L-R:
Sven Dirkschneider (drums, backing vocals), Mathias “Don” Dieth (guitars, backing vocals), Udo Dirkschneider (lead vocals), Manuela “Ella” Bibert (lead & backing vocals, key instruments), Stefan Kaufmann (guitars, backing vocals), Peter Baltes (bass, lead & backing vocals)
Photo credit: Eddi Bachmann
A one-off charity campaign during the pandemic grew into an all-star heavy metal project: Dirkschneider & The Old Gang – DATOG for short – united six seasoned musicians, many of whom have helped shape the metal genre’s legacy over the past four decades.
At the core: iconic vocalist Udo Dirkschneider, founder and longtime frontman of ACCEPT, and leader of U.D.O. and Dirkschneider. He’s joined by Peter Baltes (bass, vocals; ACCEPT, DIRKSCHNEIDER), Stefan Kaufmann (guitar; ACCEPT, U.D.O.), Mathias “Don” Dieth (guitar; SINNER, U.D.O.), Udo’s son Sven Dirkschneider (drums, U.D.O., DIRKSCHNEIDER), and powerhouse vocalist Manuela “Ella” Bibert, whose standout performances on the U.D.O. orchestra album We Are One (2019) solidified her place in the lineup.
Together, they released three singles between 2020 and 2021—”Where The Angels Fly,” “Face Of A Stranger,” and “Every Heart Is Burning” followed up by a special charity EP, called Arising, to help support artists, crews and musicians affected by the coronavirus lockdown. The immense success of their recordings and music videos surpassed every expectation, with more than 23 million streams and views in total to date. “The whole thing developed a momentum of its own that we hadn’t expected,” recalls Kaufmann. “Fans and labels immediately wanted to know: is there more to come?”
The answer has arrived.
After four years, DATOG return with “It Takes Two To Tango”, a powerful new single and the first taste of their much-anticipated 2025 debut album Babylon, released via Reigning Phoenix Music – a trusted partner of both U.D.O. and Dirkschneider. The track kicks off the next chapter in DATOG’s journey, proving that the chemistry, passion, and fire between these six musicians is as strong as ever.
DATOG comment: “We’re very happy about being part of the RPM family and continuing our work with Jochen Richert. We secretly started this joint campaign a while ago, and our mutual experiences behind the scenes have so far shown us that we are all definitely on the same page and driven by the same musical mutual factors: passion, loyalty, and the love for heavy music.”
Managing director Jochen Richert (Reigning Phoenix Music) adds: “Grabbing the chance of releasing DATOG’s much-anticipated debut album was a no-brainer, of course. After their first steps exceeded, by far, several hopes and dreams,their new material is nothing short of a continuation, if not now on a higher level. Thank you to the whole GANG for your trust, let’s rock this together!”
Musically, “It Takes Two to Tango” literally puts the pedal to the metal, supported by a lyric underlining the aforementioned idea behind DATOG: the common joy of playing music! A virtue that surely will also infect all the viewers of the supporting music video, which was filmed by RCN TV at the legendary Dierks Studios (Stommeln, Germany), where actually the full record was tracked. The concluding mastering was handled by guitarist Kaufmann at ROXX Studio (Solingen, Germany).
“‘It Takes Two To Tango’ is strictly speaking only half of the song title, as the lyrics go on to say ‘(But) It Takes Six To Rock’. “This motto says it all”, the group states and adds: “An absolute joint effort!”
Watch the official music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meb1xvWHBEo
Stream the single: https://datog.rpm.link/ittakestwoPR
DATOG are:
Udo Dirkschneider | lead vocals
Peter Baltes | bass, lead & backing vocals
Manuela “Ella” Bibert | lead & backing vocals, key instruments
Stefan Kaufmann | guitars, backing vocals
Mathias “Don” Dieth | guitars, backing vocals
Sven Dirkschneider | drums, backing vocals
More on DATOG:
datog.de | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Spotify | Apple Music
About Reigning Phoenix Music
Founded in 2023, Reigning Phoenix Music is truly the 100% independently owned vision of music industry professional Gerardo Martinez and avionics and tech entrepreneur, Sven Bogner. The blueprint is to continue to help heavy metal, extreme and hard music thrive by partnering with an array of well-established acts, new talent, and iconic artists by offering best services and practices in the industry. RPM’s paramount goal is to help the artists amplify their music and talent to a winning formula for success. The label recently opened a new office in London, UK.
Don’t forget to subscribe to Reigning Phoenix Music on YouTube to stay updated and listen to “It Takes Two To Tango” along with other new tracks in the RPM New Releases playlist on Spotify. Subscribe here: https://rpm.link/spotifynewreleasesPR.
More on RPM:
reigningphoenixmusic.com | Facebook | Instagram | X | TikTok | YouTube