VOLBEAT FRONTMAN SPENT FIRST HALF OF 2018 BEING DAD AND WRITING SONGS
Volbeat frontman Michael Poulsen told U.K. outlet Heavy TV what he and the band have been doing since they finished last summer's stadium tour with Metallica and before embarking on their current European festival run. Poulsen explained, "(We) took a half-year off. I just got a baby daughter one year ago, and at the same time, I used a lot of time writing new material. So, I've been home being a dad and at the same time writing new songs."
As for when fans will get to hear the new material, Poulsen said, "Definitely next year. We are planning to hit the studio around late November to record some songs. We might enter the studio again very early next year to record the second half. The album is going to be out next year; I just don't know when. But it's going to be out next year."
- Volbeat's next LP will follow up 2016's Seal The Deal & Let's Boogie and 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 brings the band to Glasgow, Scotland on Wednesday (June 6th) and will last through late July. The band does not have any North American dates on its current schedule.
Story source: Blabbermouth
SIDE NOTES: Michael Poulsen started out years ago in a death metal band called Dominus and said he might return to that style of music in a side project one day. He remarked, "I've got so many good friends in the death metal scene, and I've been talking to some of them to one day, when the time is right, sit down and write some old-school death metal. When that's going to happen, I don't know. It will happen; it's just timing is everything."
CHECK IT OUT: Watch the entire interview with Heavy TV:
GHOST FANS RAISE MONEY FOR FAMILY OF MAN WHO DIED AT CONCERT
Ghost fans have raised more than $8,800 for the family of Jeffrey Fortune, who passed away halfway through the band's show in Milwaukee last Thursday night (May 31st). The 52-year-old Fortune collapsed during the intermission at the Swedish band’s gig and despite emergency medical treatment, was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. The cause of death was revealed to be a probable cardiac arrest. The band canceled the remainder of its show.
- In the wake of Fortune’s death, Ghost fan club Ghost American Ministries launched a GoFundMe page to raise money for his family. At press time the total had surpassed the initial target of $1000 by nearly eight times that amount.
- A message on the GoFundMe page read, “We at Ghost American Ministries wanted to come together to help out the family of Jeffery Allan Fortune during their unfortunate time of loss."
- The page described Fortune as a "great guy and a huge music fan," adding, "He was an amazing person, artist, poet, musician as well as a tortured soul -- yet he was kind with a bright shining soul . . . Please let everyone know how touched and grateful our family is to each and every one of you for helping us through this time.”
- The tragedy occurred just as Ghost was winding down its first North American tour in support of its fourth LP, Prequelle, which came out last Friday (June 1st).
Story source: LouderSound
CHECK IT OUT: If you want to contribute to the fund for Fortune's family, go here