MICHAEL POULSEN: 'For Some Reason, The Girls Have Always Been There For VOLBEAT Shows'

RockNews Switzerland conducted an interview with VOLBEAT frontman Michael Poulsen at the Greenfield festival on June 9 in Interlaken, Switzerland. You can now watch the chat below.

Asked when fans can expect to see VOLBEAT's follow-up to 2016's "Seal The Deal & Let's Boogie" album, Poulsen said: "It will be released next year. 'Cause when we're done with this summer touring, all the festivals, we will go home to Denmark and finish up the writing, enter the studio late November. Maybe we will enter the studio again very early next year, if we're not done; it really depends. But there's gonna be a new record next year."

Poulsen also talked about the significance of writing catchy, singalong songs when creating new VOLBEAT music. "As a songwriter, it's important for me that I get the same kind of feeling when I listen to my favorite records and favorite artists who I'm inspired by," he said. "When I put on, for example, the new MANIC STREET PREACHERS, I just bought, I get goosebumps, because I think it's brilliant pop-rock music. I love it, it's great, it's strong songwriting, and it has big melodies. And that's what I'm trying to create in VOLBEAT too — a dynamic of good energy, good melodies, strong songwriting and something I get goosebumps about, and asking myself afterwards, 'Wow! Did I write that?' So writing is definitely an emotional thing — very passionate. And the next thing will be, how do other people react to it? 'Cause I have to be satisfied first, and then it has to be fun to rehearse, it has to be fun to record it, it needs to be fun and feels right to go out and play on the road, and then comes the reaction. So all those things come first. And then sometimes you win or lose when it comes to… sometimes people like it, sometimes they don't. You can't win 'em all; that's just the way it is."

According to Poulsen, VOLBEAT has attracted a strong female following from its very early days. "For some reason, the girls have always been there for VOLBEAT shows," he said. "I don't believe it's because of our look [laughs]; I believe it's because of our music. There's a lot of singalong songs in VOLBEAT's music, and through time, for each record, more and more girls are coming to the shows. And you know what? if there are girls at your show, it's a success, because where there are girls, there will always be men. So you can double up on the crowd."

VOLBEAT has been performing a snippet of a new song, apparently called "Parasite", at some of its recent shows.

VOLBEAT's next LP will be the band's first full-length effort to feature bassist Kaspar Boye Larsen.

"Seal The Deal & Let's Boogie" arrived in June 2016 and featured the chart-topping "Black Rose" and "The Devil's Bleeding Crown", in addition to the Top Five title track.

VOLBEAT is currently on a run of European festivals that will last through late July. The band does not have any North American dates on its current schedule.