VOLBEAT's MICHAEL POULSEN: How Danish Boxing Champion MIKKEL KESSLER Helped Me Get Healthy And Sober

VOLBEAT frontman Michael Poulsen went on Side Jams with Bryan Reesman to talk about his love for boxing and the fighters he admires. During the conversation, he revealed that a Danish fighter helped him stop his heavy drinking, shed 25 kilos (around 55 pounds),and get into better shape.

Poulsen stated that during his childhood, when his dad wasn't playing '50s music he had boxing videos running on TV. His father was in a few fights when he was younger, and Poulsen did some training as a teen but decided to choose music. However, the rock 'n roll lifestyle began to catch up with him many years ago.

"It came to a point during VOLBEAT's career where I was drinking way too much," Poulsen admitted. "I can honestly say that I became an alcoholic. Mikkel Kessler, the Danish boxing champion, who was my friend at that time — we wrote a song for him, 'A Warrior's Call' — he said to me, 'Michael, it's time for you to put that booze on the shelf and get in good shape. You're drinking too much. You're getting fat, and mentally it's destroying you.' So I was training a lot with Mikkel. He put up a plan for me how to eat and how to recover, and I became a more sober and clean and happy man. He took it very seriously because he was concerned, and he saw all the alarms going on. So I can only thank him."

When asked about fighters he admired, the singer listed the greats like Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston, but he also brought up Danish boxers such as Gert Bo Jacobsen and newer names like the Klitschko brothers and Oleksandr Usyk.

"I'm so happy that Oleksandr Usyk from Ukraine is the new undisputed heavyweight champion," Poulsen said. "He's pretty much been mopping the floor with all the cruiserweights. And now he's been mopping the floors with the heavyweights. Not only is he very talented and crafted, he's also a great ambassador for the sport. What he's doing for his country in Ukraine is amazing. He's a great human being. He's very, very inspiring to listen to. So him becoming the undisputed champion and beating Tyson Fury was something that I really enjoyed. It's always great to see great people with great results."

VOLBEAT's ninth album, "God Of Angels Trust", will arrive on June 6 via the band's longtime label Vertigo/Universal.

In a press release announcing "God Of Angels Trust", Poulsen stated about the making of the effort: "In the past, I've taken a long time to write and obsessed over so many elements of the songs before finishing them. This time, I wanted to make a VOLBEAT record without thinking too much about it. Instead of following any kind of structure I said, 'Okay, there are no rules. I can do anything I want. I can start with a chorus or do songs that are just a bunch of verses stacked on top of each other. Anything goes.' That was freeing for me and made it exciting to write this album."

Poulsen started working on songs for the follow-up to "Servant Of The Mind" in the summer of 2024. VOLBEAT was taking a year-long break from touring to give Michael a chance to recover from throat surgery and to tour with his death metal band ASINHELL. Driven equally by his excitement to record a new VOLBEAT album and by his determination not to follow convention, Poulsen worked on songs for a mere three weeks with bandmates Jon and bassist Kaspar Boye Larsen. Amazingly, they worked on a new song at every rehearsal. Three weeks into the process, VOLBEAT had arranged half of "God Of Angels Trust". That's when Poulsen decided that having no rules meant he could follow his muse wherever it took him, and he veered off on a different path. He and the band still wrote and rehearsed two songs a week, but they started composing more familiar rock songs that drew from traditional elements.

The band entered the studio with their longtime producer Jacob Hansen in the fall of 2024. As with the songwriting, Poulsen wanted to work quickly and rely on instinct, so they just plugged in and started to play. To keep the music sounding urgent and immediate, VOLBEAT recorded live in the studio, playing as few takes as possible before moving from one song to the next.

When it came time to add lead guitar, there was no question that VOLBEAT would tap Flemming C. Lund, who currently tours with the band and worked with Michael in ASINHELL. A mere 13 days after they started working with Hansen, VOLBEAT were finished.

VOLBEAT will return to the road on the "Greatest Of All Tours Worldwide", beginning in June and running throughout 2025. The tour begins in June with a co-headline Canadian run with THREE DAYS GRACE and special guests WAGE WAR, which will be followed by headline treks in the U.S. with special guests HALESTORM and THE GHOST INSIDE, and Europe with special guests BUSH and WITCH FEVER, including a second show at Copenhagen's Royal Arena on September 20.