First of all, can you introduce yourself and the band?
I’m Michael Poulsen, I play the guitar and I do the vocals in the Danish metal rock-and-rollband Volbeat.

The name, where does it come from?
I had an old band before Volbeat, called Dominus, and I made 4 cds with this band and the third one was called Vol. Beat, so I just removed the dot after Volume and called the new band Volbeat, so Vol is for volume and Beat is for rhythm.

You probably know it’s also a Pokémon character? No reason to change the name of the band?
No, I formed the band before I even knew that this feature was around. Two years ago I was a support teacher at a school and some of these youngsters came up to me and were laughing about the name Volbeat, because they had posters and drawings of this silly Pokémon figure. “Do you know your band is a Pokémon figure? I said “What?” And I said: Well, it might be quite fun because then the very small ones find it pretty cool. But no, that’s no reason for changing the name.

Your music is often described as rockabilly heavy metal. Can you find yourself in that description?
No, we’re not trying to put any kind of brand or style to our music. For us it’s just music, and we’re not pure heavy metal or pure rock-and roll or anything. We just like to play different kinds of music so we combined different styles. We have the very distorted heavy sound in our music, but perhaps the music is more rock-and-roll. So it’s a switch between metal, heavy metal, rock-and-roll, rock-a-billy everything. For us it’s not important to present a certain it’s just about the music.

Comparisons with other bands are often made. Do you have any band or bands that you like to be compared with?
You know, there are so many good bands, but we’re not trying to sound like our heroes or anything, so no.

Your new album came out in February, and was received very well. Did that surprise you?
Yeah sure. Nobody can look into the future that it went number one in Denmark, You know, we were the best selling band, we were selling more than all the mainstream bands and singers you can see on MTV everyday. It was quite crazy. And then we got this gold record. You don’t know what to say about these things, because you can’t see these things coming in the future. We know we can sell records and stuff like that, but going number one and a gold record, that’s crazy. We appreciate all the good support that have been and still is around Volbeat. So this support is amazing, we’re really thankful for that.

What is your favourite track on Rock the Rebel/Metal the Devil?
No. It’s just you know, the songs, it depends on what kind of mood I’m in. So, for me it’s just one song, the whole album is just one song. No, I don’t have any favourite.

The new album has got a great country-influence. Are you planning to more country-styled-things? Or is it just an ode to the 60’s?
I like some kind of country music. I like the way Johnny Cash is doing his country thing. I like the way Elvis Presley is doing his country, or did. I don’t know, we are still fooling around with new songs, but we don’t want to copy ourselves if you know what I mean. We like to try different kind of things. But still I think there will be perhaps small parts in the next album where you still can hear this kind of country influence. I really don’t know. We really like to try something else but stick to the style. So right now, I really don’t know.

You write all the lyrics and music. Where do you get the inspiration for them?
The music, I listen to every kind of music. I’m not stuck in one style. Of course I’m very much into old rock-and-roll from the 50’s and 60’s. My parents were all the time listening to Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Johnny Cash. I have a big heart for this kind of music, but still I also listen to all sorts of mainstream music. I also listen to heavy metal, a few death metal bands. Actually, I’m listening to all kinds of music. The only thing, I can sit here and say this, is definitely not me is techno.
The influences can be everything. I know that bands like Metallica, Black Sabbath, Megadeath, Manic Street Preachers, Social Distortion and Elvis and Johnny Cash have a very big influence on me. But still I like to pick up some of the influences from other bands, it can be Muse or something. If a song is good, its good. I also like to listen to gospel music, rhythm and blues, yeah anything.

So any kind of music. But a lot of lyrics deal with love, or love stories or how they end. Do you have any experience in that, does it come form the heart or is it just made up?
Some of the lyrics are from my own experience, and others are just love stories, some kind of fiction. I think love is a subject people can relate to. Everybody needs it, everybody is dealing with it somehow in their every day life. What I like about the 50s, is, when you wrote a song in the 50s it was a love song. There was no politic in the songs. And we’re not a political band, we like to keep our political opinion for ourselves. And I think the subject love is something everybody can relate to. For me, its just easy to pick up this kind of subject. I got inspired by old movies and stuff like that and old relationships and friends telling me stories. So it’s a bit of a mix of everything.

Since November Thomas Brehdal is filling in for Franz Gottschalk. Where did you find him?
Thomas was playing, and is still playing in his own punk band called Gobsquad. They’re real good and they were supporting Volbeat on a Danish tour. And when we needed a new guitar player, he suddenly just came to my mind that this guy… Because I was remembering him as a very good guy on stage. He had some good moves and he played the guitar good and I was impressed by him. So I said, let’s call this guy up, and I really liked him as a person. Very down to earth. So I’m very proud to have this guy in the band.

The Danny and Lucy episode from The Strength/The Sound/The Songs gets a continuation on the new album in Mr. And Mrs. Ness.
There are three songs that are combined to each other: Danny and Lucy, Fire Song and Mr. And Mrs. Ness. When I wrote Danny and Lucy, I was looking at an old movie from a channel called TCM, a black and white movie, but I only saw around 25 minutes of it. Somehow it stuck to my mind, so I just wrote the story that I came up with. So yeah, I was inspired by this old movie. I don’t know the name of the movie, I was just zapping around. I only saw it for 25 minutes then I had to go out the door. It stuck somewhere, and so I wrote my own version of it.

It’s very nice to see the continuation, so then you know what happens.
Its quite fun to write these kind of songs where there is a kind of story. I really like to do that. I also made a concept album with my old band where all eleven songs were a story. It’s fun to things like that. It was actually King Diamond that inspired us to do that.

I read in an interview that there might be an Elvis song someday. Any plans for that yet?
I’m very careful about touching the kings work You don’t do that. But I don’t know, maybe if the right song turns up, I will do it. But there are so many good songs. Personally, I hate listening to other people doing Elvis songs. It’s like gold for me. Its some kind of treasure. You don’t mess around with it. Perhaps one day, if I just hit the nail on the right spot, it will be okay, but now I don’t know.

What are your plans for the future?
Oh, just what we are doing now, working very hard. Touring, lots of touring. We’ve been touring this year since February. We will not end before December. So lots of touring. And I am in a process where I’m writing new songs on the road. When we do the sound checks we sometimes try small parts of the new songs. So, the plain time writing material for the new album. We will entering the studios in late March, and then the record will be out in the beginning of September next year. We will do some new videos, singles. We also have a dvd project coming up, release in February, March next year. So tons of plans.

What bands or persons have inspired you most?
Of course Elvis Presley has done a lot and I’ll say Metallica, James Hetfield. I had a very good talk with James Hetfield. We were supporting Metallica in Denmark in Arhus. And I was talking with this guy for 20 minutes. I’ve been inspired by Metallica even before I had my first guitar. So definitely Elvis Presley, Metallica and Social Distortion. I’m a big fan of Social Distortion. I really like this Mike Ness guy. He’s great, he’s amazing. He is such a strong songwriter. Of course, I’m a great fan of  Ronnie James Dio, when he was in Black Sabbath. Tony Iommy, the way he works with his guitar. Richy Blackmore. In general just old music.

You’ve performed in a lot of countries, you have a tour going on, so you will perform in a lot of countries, but is there anywhere that you’d like to perform that is not on this list yet?
You know, this is a big world. And we have been doing some European tours and it’s been going good. This tour, we’ve almost sold out every show. The plan for next year is to do a US tour. Go to the US and get the Volbeat name a little bit bigger. Right now the two cds will be officially released in the US later this year. So it will be a good idea to promote the band  in the US next year. We know that Master Records, our record company, is planning some kind of tour in the new year in the US.
I think also this year we will be heading for England. So you know, the world is so big and there are a lot of opportunities. We just look straight ahead and work hard as we always do, and keep both feet on the ground. And just have a good time. We love playing music. We have a good crew, we have a good team, everything seems to work out. So its still fun.

Talking about fun, what is the funniest that has happened to the band?
I don’t know, because you know we use so many hours together in the bus and in hotels and everything.  We’re laughing every day about small stuff. It is hard for me to pick out something special.
When we were playing with Metallica we had a little party with Lars Ulrich, after the show. He had this big tent and all drinks and beers were for free. So we were pretty drunk. And it was great fun. And our guitar technician Christian, who also plays the acoustic guitar, he was so drunk that he suddenly was puking in front of the big white van. And then Lars Ulrich came out :“What is happening?”. It was his van where he was just putting his children to bed.  We thought that was quite fun.
Lots of great stuff is happening on the road. We are very close friends, as a band and with the crew, its like a family somehow.

You supported Metallica in Århus. A dream come true?
Sure it was. Actually, this year and last year we have been meeting some of our big idols. Metallica was amazing. It was amazing to talk to these guys, to have the opportunity to play with them. We talked to James an Lars, and they were so kind. And they actually  knew all about Volbeat, so we didn’t have to tell them anything. That was quite amazing. I’ve been talking to Dave Mustain a couple of times, I really liked that. I have been inspired by this guy for many years. We have talked with Anthrax, Motörhead. Some of the old guys, that’s amazing.

Is there also an old band or bands that you would play with?
Yeah, you know there are so many good bands around and they’re still around. It would be great to tour around with Motörhead, I really like that. We are really big Motörhead fans in the band. I really like to tour with Social Distortion, Metallica, Iron Maiden. We’re also a big Iron Maiden fans. But it doesn’t have to be a big band.  It could be also small bands. Of course, when you are a teenager and you have your heroes and idols, and so many years after you have the opportunity to play with Metallica, of course it will be great to tour with. Such a big band like Black Sabbath and so. So maybe in the future, I don’t know, if these guys still keep on making records, we’ll tour with them, who knows.

You are amongst the 5 nominees for the European Music Awards in the category “Best Danish Acts”. How much chance is there that you will win? How fierce is the competition?
All these award shows, I’m really not into that. We have won a couple of awards in Denmark. I think we have 3 or 4 awards.  It is really not that important for us. I really don’t like idea that someone is sitting and is picking out bands who are better then the others. I really don’t like that. Because I think there are so many good bands. And it’s all about taste. I think the shows are great, to have a good show with a lot of different bands, playing together and have a good time. But all these awards, yegh, what can you use them for? All these glamorous things, I don’t like it. Of course, on your biography it looks good that you have won some kind of award. But for us the music is important, our fans are important, the listeners, the promotion, the hard work is important. It is not about money, it’s not about winning an award. Hard work and good contact with the people we work with and the people that listen. That’s the real thing if you ask me.

Can you recommend any other Scandinavian bands that you feel the world needs to hear of?
There are so many good Danish bands: Raunchy. A really good band. I really like it. They are also very good friends. Hatesphere, Mnemic, Mersenary, Urkraft, Pick-up.
There are so many good Danish bands. Tons of good Swedish bands as well: In Flames, Mustasch. I can continue for an hour, and when I go away here, I wonder why I didn’t mention that one. There are so many good bands.
I think the Scandinavian scene is very strong at the moment. And its good. Many of the bands I’ve been mentioning…People have been working very hard for a long time and they deserve to have the spot right now.

Thank you very much for your time and good luck with the show and everything else!