Interview
Interview
My Greatest Hits: Michael Poulsen of Volbeat
The Volbeat frontman talks us through his career highlights, from collaborating with King Diamond to becoming mates with Metallica
Since his earliest days causing havoc in Copenhagen’s underground death metal scene to topping rock radio charts and sharing stages with some of the biggest bands on the planet, Michael Poulsen has never done things by halves.
The creative force behind Volbeat, the frontman and his bandmates have carved out a unique space in heavy music over the course of two decades and nine studio albums, colliding punk, rockabilly, gospel and thrash in ways many would never have deemed possible. As eclectic as it is electrifying, their sound is underpinned by Poulsen’s unmistakable voice; a powerhouse blend of old-school soul and heavy metal carnage. An artist unafraid to bask in the unusual, his shapeshifting mentality has come into sharp focus on the band’s latest full-length God Of Angels Trust, a bold and instinctive collection that leans into chaos, spontaneity, and raw gut feeling.
“I’m very proud of every Volbeat album,” Poulsen reflects, “but sometimes you think too much about things.”
“With this album, we wanted to play around with the innocence and try not to overthink it… That was the goal.”
Honing their free-spirited energy into an almighty beast of a record complete with some of the biggest choruses in the game, Volbeat will return to UK arenas this winter to celebrate the fire, fury, and swagger of their latest era. Reflecting on turning a genre-blending vision into one of Denmark’s biggest musical exports, we sat down with Poulsen to revisit the moments that have defined his journey, from working alongside his childhood heroes to returning to his death metal roots just for the joy of it.
Venturing into a whole new sound on Volbeat’s debut album
“Stepping from the death metal scene into The Strength/The Sound/The Songs was a great adventure, and that’s what music should be about. If you have a passion for something, it doesn’t matter what it is, you should go on that adventure. You can’t let anyone tell you what’s right or wrong, you have to figure that out by yourself. Starting Volbeat, there was a lot of freedom, because I came from a death metal background. In that genre, there wasn’t much room to mix styles together. I get it, because I love old school death metal, but I wanted to create something where I didn’t have to think too much about where it belonged. I didn’t care what category it was stocked under in the record shops; it was just about the freedom of writing and mixing different styles. On paper it seemed quite impossible, but I had a feeling that we could pull it off.
“When I started writing the first Volbeat songs, it came naturally to mix metal, punk, pop, rock, gospel, and blues. I called Jon [Larsen, drummer] and said, ‘I’ve had an idea for a new band, are you still playing drums?’ He wasn’t, but they were still in his basement, so I said, ‘Perfect. I’ll be there in 15 minutes, let’s find them’. He was confused, but I went to his apartment, dug out his dusty drums, and showed him my ideas. We found a rehearsal room, started playing these songs I’d written, and after a couple of rehearsals Jon said, ‘Michael, what are we playing?’ I said to him, ‘I don’t know, but let’s not think too much about it… It’s Volbeat’.
“When we started playing in clubs and bars, people had no idea what we were playing, but they liked it. We were shopping the demos to record companies, and they didn’t know what to do with it. They wanted to be able to put us into a category, but we didn’t sound like anybody else. It was tough at the start, but the beauty of it is that it’s always been on our own terms. When we’re writing music, it still feels like we are free to do whatever we want. We’ve never said that we’re a metal band, we’ve always just said that we’re a band inspired by metal, punk, gospel, pop, and blues… Still, it’s just Volbeat.”
Making it in Denmark and beyond
“Early on, we were very busy. We did things by ourselves because there was no money to hire anyone, so we had all the hats on. We were our own management and bookers, we were sorting the merchandise, and we were doing all the street work. We wanted it to be like that, and we wanted full control. We managed to get a lot of contacts outside of Denmark, and it was important for us to book shows outside of Denmark. It’s a very small country, and we spent a lot of time early in our career playing abroad. We knew that with the style of music we had, there was an opportunity to connect with a lot of different promoters and play a lot of shows where we could get our point across. In turn, that connected to people at home, because they could see that we were managing to make something happen outside of Denmark. On the second record [Rock The Rebel/Metal The Devil], we actually ended up having a big hit in Denmark with ‘The Garden’s Tale’. The track featured Johan Olsen from Magtens Korridorer singing in Danish, and it exploded on the radio stations. From that point, we could definitely see Volbeat becoming bigger and bigger.”
Becoming friends with Metallica
“Playing with Metallica will always be a dream come true. At the time, they hadn’t played Denmark for many years. They wanted to come back and play an outdoor show, and we were asked if we wanted to support them. The guy who called from the booking agency was one of my friends, and I thought that he was trying to be funny or something. I told him to shut up and tell me why he was actually calling, but he insisted he was serious. It turned out that Lars [Ulrich, Metallica drummer] had been checking out MySpace, trying to see what was going on back in Denmark. He wanted to see what band everyone was talking about, and at the time, it was us.
“I remember James Hetfield coming over to us before the show and saying, ‘I love your guys’ stuff. It sounds like some kind of Elvis metal’. That became the start of our relationship with Metallica, and from then they took us out on a lot of tours, especially in America. You can’t ask for a better opportunity as a band. We played with the biggest heavy rock band of all time, and we learned a trick or two from seeing how they operate. It was inspiring, and we were very smart about it. When we came home after the first Metallica tour in the US, we had our booking agency schedule a run of headline shows in the exact same cities we had just played with them. That way, all the fans that we managed to impress during the Metallica shows could come back the next year and watch a full Volbeat show.”
Working with King Diamond on ‘Room 24’
“I became a King Diamond fan at a very young age, and I’ve been following him since I was a kid. I started listening to extreme music when I was 10, so I discovered King Diamond when I was still living at home with my parents. If somebody told me that one day he would be on my band’s record… I wouldn’t have believed them. It was a huge opportunity because if you go through King Diamond’s history, he’s never really made guest appearances on anything else. It was a real compliment.
“When we were nearby Dallas, Texas, King would always show up, hang out, and support us, and both Hank Shermann and Michael Denner of Mercyful Fate have helped us out at live shows before. We have a great history with King Diamond and his musicians, but having the opportunity to work on ‘Room 24’ was such an emotional rollercoaster. I remember getting the files back from King like it was yesterday. He recorded his vocals back home in Texas, and we were in the studio when he sent them over. When I heard it, I had never had goosebumps so big on the whole of my body. I actually started crying because it was so special. He was one of my childhood heroes, and now he’s one of my very close friends. He’s one of the biggest gentlemen in the scene, and there’s so much to learn from the great King Diamond.”
What was it like to get a Grammy nod for that song, then?
“Honestly, I’m not going to sit here and lie… I don’t care about it. That’s not why we are here, and I remember we actually went home before the award show. We had done a long US tour, and the awards were a few days after it ended. Our management tried to tell us to stay there a couple of days, and we were like, ‘No way. We’re going home’. We don’t care about awards, and the real recognition of ‘Room 24’ came from the fans. That’s the stuff I care about, that’s the award.”
Playing Download Festival over the years
Photo by Juan Aguado/Redferns
“Download has been truly great to Volbeat, and I’m so thankful that we’ve had the opportunity to play there so many times. It’s something that we are always looking forward to, and it’s a great example of what it’s all about. You create new albums, go on tour, execute the plan, and that’s where the music comes alive. It feels great to go out and play new songs, being part of great festivals and standing in great arenas, stadiums, and clubs. Doing that, then meeting and connecting with the fans, that’s the reason why we’re doing it.”
Returning to the death metal scene with Asinhell
“Making that album felt great, like jumping back on an old bike again. Death metal was the first kind of music I played, and the reason why I stopped playing it was because of the rules around what you could and couldn’t do. I’ve always loved that music though, but it was hard to go back to it when I became so busy with Volbeat. When the pandemic kicked in, everybody had to sit at home and figure out what was going on. There was time to dig into some old stuff, and I was enjoying playing death metal again. It felt quite natural, and I hooked up with some great old friends for a new project.
“We had a lot of fun writing the album in a little garage at my friend’s house, and we wanted to capture the feeling we had back in the days when we were young. We wanted to record the songs very naturally, with no polish and no programs. When we were done, the end result was so good, and we were having too much fun to not play it live. We went back into small clubs again, with all the cockroaches and the moisture dripping from the walls and the ceiling. It was great to see that so many of those rooms were still in existence, and that there were still all the stickers and memories from back in the day. We definitely want to play some more shows like that once the second album is written.”
Getting back to basics on God Of Angels Trust
“I don’t think there’s been a blueprint for any Volbeat record, but over time you can easily fall into traps of your own creation. From the very beginning, we’ve had a signature sound, but on our first recordings you can hear us trying to figure out what it means to put songs together and learning the structure of it. There’s something so innocent about that, like watching your kids figure the world out… Our producer Jacob Hansen was down to execute the plan quickly, keeping the energy and spirit alive and the music as honest and fresh as possible. We recorded everything live in the studio, then just added a few more guitars on top. We were there for 13 days, and everything was in the bag. I’m not sure how we managed to pull it off, but it was great to have fun and be a little looser about it all.”
Photo credit: Tim Mosenfelder / Getty
