Dirk Verbeuren Explains How He Got the Megadeth Gig… Sort Of?
A Blabbermouth article featuring a pretty lengthy interview pull-quote from Megadeth drummer Dirk Verbeuren (ex-Soilwork, ex-Scarve) about how he came to join Megadeth is titled thusly: “Dirk Verbeuren Sets Record Straight About How He Came To Join Megadeth.”
And that piqued my interest! I wasn’t aware there was a record that needed to be set straight — it was Chris Adler for a hot minute, then it was Verbeuren, which made perfect sense at the time because Adler had Lamb of God to return to and Verbeuren is a world-class drummer who certainly deserved the gig — but hey, if there was something weird about the transition, I’d definitely want to know.
Except that in the quote, which came on an episode of Doc Coyle’s Ex-Man Podcast, Verbeuren doesn’t actually do much setting straight. He tells the story, often in detail. But, to put it in Seinfeld terms, he yada yada yadas right over the most important part! Here’s the section in question, emphasis added:
“It’s a complicated story. [Chris Adler] reached out to me the first about it — he texted me about it without being specific — but the official story that it was all Chris Adler who recommended me to the band, eh, that’s not really the real deal. I’m not gonna get into detail about it, ’cause I don’t really wanna throw anybody under the bus or anything like that. But anyways, the connection was made.”
Say whaaaaa? Not the real deal? Bus-throwing?? Now you’ve got my attention and I want to know more!
Dirk is one of the absolute nicest guys I have met in all my years running MetalSucks, doesn’t strike me as the gossipy type, and I’m sure he wasn’t trying to stir up shit… but man, after reading that isn’t your curiosity piqued, too?
Unfortunately we don’t get any more in the way of that line of thinking. But we do get what happened next, which is in itself interesting, also:
“Because when somebody like Dave [Mustaine] is looking for, whether it’s somebody for his crew or a new musician or whatever, he puts out a bunch of feelers with a bunch of different people. And I guess I was on many people’s lists somehow, and it kind of converged then to that I got the call.
“And initially I was only supposed to be filling in for Chris, who was still in the band at the time, but that quickly turned into a full-time gig offer, because there were some issues happening. Obviously, Chris being in Lamb of God and Megadeth at the same time was an issue, which is very easy to understand. Because having two bands like that, even if they are on the same management, it’s gonna be really hard to make that happen.
“And then, of course, somebody like Dave, and even David Ellefson, guys who have been around since the early ’80s, I don’t know that their thing is really to have a guy who’s gonna be available part time. I think they kind of feel like, ‘Yeah, we have the right to have our full-time drummer.’ [Laughs] It kind of makes sense.
“So that’s kind of how it came about. A bunch of people made lists of people that they thought could fit the gig, and it turned out that… I knew some people, like Tony Laureano [Megadeth drum tech and Nile drummer], is a longtime friend of mine, ’cause Scarve toured with Nile many years before, and we stayed in touch. I had met Kiko [Loureiro] before, and he had recommended me many times, because he was a big Soilwork fan, he’s a big Soilwork fan, and he always liked what I did. And there were a few other people as well. So it kind of just converged to, all of a sudden, I’m on tour with Soilwork, and I get a call that Dave Mustaine wants to talk to me, which was, like, ‘Excuse me?’ [Laughs]”
When asked about an audition, he continued:
“I guess the audition was when I talked to Dave on the phone [laughs], which was, like, probably about a five-minute call — he asked me a few questions. And I think, pretty much, they just looked at videos online. I know they looked at this video I posted from the studio with Devin [Townsend], and a few other things, and I think they were just, like, ‘Yeah, based on this, it shouldn’t be an issue, drumming-wise.’
“I know the Dream Theater [drummer] audition was the famous thing with the videos and all that, and that was a cool concept ’cause it gave fans a cool thing to watch and all these amazing drummers, but I think a lot of times, these bands that are established, such as Megadeth and stuff, they don’t really have the time or the energy to really go audition people. They just kind of work their contacts and whatever comes up, they’ll give it a shot.”
Again, cool — it completely makes sense that musicians on Megadeth’s level would “work their contacts,” and it double makes sense that Verbeuren’s name would be atop that list.
But still, yada yada yada… about that bus…
[via Blabbermouth]
