DAVID ELLEFSON Says DIRK VERBEUREN Is 'A Shining Star' On MEGADETH's Upcoming Album

September 20, 2020

MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson spoke to the "Thunder Underground" podcast about what the band's latest addition, drummer Dirk Verbeuren, has added to the MEGADETH sound on the upcoming follow-up to 2016's "Dystopia" album. He said (hear audio below): "[Dirk's] amazing, man. One of the things about Dirk, probably more than any other drummer, he really… Obviously, he's great at [playing] the current stuff. When you come into MEGADETH at this point, man, you've got some pretty serious legacy to cover and to really do it well.

"We've had some great musicians in the band, for sure, but Dirk is a guy who fundamentally channels his inner Gar Samuelson [late MEGADETH drummer]. [Laughs] It's one thing to listen to it as a listener, it's a whole other thing when you're really in the room… Me and Dave [Mustaine, MEGADETH leader] will look at each other and go, 'Jeez, man, he plays just like Gar.' And to really know that, because Dave and I were in the room with Gar when he was writing and playing his parts and recording them.

"I think the difference is Gar, in a jazz tradition, never played the same thing twice, and if you asked him to, he would almost purposefully and rebelliously not play the same thing twice, because that was part of his jazz rebellion. Jazz was kind of the original rock and roll — the original rebellious music.

"Because Dirk is such a schooled musician — he's a great player; he can write charts; he can read music; he's got a great ear… Obviously, he's one of the progressive, and I don't mean 'prog rock,' but the grindcore progressive, he's an inventor of that style of drumming and really owns it and is respected around the world and around the drum community, especially for that drum genre, which is so progressive, that he can come in and just add so much really special flavor to MEGADETH.

"I can't wait for people to hear the record. We're wrapping basic tracks, so I can't really talk too much about it yet, because there's still some to be recorded, but speaking to Dirk, man, he is a shining star on the new record."

Verbeuren had been playing with SOILWORK for more than a decade before joining MEGADETH in 2016 as the replacement for Chris Adler (ex-LAMB OF GOD),who called Dirk "probably [one of the] top three drummers in the world."

As previously reported, MEGADETH's North American tour with LAMB OF GOD, TRIVIUM and IN FLAMES has been rescheduled for 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Find more on Megadeth
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).