Boogie Knights

On Their Sixth Album, Seal The Deal & Let’S Boogie, Michael Poulsen And Volbeat Refine Their Trademark Blend Of Musical Styles While Show- Casing The Wicked Fretboard Talents Of New Addition Rob Caggiano.

- Dan Epstein 

MICHAEL POULSEN SOUNDS A BIT stressed out when Guitar World reaches him at his home in Copenhagen, Denmark. Instead of celebrating the fact that Seal the Deal & Let’s Boogie, Volbeat’s sixth and latest studio album, had just gone to Number One in Denmark and several other European countries—and peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, the band’s highest U.S. chart position yet—the Volbeat frontman has spent the last week dealing with the mundane hassle of cleaning out his flooded basement.

“It was just crazy,” he says of the torrential spring rainstorm that caused the flooding. “It was pouring down—I’ve never seen anything like it—and I was out there for an hour trying to keep the water out of the basement, but there was nothing I could do. It was a lot of hours of work, but we finally got it cleaned up.”

For many musicians, a basement flood would mean a nightmare of warped guitars and water-logged amplifiers, but Poulsen says he “didn’t lose anything important” since he doesn’t store his axes and amps in his basement. In fact, he claims he’s not big on gear, period.

“I pretty much lost interest in guitar equipment years ago,” he says, laughing. “The only important thing is that I’m playing a Gibson through a Marshall. I’ve used that setup for years, and I don’t really need anything else!”