In addition to being the name of the hitmaking Danish metal band, Volbeat is also the name of a Pokémon. If you’ve ever wondered if Volbeat the band is named after Volbeat the Pokémon, the answer is no, but frontman Michael Poulsen is OK if you think otherwise.
As Poulsen tells ABC Audio, he first chose the name Volbeat as a portmanteau of the words “volume” and “beat,” which was meant to represent the band’s loudness and rhythm. He was working at a school at the time and first learned about Volbeat the Pokémon when he told a student what he was calling his new band.
“He was just laughing his a** off,” Poulsen says of the student. “[He said,] ‘How can you call your band Volbeat? It’s a Pokémon!'”
“He showed me this little yellow fly or something,” Poulsen continues. “I said, ‘Oh my God, what a funny coincidence.'”
Poulsen explains that he owns the trademark to the name Volbeat, so there are no issues there. He also figured that the name might bring in some younger fans who only know the Pokémon.
Even years later, the Volbeat-Pokémon connection persists.
“I can actually remember when we went on our first tour with Metallica in the U.S., James Hetfield, he put a big Pokémon figure in our dressing room at the door,” Poulsen says.
Volbeat’s newest album, God of Angels Trust, was released in June and also doesn’t have anything to do with Pokémon. The band will launch a U.S. tour alongside Halestorm July 17 in Denver.
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