Intervista Volbeat (Kaspar Boye Larsen)

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Hi Kaspar, how are you doing?

I’m doing fine, thanks!
It’s the last show of this run, of this leg of the European tour, so we’re going home tomorrow for two weeks.
We’re getting everything out of the bus, of our bunks… the last days are always a little bit weird because there’s so much going on, but beside from that I’m doing fine!

This tour has begun with some struggles with the Bristol show being postponed and the Belfast one being interrupted. Is Michael doing better now?

Yeah, we’re doing fine now.
Yeah, that was an issue but, I mean, there will be a statement within days, I can’t talk much about it now.

You recently released your new album, “Rewind, Replay, Rebound”. This is the first album you record with the band, how was the experience from your point of view?

Well, I’ve been to the studio many times with different bands, but of course it’s always different when it’s the first time [with a band].
I didn’t know how the guys were writing music, I didn’t know what usually they’d do in the studio, how much was planned, I mean, would we write in the studio or would we just have everything done before we went to the studio?
But we spent the last half of 2018 finishing up the songs, writing songs and it was like, usually Michael came with an idea and then as a band we kinda arranged it, and sometimes he has a whole song done.
So it was just up to me to try to put my touch on it, but mostly just to have interesting bass lines.
I was working a lot on demos with Rob on that, working to get the bass lines for half the album, and the rest of the album we went in, everything was actually done, we recorded everything we had; I was improvising a little bit for some of the songs, but I was surprised to find out that it was actually just like any other band being in the studio.
I’ve never tried that thing were you write in the studio, I mean, that would take forever.
So, everything, all the guitar parts, the melody lines, that was done when we entered the studio, but I did a little and I was working with the producer so we kinda got it all down quite fast, actually.

On the album you have some special guests, Gary Holt (Slayer, Exodus), Neil Fallon (Clutch), how was it to work with them?

To be honest, we didn’t really work with them because they never entered the studio with us.
They were recording in their own studios, or in studios nearby, so I never got to meet them.

Did you give them any input, or was it like, “Okay, you play here, now just do your thing”?

It was very much up to them to…for the vocalist Michael had some idea, but for Gary it was just, “How do you feel like playing…?”, and the same thing with the sax and piano, I mean, it was just down to them.

Not long ago you went on tour in North America with Slipknot where you played big venues that probably you wouldn’t normally play on your own. How did it go?

I think it went very well, actually.
We were a little bit, not nervous, but we were out with Behemoth, Gojira and Slipknot, I mean, those bands are heavy, we are not that heavy, not at all! [Laughs]
So how should we do, take the most heavy songs that we ever did, play them? Or should we just do what we feel best, just deliver a show like we’re used to?
We did that and, we had fans coming, some of our fans to those shows too, and I was a little bit afraid that maybe the die-hard “Maggots”, the Slipknot fans, they might be throwing stones at us [laughs] and booing, but there wasn’t really anything like that.
Their fans are good, they’re open-minded and they gave us a chance.

You kinda anticipated my next question: in a tour with Slipknot, Behemoth and Gojira, Volbeat is obviously the softest band of the lot. Was it hard to win the crowds? Did you feel like at the end of the shows people always enjoyed what you did?

I think we got the idea that they were enjoying it, I think we won someone over.
But I also think that the ones that don’t like soft music as we’re doing, they went to the bar to get a few beers [laughs], of course you can’t win them all.

I mean, when you start with Gojira, then Behemoth, when you get to Volbeat it’s quite the change of style.

Totally!
But maybe it’s kinda good, because sometime if you got a bill, like four, five really heavy bands it’s like [makes an explosion sound] sonically it’s just too much, sometimes.
So, I think it might have been good that we came in just before Slipknot to give it a little break.

Besides that tour, Volbeat is a band that has grown a lot in terms of popularity in recent years and, for example, at festivals you’ve been playing in higher and higher slots every year. The big recurring question in Metal is always “Who will be the next Iron Maiden, the next Metallica?”, do you think Volbeat could be it?

We actually get that question a lot, but it’s very hard for me to say something about being the new Metallica because there will never be a new Metallica.
Popularity-wise it would be awesome to play for so many people all around the world, but there will only every be one Metallica, and sometimes I doubt that it will ever be such a big band again, I mean, Metallica is now the biggest band in the world, for all genres.
I mean, it doesn’t really matter that much to me as long as we’ve got some people out there listening to us, appreciating what we’re doing, that’s fine.
I don’t need to be the new Metallica.

You, again, almost anticipated my next question: what are the other bands that could become the next big headliners, in your opinion?

Personally, I think Ghost could be big, I mean, they are big but they can go all the way if they continue making such great songs.
I don’t know, it’s a tough question, I’d love a band like Weezer to get really fucking big because they are great, I’ve been listening to that band for… since the “Blue Album”, when did that came out? ’94 or something?
It’s one of my favourites and they’re going on tour with Green Day next year…
I don’t know, what band could be that big…it’s a tough question.

I’m thinking Greta Van Fleet, if they keep doing so well, and maybe if they can develop a more personal sound…

Maybe if they kinda find a little bit more of their own sound, but to be honest I haven’t listened to them that much.
But I would love for a band, for any band, to get big and get out, it’s awesome!

We talked about big stages, but tonight’s show will be smaller. Do you prefer to play big shows, or smaller, more intimate venues?

It’s so different, I mean, playing festivals is one thing, that’s different, I like that, so many bands you can go and see all the time, you can meet a lot of friends backstage.
And then there’s you own big… when we come to Germany and Scandinavia we play some bigger places, that’s great, you can have a big production and everything.
But these club show are closer to my heart, because you have the crowd up in your face and, you know, it’s sweaty, it smells a little bit…

It’s Rock N’ Roll.

Exactly!

The average fan often sees a band like Volbeat selling a good number of albums, entering the charts, selling out venues and think that you are living the rockstar life. What are the tough sides to being a musician that you think people doesn’t know or underestimates?

I mean, driving for a month in a bus like this, sometimes in a hotel, but, I mean, it’s not so glamorous [laughs].
That’s totally fine with me, before I joined Volbeat I was touring in a 9 seater Volkswagen.
The worst thing is being away from your family for so long: I’ve got small kids, and Micheal got that too, so that’s by far the toughest.
I don’t need any luxury or anything, where I come from this is luxury, but being away from family, that’s tough.

That was my last question, thank you for your time!

No, thank you!

Davide Sciaky