Piero "Pie" Di Battista of Hop 'N' Music recently conducted an interview with bassist Kaspar Boye Larsen of Danish/American rockers VOLBEAT. You can watch the entire chat below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). On the reaction to their latest studio album, "Rewind, Replay, Rebound": Kaspar: "We released a single called 'Last Day Under The Sun' and that went very well, especially in the U.S. and also here when we played it live, we got a really good response from the people already singing along to the song. And, actually, some of the other songs from the album, it's kind of went really fast for people to get to know that record. Compared to the previous one [2016's 'Seal The Deal And Let's Boogie'], where we were on the road for it seems like half a year, six months before people get to know the songs and are singing along. But this time around, almost all the new songs, people seem to know them. That's perfect. We like that." On the classic rock influence found on "Rewind, Replay, Rebound": Kaspar: "We didn't plan anything when we started writing. It just came slowly. Michael [Poulsen, guitar/vocals] came with a riff, he came with a chorus or a verse or something, or maybe with a whole song, but then we arranged it in the rehearsal room, tried out all kinds of tempos and all kinds of stuff with that. Then, it just turned out that way that it was a little bit more mid-paced, some of the songs. I mean, the next record might be totally different. This was what the band was like right there. That's what we were doing. It wasn't planned that we should go classic rock." On his involvement on "Rewind, Replay, Rebound": Kaspar: "I was, of course, very excited to be on it. I was excited to leave my kind of touch on the songs. Of course, with the bass lines, these were the first songs that I was doing the bass lines. I was, of course, working with Rob [Caggiano, guitar]. We did some demos on some of the songs and I worked with Rob on some of the bass lines, but I actually got kind of free hands just to do whatever I want. I've been in the studio many times with different bands. I was very surprised; I was very happy that I found out that it was actually just like any other regular band. We were doing songs in the rehearsal room. We were in the rehearsal room a lot up until that record. I've been spending three years on the road with a lot of songs that I haven't had anything — I hadn't done any writing on or contributed to those songs. Of course, this is special for me to get out and play these songs that mean a lot to me because I feel these are mine." On how he came to join VOLBEAT in 2016: Kaspar: "I met Michael many years back in the mid, late '90s. We were playing death metal. I was in another band and he was playing death metal, too. We kind of knew each other from shows. Then, in 2006, we talked about, they needed a stand-in bass player for a European tour, their first European tour. Michael asked if I was interested. Of course, yeah. I love the band. The shows were very small. There was a hundred, two-hundred, three-hundred maybe, max. But I really loved that. It was very difficult for me to get back because then I was not in the band because it was only a session. But we kind of stayed in touch and I played in other bands that did some support jobs for VOLBEAT in 2008, '09, then a big European tour with my old band, THE KANDIDATE, in 2011 together with ENTOMBED. Then, 2015, late 2015, four years ago, he called me and I asked if I would be interested: 'Yeah! Are you kidding?' [Laughs]" VOLBEAT is continuing to tour in support of "Rewind, Replay, Rebound", which was released last August via Republic Records. The disc was produced by longtime collaborator Jacob Hansen and co-produced by Caggiano and Poulsen. This marks the first studio album with Larsen on bass.
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