meet the artist Dirk Verbeuren

Dirk Verbeuren Biography

Born in Antwerp, Belgium in 1975, Dirk Verbeuren began his musical training in elementary school with the violin, which he played proficiently for seven years. At age 13, his family moved to Paris, France where he studied piano and electric guitar. In 1991, Verbeuren discovered his gift and passion for rhythm on a second-hand drumkit his father bought for him. He immediately began practicing and soon started creating and performing with fellow musicians. Verbeuren relocated to Nancy, France in 1993 to study at the Music Academy International. Following his graduation, the school promptly hired him as a drum professor. He co-founded Scarve, a forward thinking death metal band which released four albums and toured Europe extensively. Verbeuren’s fine-tuned ear, impeccable musical memory, sensitivity to structure and ability to read and write rhythm made him a highly demanded session drummer overnight. He recorded with bands such as Aborted and Sybreed, among many others. In 2004, Verbeuren joined Swedish melodic death metallers Soilwork with whom he recorded and toured worldwide for twelve years. He also managed to find time to record and/or perform with a multitude of established artists, including Danzig, Testament, Sasami Ashworth, Devin Townsend, Fredrik Thordendal, At The Gates and Satyricon. A long-term collaboration with Swedish software company Toontrack resulted in the Library of the Extreme, the first ever collection of MIDI metal beats and fills. The series quickly became a smash hit among composers and musicians alike. Verbeuren toured solo in Europe, China and the US performing drum clinics for Tama Drums, Meinl Cymbals, Evans Drumheads and Toontrack alongside artists such as Pete Lockett (Björk, Peter Gabriel), David “Fingers” Haynes (Chaka Khan, Prince) and Richard Devine. Launching his own grindcore band Bent Sea in 2011, Verbeuren took on drums and guitar, as well as the roles of composer and lyricist, backed by Napalm Death’s Shane Embury and Aborted’s Sven de Caluwé. In May 2016, Verbeuren was asked to take the drum throne for Megadeth, the legendary Los Angeles band, member of the infamous Big Four of thrash metal. A few months later, band leader Dave Mustaine officially announced Dirk Verbeuren as the new permanent drummer of Megadeth. Following three years on the road supporting Grammy-winning album Dystopia, Verbeuren made his recording debut with Megadeth, co-writing two songs for The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead! The band’s sixteenth studio album was released to critical acclaim on September 2nd, 2022 via Tradecraft/Universal. Megadeth is currently on a worldwide tour in support of the album. Profiling himself as a pioneer in modern drum recording techniques, Verbeuren runs Die Crawling Studio, his own high-tech facility incorporating the most recent innovations developed by Roland and Toontrack, as well as Northwood Sound Studios where he records with the help of producer/engineer extraordinaire Adair Daufembach. A teacher since 1995, Verbeuren offers in-person and online drum lessons sharing techniques, exercises and career advice to a growing community of students.

Country: United States

Band: Megadeath