VOLBEAT's MICHAEL POULSEN Talks About Songwriting Process For Next Album (Audio)

Guitarist/vocalist Michael Poulsen of Danish/American metal rock 'n' rollers VOLBEAT was interviewed on the April 7 edition of the "STP Cast" on the Seattle radio station KISW 99.9 FM. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below.

Speaking about the progress of the songwriting sessions for VOLBEAT's follow-up to 2013's "Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies", Poulsen said: "We are in the writing process right now. I'm writing every day, using a lot of hours to get into the right material. And it's pretty much like the old days: I'm writing most of the material, but then I have certain spots open for Rob [Caggiano, guitar], where he can put in some of his ideas and stuff, and it's working out pretty good."

Polusen also talked about VOLBEAT's overall musical direction, which has been described as a fusion of rock and roll, heavy metal and rockabilly.

"When I sit and write, it's not like I'm locked into one certain style," he said. "I love metal, I love blues, I love gospel, country, punk… whatever it is, as long as it does something to me [and] I get that good feeling. And that's the exact same feeling I need to get when I write my own material. So I don't wanna paint myself into a corner where I say, 'This has to be only a metal song.' That's not what VOLBEAT is all about."

He continued: "I have so much respect for all those great metal bands out there who just found their style, and you really don't want them to change anything, because that's what they do; they do their metal stuff. But when it comes to VOLBEAT, I would not even say that we're metal or rock and roll or anything. I guess we're just something. But we blend a lot of metal, rock and roll, a little bit of blues and country and punk… whatever it is."

Poulsen added: "We were not aware that we had something unique going, because, I think, if we were, we wouldn't have that kind of success that we have, because our songs… they are very honest. So we're not trying to create something very special. We pretty much just became aware of it when people kept on saying to us, 'You've got something going. You've got something special there.' And we were, like, 'We do?' I think that's the magic behind it. We were just playing. So maybe we were there at the right time. But one thing I can say for sure is that we have been sacrificing a lot to be able to tour as much. We quit our day jobs, our girlfriends… and there's been so many sacrifices to being able to do what we do.

"We started like everybody else, going out in a cold nine-seater and just actually paying to play. That's just how it works now.

"We're pretty much aware that we earned our stripes, but we take good care of our stripes. We don't take anything for granted."

VOLBEAT recently signed a North American management agreement with Q Prime, the New York-based music management firm founded and run by Cliff Burnstein and Peter Mensch.

Since forming in Copenhagen in 2000, VOLBEAT has released five studio albums and two live offerings.

"Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies" has sold almost 300,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan. The title has been certified platinum in their home country of Denmark, alongside Germany and Austria, with gold sales in Finland and Sweden. The album has also been certified gold in Canada.

VOLBEAT's spring 2015 tour with ANTHRAX serving as direct support and CROBOT opening the show kicked off on April 24 in Denver, Colorado.

Interview (audio):