frontman Biff Byford decided to hire Sven Dirkschneider instead as a replacement drummer.
What Sven didn’t know was that a few months earlier, during a SAXON gig in Berlin, where his father was invited as a guest, Udo had told his friend Biff Byford that U.D.O. were looking for a new drummer. To his surprise, the SAXON frontman recommended Udo’s own son Sven, whom Byford had observed night after night at the soundchecks and rated him as absolutely suitable for U.D.O.
In February 2015, Sven was confirmed as the new U.D.O. drummer, and just four weeks later he went on a long tour with the band. Since then, Sven and Udo have formed what is probably, the most successful father-son duo in the history of metal.