Ahead of an anticipated headline show at London’s Islington Academy, Planet Loud snaked through the mazy backstage of the impressive venue with a looming, tattooed and highly down-to-earth Michael Poulsen, Volbeat guitarist / frontman, in search of suitable interviewing surroundings. Stumbling into a dressing room containing drummer Jon Larsen, plenty food and a visible Jack Daniel’s (traditionally, a Volbeat essential) we settled down to talk over the growth in latest album ‘Guitar Gangsters And Cadillac Blood’, the challenges of writing on the road and that core value of appreciating success from the ground level up..

Planet Loud – So you’re returning to London, a year later, after a packed out show at The Underworld..
Volbeat – Yeah, that was the start of everything!

Planet Loud – Definitely. How does it feel to be back at a slightly bigger venue and what thoughts do you have on the U.K fans in general?
Volbeat – For us it is really great to back here in the UK. Because it’s not very easy for bands ‘outside’ to get into the UK. I don’t know what it is but it just doesn’t seem that easy. So now we have the opportunity we’ll definitely try to deliver a 100% show and we look forward to talking to people after the show too. We always do that. We’ve played in bigger venues, around four / five / six thousand every night. But to go back and do this ground zero again is really great because you also have to remember where it all started. It’s also great that it’s early! (In reference to tonight’s 10 o’clock clock curfew) Everywhere else is always eleven, or 12, so we get to have an early night!

Planet Loud – You’ve been on tour now for a while, this particular tour started, what, around the start of the year?
Volbeat – Twelve years ago! (Laughs)

Planet Loud – There’s so many different places and parts to the tour as a whole, one stand-out part being supporting Nightwish in America, what were your thoughts approaching everything, in particular the opportunity to tour in the U.S?
Volbeat – We’ve always concentrated on touring Europe because it’s always the same crap with bands that are like ‘oh, we need to go into the U.S!’ whilst we’re like ‘come on, relax!’ The U.S can f**king wait! Even though I’m inspired by tons of U.S bands, the country’s not ‘going’ anywhere. So we concentrated on touring Europe.

We started in small clubs with fifty people and suddenly it exploded but it’s worth something to be able to headline everywhere in Europe and pull big crowds. But you know, we’ve also been struggling and sacrificing – people have kids and wives and everything. So it’s not easy but we seem to manage. We got some different offers going into the U.S before but the thing was the records weren’t really released over there. ‘Rock The Rebel Metal The Devil’ (The band’s second full-length) wasn’t released until June last year..

So we felt like letting the record be out there for some time, so people would be able to find out who the hell we are instead of us just going over there and playing, without having any records out – it would be like killing yourself basically. It’s just like ‘take my money’ (laughs) as it’s very expensive to tour the U.S and we’re earning a living touring in Europe, so we’d actually have to sacrifice and pay something to tour in the U.S. But now we’re ready to do that because they’re playing us on the radio and ‘Guitar Gangsters And Cadillac Blood’ is going to be released in April. So now there’s actually there’s some kind of reason for actually being over there. They’re asking for Volbeat, so now they’re going to get Volbeat!

Planet Loud – What do you think it will be like supporting a band like Nightwish? Do you think there will be a ‘mixed’ reaction from fans or are you just relishing the challenge of just going out there?
Volbeat – You know what? We will find out! We know there are a lot of people actually coming to see Volbeat but we also remember that there’ll be a lot of people there to see Nightwish. One thing is for sure, we will not change anything. We are not trying to change ourselves. We will just do whatever we used to do.

The thing was we got different offers from different bands touring in the U.S and it was like ‘that’s just not where we belong’ – Really hardcore bands you know? Because of course we want to tour with Social Distortion, or Motorhead, bands that really fit us. But it’s not like you can decide that for yourself. Suddenly this Nightwish thing came up and that was actually the best offer we got. Even though the styles are so different, you have to remember that people who listen to Nightwish are listening to many different kinds of music. I think that’s the same thing with Volbeat.

It will be good, it will be a challenge. We like challenges. We definitely believe that we’re going to do good, and if not, we’ll come back and tell them that they missed something!

Planet Loud – You seem to have a ‘cult-like’ status in a lot of places in Europe, a lot of fans gained through word-of-mouth, except for in Denmark, your home country, where you are undoubtedly massive! To me, however, you guys don’t seem to worry too much about this whole ‘status’ or success. It feels more like it’s about writing music, getting out there and playing it. What would you say ARE the most important things for the band?
Volbeat – It’s to keep on doing what we’re doing. We can see now from the very beginning that we’ve been rising to a higher level every time. But it’s good because we’ve not been ‘chasing’ the glamour and the success. We have been working. Working very hard, and dedicated. We still come to shows, other venues, and ask ourselves – ‘Where the hell are we supposed to play?’, ‘Oh, you’re playing in this hall. It’s sold out, don’t think about it!’

I think that’s very important, that you still have both feet very much on the ground. I think that people can see that when we’re on stage, they can see we’re having a good time, they can see that we appreciate them. So now that the band is growing bigger and bigger it’s so good to see that everybody in the band, including the crew and everyone we having working with is still on the same level. It’s not about the success, it feels good, but it’s not about that. There are tons of bands that only perform for cause of getting the success.

We always go down to the audience after the show to tell them that we’re really thankful, sign everything, talk to their children – a lot of our fans bring their children, and those kind of things you cannot take for granted. If you do then you’re a f**king asshole! I can easily be an asshole but I know how to appreciate our success.

The thing is people seem to have the feeling that they’re close to the band and it’s a nice feeling. I remember walking into some of my first shows and looking at my idols and they were wearing sunglasses, they were not even talking between the songs. I ask myself why the hell is it so hard for them to walk five steps down from the stage and say ‘thank you very much’.

I actually know we’re doing this because we love it. This is also our work; everybody is making a living being in Volbeat. Of course it’s also business, but it’s not like we are thinking: ‘we have to do this BECAUSE it’s business’. We do this because we love playing music, we love being together and what we’re doing and people can easily see that.

Planet Loud – Let’s talk about the latest album ‘Guitar Gangsters And Cadillac Blood’. What are your thoughts on the process of songwriting for this album and how everything turned out?
Volbeat – I don’t know because if you look at the first album to the last one we did I think that you can hear that Volbeat are progressing. I think I’ve been getting better as a singer, as a songwriter. Everybody was getting better at what they were doing. Now that we’re touring so much that it means a lot. Because you can hear the band is playing more together, the producer is getting better and everything is developing.

Some people don’t seem to get that. People say ‘Yeah, but they were more ‘true’ metal on the first record!’ but the point is we never told anybody that we were ‘metal’. We never told anybody that we were rock n’ roll or anything. For us it was never about being one of those things. We are inspired by so many different kinds of music and we’re not trying to ‘brand’ a style. It’s really not our job to ‘say’ your identity. A lot of people are like ‘oh, I’ve found this band, they’re so true’ and then suddenly the band is progressing and they fall away. Try to believe in yourself and do something for yourself.

I see the progress of Volbeat as very good. If you take the latest record, you can still easily hear it’s the same band if you put on the first record.

Planet Loud – Yeah, with this album (‘Guitar Gangsters..’) you have the same soaring vocals and crunching riffage, but there’s definite hints of experimentation, like the female vocals in ‘Mary Anne’s Place’..
Volbeat – To be quite honest with the female thing, I was so, if you’ll excuse my language, f**king tired, of all metal bands with the female singers. When this awful band Evanescence came, I mean okay, maybe that’s interesting. Maybe the metal scene needed a band like that to do something different but it really wasn’t. Because years before we had The Gathering who had a beautiful singer, She sounded like nobody else. Then Evanescence came and suddenly you have a hundred bands sounding like that. It’s like what IS it that made metal bands say ‘okay we need a female singer’ which IS interesting but why does she have to sound like the one from Evanescence?

So I thought we can do better than that. So the whole idea was to get a black gospel singer because I believe that they are the best singers in the world. Then I wrote a song called ‘Light A Way’ and I really wanted this black lady to sing on that song. But I couldn’t find her. I was searching in Denmark, they have gospel choirs but it was all white singers and it sounded like crap! They can sing, but a black lady, she got it in the blood. So I said ‘I’m going to do something else’. I’ll sing the whole song myself and maybe one day I’ll find this very beautiful black lady from Denmark.

So then I wrote ‘Mary Anne’s Place’ and we were playing it for a long time in rehearsal. I just felt that something was ‘missing’. It was a very heavy song but after playing it for so many times I got back to the idea with the female singer. I was driving in my car and my girlfriend had a C.D on from a band called Swan Lee and that is where Pernille comes from. I said ‘That’s it, that’s the girl!’. I called her up and it turns out she really liked Volbeat. So I got her in the rehearsal room and everything turned out to be very very good. I’m very proud of that song.

Planet Loud – Lyrically, what sort of themes and topics did you try to cover within ‘Guitar Gangsters’ and what inspired them?
Volbeat – There’s these seven songs combined in a small story. I was writing a lyric and then suddenly though ‘ah.. this needs to go a little bit further’ and it suddenly has all these songs developing from that. I don’t know where it comes from! I think it’s just by watching movies and just getting inspired by other bands. Whatever! Inspiration is a very strange thing to put a word on because sometimes you don’t even know where it comes from. But about the lyrics, I always like the idea of love songs. I mean everybody can relate to love, we all need it. Being born is all about finding your partner. So that’s pretty simple.

Planet Loud – My personal favourite from the album is the Hank Williams cover, ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry’ It kind of almost felt like it was ‘made’ for you guys to cover with the way you did it. What was it like attempting to put your own stamp on that kind of song and were you a little nervous when working on it?
Volbeat – Of course you’re always a little bit nervous because there are certain artists you have to be careful about! The thing was I knew the song with Hank Williams of course but when I heard it with Me First And The Gimmie Ginmmes I was like ‘That’s cool!’ because it was up-tempo and still had great melodies. So I just felt I need to do that song. But of course we had to it our way. To be quite honest it was as much inspired by Me First And The Gimmie Gimmies as it was Hank Williams.

Planet Loud – What would you say you’ve learnt about yourselves as individuals, be it within the band as a whole, maybe the way you write and approach music, since ‘Rock The Rebel Metal The Devil’ (the band’s second album) and this latest album?
Volbeat – I was definitely going through a change concerning how I was writing. I used to have the time to sit at home on my couch and write material. Suddenly we’re so often on the road that we have to actually write on the road. I was always thinking ‘how do we do that!?’, when I read so many interviews of my idols where they’re saying: ‘oh, yeah, we did that record on the road’ as though it was just so easy.

But you have to find a certain way to do it. I learnt pretty quickly that I have to walk around with my mobile phone, sing to it, to get some ideas. Or sit in my hotel room with my guitar, when we’re done soundchecking there are hours before we have to play and so if we don’t have interviews, take an acoustic guitar and write something. That’s actually what I did on ‘Guitar Gangsters’ and it turned out to be, if you ask me, one of our best records. Not that it over shines the previous two but you have to believe that the next thing you do will be even better.

Planet Loud – The live DVD you’ve released, ‘Sold Out’ – Do you think it gets across exactly what a live Volbeat show is all about?
Volbeat – No, not really. Not at all actually. Because music has to be ‘live’. You have to see a band live if you really want to see what it’s all about. To get it on a DVD is maybe only 50% of what it’s all about. You can see who the band is, but the energy, you cannot compare. (Referring to the multi-shot technique of various shows featured rather than one full gig shot for this DVD): Many people have asked us, but the thing was the sound quality was not good all the way through. So we had to pick different shows. To be quite honest I’m really not that much into live DVD’s.

There are so many countries that are still waiting for Volbeat and we’re thinking what the hell do we do? Like the U.S we have to wait and still need some distribution, need some promotion to go over there. Then the record company said we could release a DVD to show everyone what Volbeat was all about.

So we said yeah. I’ve seen the DVD once and it’s okay, but not something I would sit and applaud (literally applauds) for. We have to understand that there are so many people involved in this project and what they were doing was their job. I’m not a movie director. We had to look through a lot of material and some of it was really not good so they thought it was better to let people see where we were playing.

Planet Loud – You’ve played so many different shows and festivals in various venues, but are there any particular cities or venues you particularly love playing in?
Volbeat – I don’t know. Even though we pull very big crowds in Germany, Belgium, Austria, Finland, Sweden and Denmark, when you walk into a country you’ve never been and you’re wondering how it’s going to be. Then you do a f**king great show, it blows your mind, you’re just like ‘woah’. It’s not easy because we’ve played so many shows and sometimes we can walk into a new country where we only play for a couple of hundred people, but the energy, the feeling and the people getting close to the stage.. that’s such a great feeling, you know?

Planet Loud – In terms of the crowds you have, do you feel blessed to have a fan base that go completely crazy at every one of your shows?
Volbeat – Oh yeah. I mean, you cannot take those things for granted. We’ve been sacrificing ourselves to be at this certain level. But also the listeners are sacrificing themselves too. They’re paying the bills, they’re buying the C.D’s. They’re actually the reason why we can do this. So it’s always a pleasure to see them on tour.

Planet Loud – You’ve obviously toured and played shows with all kinds of different bands, are there any particular bands that you’ve enjoyed playing with the most or that you’ve learned a lot from?
Volbeat – We’ve been headliners for sometime now, so we’re lucky in that we actually pick our own support bands. Sometimes it’s bands that we’re close friends, we get so many C.D’s whilst on the road so when we sit down and listen to them, sometimes a good band will be picked out. We’ve already been playing with some of our great idols, like Metallica and Megadeth. I think a band that we all really think is pretty cool would be Motorhead. I’m a big Social Distortion fan, so my dream would be to support them or play with them.

Planet Loud – Did you ever believe things would get as a crazy as they have for this band, reaching this level of connection and exposure? Was there a belief there when this all started out?
Volbeat – No, because if you sit down and actually believe that, then you are chasing the success and I don’t like that idea. When we were recording the first album people were coming up all the time saying ‘you’re going to be big, you’re going to be so big’ and we were like.. ‘really? Well, let’s see!’ It was never about chasing all of that. If it happens, great, but we couldn’t look into the future. I think that is the reason why we really appreciate it.

When you look at some of the bands that have a big record label saying to them ‘you need to look like this, you need to play like this’ it’s before people even know who they are! We can actually thank the audience for carrying us all the way.

Planet Loud – What’s in the future for Volbeat. Is it just touring for the moment or are there any thoughts on another record?
Volbeat – The thing is while it’s very good right now for Volbeat we are making a living from it. Our booker actually told us they weren’t ‘forcing’ us to play so many shows, that they could still easily run the business, but we like to play shows! So the plan is definitely touring but also relaxing a little bit, because we still have family, wives, girlfriends, kids, dogs and birds and whatever. But we need to have time to write material for our new record. Just to stock up and look at whatever is happening so we can make a progression again.

Planet Loud – And are there any particular U.K plans for the rest of this year, such as festivals?
Volbeat – Let me put it this way. There are some offers and options that could be very interesting! I can’t really say, it’s a management thing. (begins a hushed conversation with nearby drummer Jon Larsen in Danish) Did you get that? (mass laughter) I can tell you for sure that we’re working on it.

Planet Loud – Thanks a lot for your time Michael, good luck for the show later!
Volbeat – No problem, thanks very much!

Interview by Jim Hall