Dirk Verbeuren has had a whirlwind last few years since our last chat back when he was the drummer for Soilwork. Since joining Megadeth in 2016, the drummer has stepped up his profile with numerous projects including his latest venture with Cadaver who together with Satyricon’s Anders Odden have brought the death metal legacy to fruition with “Eddie & Bile”, a ferociously raw album that pays homage to the original death metal sound. We catch up with Dirk to find out more on Cadaver as well as get the latest with Megadeth.
Andrew: I was just thinking, the last time we talked was 5 years ago so obviously you were still in Soilwork at the time and a lot has happened since then so how has things been?
Dirk: Been good, been staying busy. Obviously joined Megadeth in 2016 and we’ve been touring a lot in those following years, other than that, you know [laughs], just trying to make it through this crazy pandemic!
Andrew: Yeah it is a question that pops up early in every interview I do these last 6 months so how have you been dealing with this whole covid stuff?
Dirk: Well my wife and I have been very cautious in the beginning and we continue to do so we’ve been pretty much isolated with a few visits of friends in the yard as an exception but we’ve always stayed very safe through out. When it comes to working just adapting to this new situation I guess is the best way to put it, luckily her and I have both found gigs here and there that have allowed us so far to survive. We have some really cool, awesome drum students most of which I teach online. So it’s been alright man, I have some session work too, luckily some people have kept hiring me for recording drums but it’s been interesting to say the least.
Andrew: Yeah that’s right, the last time we talked we were discussing your drum session stuff so I know you’ve been pretty busy with that. So you haven’t really been affected too much?
Dirk: Well things have definitely slowed down. The first few months that hit nothing much was happening and since then it’s picked up slightly but I would say it’s definitely slower than usual which makes sense because I myself would think twice before I would go and hire a musician if I could wait a year or whatever. It’s probably not on most people’s list of top priorities so it makes sense right.
Andrew: Yeah definitely! Well obviously the main thing we want to talk about is your other band, Cadaver which is obviously a band that goes back a long time ago but you joined in pretty recently right?
Dirk: Yeah that’s correct. The idea for this new record, “Edder & Bile” started in 2014 when Anders [Odden] and I met up during the 70,000tons Of Metal Cruise because him playing bass in Satyricon and me filling in for them on drums for that cruise is kinda how we met and started talking about Cadaver because I had been a fan of the band since I was a teenager and always followed them and when I realized, ‘Oh wait, this is the same Anders from that Cadaver band’, I just had to talk to him about it of course so that’s kind of how it happened.
Andrew: Ok cool and the title “Edder & Bile” is interesting and I don’t know what that means, where does that title come from?
Dirk: Well basically Edder is a Norwegian word and actually initially the whole title is in Norwegian, there was Edder and Galle was the initial one, Galle which means Bile. But Edder is like an old Norwegian word which doesn’t really exist anymore but it’s kind of like some form of disgusting stuff you would puke up so it basically gives you the picture of what it’s about with the Bile involved. But Anders always wanted to have it be the title that stood out and something special and in a way if you look at the lyrics of this album which talk a lot about overcoming things and there’s definitely some nihilism in there as well which also which came out before the album with “D.G.A.F.” which obviously stands for “Don’t Give A Fuck” which is kind of Anders’ take on life. An interesting thing that happened is that he got diagnosed with cancer last year not long after him and I actually played a show together in Norway, the one and only show I’ve played so far with Cadaver. So obviously his life was in jeapordy for a while and he went through some real serious treatment and chemo and he actually came out on the other side but if anything the lyrics proved to be prophetic in many ways because we had an idea about that at the time, this album was recorded in early 2019 a while ago so we had no idea what was coming.
Andrew: I listened to the album yesterday and obviously it’s a very brutal death metal sort of album but you have a very progressive sort of style in your drumming anyway but how different is this compared to what you normally do as far as your drumming style and technique and all that kind of stuff?
Dirk: Well I always approach every project with my first step is probably to kind of get into the right mind for that project and having grown up with Cadaver and the different incarnations of the band through out the years, I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted to bring to the table. Anders and I discussed that and he definitely wanted to go full circle in bringing back some of the early years but also not limiting ourselves to that in any way and kind of just going with the flow of the music as it created itself. When it comes to my drums I just kind of followed that path, I always try to have cool ideas in every song and actually the first song “Morgue Ritual” opens with a kind of inverted blast beat that I’ve never really played that way before ever. I’ve done all kinds of blast beats but that one was just kind of one that I never really knew how to do I guess or figured out how to do so it was like, ‘Ok for this time I’m just going to try it’, so it was kind of a learning experience. But that’s kind of my take on it in general is I want everything to have a little unique touch to it and inevitably it’s going to sound like me in the end because I have my ways on the kit, I can’t really avoid that!
Andrew: Yeah that’s your signature style and with all the stuff you’ve done in the past with different bands, everyone has their own take on when they hear your particular drum style but I guess you also got to keep in mind Cadavers own style as well.
Dirk: Exactly that’s part of getting into the right mindset because you always have to look at, in this case what’s been there before, what are some of the key elements and also what do I think I can contribute to that. So the same applies for many bands I’ve played with, obviously Megadeth comes to mind where the band has a big catalogue of songs that are standard songs for any metal fan and so you don’t come in and just mess with that. When I play on stage with Megadeth my goal is to bring those songs to life in the most faithful way to the original that I can, of course it’s always going to sound like me, I can’t sound like Nick Menza or Gar Samuelson because we all sound our own ways. But I do respect their work to the most detailed that I can so that’s kind of the part of a session drummer that’s a big learning process over time because you gotta be confident with what you can do and kind of throw yourself at the job and do the best you can. I certainly did that with Cadaver, I was really mindful about the naturally raw and primal style that Cadaver has, I really wanted to embody that in the drums.
Andrew: Yeah I did notice the sound and production on this album is actually quite raw and I guess that’s what Cadaver goes for. Was that something that Anders really wanted to have to continue as far as the sound and production on the songs?
Dirk: Definitely, that’s something we both talked about quite a bit before hand and I also really pushed for us to record together in the same room at the same time without a click track and that took a little bit of convincing especially with our producer Adair Daufembach who is like a genius producer but very much used to productions the way they are done now where it’s like all wind up and it’s nice and you realize this is going to be a lot more work when I can’t work that way but we figured it out and I think in the end that approach really brings the album to life because people forget that the natural fluctuations kind of a natural ebb and flow that happens when people play together constitutes a band in the end and when you neuter some of that, you lose a little bit of that. Not saying that there aren’t bands who pull off a great job using a click track because, I mean even I record to a click track almost all the time because it’s just what you do nowadays but this with Cadaver was a perfect opportunity to go back to how death metal used to be in the mid to late 80’s, just this kind of raw, controlled style of music that people are just kind of discovering and creating as they went and that’s something that was very important for Anders and myself as well.
Andrew: Speaking of the 80’s and death metal, one of the legends in death metal is Jeff Becerra from Possessed who did some guest vocals. That guys is obviously a legend and I’ve had the opportunity to speak to him once before, that must of been a huge honour and really something to have involved on this album.
Dirk: Absolutely, I think Jeff is probably the single biggest influence on Anders growing up just because he was obviously by most accounts, one of the people who invented this kind of vocals and without him this style of music wouldn’t even be what it is. The same by the way goes for Kam Lee who is also a guest on the record and Jeff Walker who is a guest on the EP but in the case of Jeff Becerra it’s funny because my wife Hannah who is a photographer, was actually shooting band photos for Possessed while Anders was here in Los Angeles to record the Cadaver album with me. So since Hannah was here with the band we ended up meeting Jeff and the rest of the guys and Anders was able to ask, ‘Hey would you be interested in doing some vocals for this record?’ So for him it was epic because he got to meet one of his idols and then ask him, ‘Hey do you want to contribute something to our album’ [laughs]. Jeff is a super awesome dude as you know if you’ve spoken to him so that was really cool.
Andrew: What does that feel like to hang around with these legends of the death metal scene from back in the day? Obviously some of these guys were an influence on yourself as well, I mean that must be a great feeling to have these connections with these guys.
Dirk: Absolutely , I mean you can’t even put that into words. As a teenager everything these people did was everything to me, I was completely in love with all those records, everything that came out between ’85 and ’91-’92 was just the bible for me basically when it came to music! Especially the extreme music so I could of never imagined that I would be here one day and not only would I get to hang out with these people but that I would get to create with these people and actually be accepted by them. I guess I always kind of felt like a little kid and here’s these grown ups who are doing this awesome stuff and now I’m a part of that so I really don’t take that for granted at all. Every one of those moments I’m really aware of how amazing that is and I’m really thankful I get to do this.
Andrew: You mentioned earlier about how you had joined Megadeth in 2016 which was obviously fairly big news across the world as far as the metal scene is concerned, that’s another one I guess you could tick off your bucket list so to speak working with someone like Dave Mustaine, another major influence or another legend to work with I guess.
Dirk: Absolutely, I mean when I bought “Peace Sells” back in I think it was probably ’87 or ’88 – it was a little after it came out because those were the years when I first started to get into this kind of music – but that was the first album I bought and it had a huge impact on me because I just had never heard anything like that and I was just blown away by the whole thing and then a few years later I got to see them play live on the Clash Of The Titans together with Slayer, Testament and Suicidal Tendencies in Europe in Paris where I lived at the time, and of course then seeing the way the band performed the way they do is even more of a punch in the face than on the records. So again I could of never imagined that…I couldn’t even say it’s a dream come true because I would never of dared to dream that one day I might play with a band like that. So yeah when I got the call they wanted to talk to me and then not long after that I was all of a sudden on stage with them and it was one of those moments where you just gotta pinch yourself [laughs].
Andrew: [laughs] That’s fantastic and we’re looking forward to hearing this new album that you guys are working on, what’s the latest on the Megadeth album?
Dirk: Well as far as I know the guitar recording is going well, it’s progressing well, I think they’ve got a lot done already. The drum and bass was done late May/early June, David [Ellefson] and I went to Tennessee where Dave [Mustaine] lives and we spent about 10 days there recording all that. We recorded a lot of songs because we had spent quite some time the previous year in 2019 together, creating and working on riffs that Dave had etc so we have a lot of material. I don’t know yet if all of those songs are going to make it onto the album or how it’s going to happen but I’m very excited about how it’s all sounding so far, it’s looking good! I think from what I see, Dave will start on vocals sooner than later so hopefully if everything goes well and things get a little bit better in the world next year then we will have a new Megadeth album.
Andrew: Well it’s been a pleasure speaking to you again, it’s been fantastic and the new Cadaver album is killer stuff. I had the chance to listen to it so congratulations on that, wonderful stuff. Also looking forward to the new Megadeth album so a lot is of things happening with you at the moment!
Dirk: Yeah thanks Andrew, it’s been a pleasure to talk to you again and yeah, I look forward to people discovering all these records. There’s a few more too on the way from different projects including my own band Bent Sea which is something I’ve been working on for quite a while so I’m really excited man, making the best of these crazy times!
