Volbeat's Michael Poulsen misses death metal glory days

Michael Poulsen
Michael Poulsen (Image credit: Getty)

Volbeat’s Michael Poulsen admits he gets nostalgic thinking about the “old school” days of the underground metal scene, when he was in Dominus.

The vocalist recalls tape-trading, riding on his bike and pasting DIY flyers around the Danish city of Ringsted to promote his band in the 90s – and he says that the fast-paced information age has no “soul.”

He tells KaaosTV: “I come from the old-school underground when there was no internet, tape-trading with my old band Dominus and a lot of old-school bands who are still here today. It’s something I’m very proud of.

“We’d ride bikes, putting up black-and-white posters with glue. I kinda miss those days as a way to promote yourself. There was just a different soul about it.”

Poulsen adds: “Everything’s going so fast on the internet these days. It’s good for some reasons, but for other reasons it’s not tempting. It doesn’t have a soul.

“These days, youngsters have a favourite band every second week. Everything is in front of them, they get everything very fast. There’s not many bands that have that mystique anymore.”

Volbeat were recently joined onstage by Entombed AD frontman LG Petrov and Grave guitarist Mika Lagren at their Stockholm show to perform Evelyn. Poulsen says that he wouldn’t rule out a return to death metal in future.

He says: “It could happen. It’s all about timing and having the right time to do it.

“We’re very busy in Volbeat, touring around the world. It takes a lot of my energy and time to write for Volbeat and go on the road. But I have some good friends in the death metal community and we’re talking about doing something together.”

Vobeat are currently touring in support of their latest album, Seal The Deal And Let’s Boogie. They’ll tour the UK with Alter Bridge next month.

Volbeat tour dates 2016

Oct 27: Copenhagen Forum, Denmark
Oct 28: Hamburg Barclaycard Arena, Germany
Oct 29: Berlin Mercedes-Benz Arena, Germany
Oct 31: Munich Olympiahall, Germany
Nov 01: Linz Tipps Arena, Austria
Nov 02: Vienna Stadhalle, Austria
Nov 04: Innsbruck Olympiahalle, Austria
Nov 05: Geneva Arena, Switzerland
Nov 07: Stuttgart Schlayerhalle, Germany
Nov 08: Zurich Hallenstadion, Switzerland
Nov 09: Cologne Lanxess, Germany
Nov 10: Frankfurt Festhalle, Germany
Nov 12: Leipzig Arena, Germany
Nov 13: Oberhausen Koenig-Pilsener Arena, Germany
Nov 14: Brussels Forest National, Belgium
Nov 15: Amsterdam Ziggo Dome, Netherlands
Nov 23: Manchester Arena, UK
Nov 24: London O2 Arena, UK
Nov 26: Nottingham Motorpoint Arena, UK
Nov 27: Birmingham Genting Arena, UK
Nov 28: Cardiff Motorpoint Arena, UK
Dec 01: Glasgow Hydro, UK
Dec 02: Leeds First Direct Arena, UK

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Former TeamRock news desk member Christina joined our team in late 2015, and although her time working on online rock news was fairly brief, she made a huge impact by contributing close to 1500 stories. Christina also interviewed artists including Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and worked at the Download festival. In late 2016, Christina left rock journalism to pursue a career in current affairs. In 2021, she was named Local Weekly Feature Writer of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards.