INTERVIEW BY: Brian Cross

Before a jam-packed show at the Worcester Palladium on July 17^th, 2010, Soilwork drummer Dirk Verbeuren took the time to speak with us about the new album, how he joined the band, the European metal scene, and much more.

MPJ — Soilwork has recently kicked off the “Panic Over North America” tour. How were the first few performances?

DIRK — They went really well, actually! We were pleased to see that people seem to know the new songs already and love the album, even though it’s only been out for a few days. It’s been great! There’s been awesome reactions, the shows have been good. It’s a great lineup with all of these bands; Death Angel is fabulous, of course, and the other bands are doing a great job, too! New York yesterday was virtually sold out! It’s been hot on stage, but it’s been good! (laughs)

MPJ — What’s the story behind your new record, “The Panic Broadcast”?

DIRK — Basically, it’s a lot of Björn’s [Strid, vocals] personal life over the past few years that’s on display in there. He’s had a couple of rough years, and I think the band is a good way for him to kind of get those emotions out. You can really feel what he went through when you listen to some songs, like “Let This River Flow” and tracks like that. They have a really deep emotional side to them; it’s very heartfelt. The title, “The Panic Broadcast,” is a focus on panic attacks and anxiety, which Björn has had to deal with. Some people may be familiar with it, some people may not, but it’s a pretty intense form of anxiety. It can be paralyzing. He’s based this whole lyrical thing on that.

MPJ — Do you have a favorite song or album that you’ve recorded?

DIRK — My favorite album that I’ve worked on is probably this one, “The Panic Broadcast.” I think it’s the best vibe in the band since I started playing with them. Not that it was terrible before, but it’s better now! We weren’t always going in the same direction in the past, but now we have a team where we’re focused and everybody agrees on stuff. It’s awesome when it’s like that! As far as songs go…oh man, that’s a good question, I have to think! (laughs)

MPJ — We’re putting you on the spot!

DIRK — I really like playing all of the new stuff, as I tend to get bored playing the same old stuff. I’ve probably played “As We Speak” six hundred or seven hundred times by now! I used to love that song, it’s a great song!

MPJ — It’s one of my personal favorites, but I can see how you’d get sick of it.

DIRK — (laughs) It gets not-so-exciting to play, so I try to switch things around a little bit with my drum fills. The newer stuff is definitely a blast to play!

MPJ — What can you tell us about your roots in the metal scene?

DIRK — I grew up with pop music and hip hop music, but when I was introduced to metal, it was bands like Suicidal Tendencies, Metallica, Slayer, and the whole Bay Area thrash scene. I then quickly went into death metal, like Morbid Angel and Terrorizer. Napalm Death was a really big influence of mine, especially their old stuff. They’re still one of my favorite bands. I kind of skipped the whole melodic heavy metal thing for a while; back when I was fifteen or sixteen, I couldn’t stand melodic vocals in metal! If it wasn’t growling or screaming, I wasn’t into it! (laughs)

MPJ — That’s something many metal fans go through in their adolesence.

DIRK — At that age, it’s kind of a typical thing, but then of course I opened up. Another band that was a really big influence on me was Coroner. I read recently that they may be getting back together to do some shows, and they’re supposed to play at Hellfest next year in France. I’m really hoping that they’ll do more touring, and maybe do an album; that’d be awesome!
MPJ — Soilwork started out with a melodic death metal sound on “Steelbath Suicide” and “The Chainheart Machine,” but have since added a lot more groove metal and alternative rock riffs over the years. What do you think brought that on?

DIRK — I think in the early days, the band was really looking for an identity, which is often the case when bands are just starting out. When you’re eighteen and you’re influenced by a lot of stuff, your influences really shine through. On the early albums, you can hear a lot of At the Gates and maybe some of the other Gothenburg bands. I think that nowadays, Soilwork sounds a lot more like it has an identity of its own. It’s a matter of us growing up and becoming open to putting whatever you feel in the music. When the guys were young — I wasn’t in the band back then, but I had bands too at that age — there were worries about “Oh, you shouldn’t put that in, because people will say this or that.” Once you’re a little bit older, you’re like “Screw it, we’ll put in whatever we want!” If people don’t like it, then it doesn’t matter. We have really eclectic music tastes. We listen to pretty much everything, from Tom Waits to Squarepusher…just about everything across the board, not just metal.

MPJ — How did you end up joining Soilwork?

DIRK — I started touring with them in February 2004, during their first European headlining tour for the “Figure Number Five” album. I wasn’t an official member until 2005. My other band, Scarve, had a lot going on at the time when Soilwork called me to tour with them. It took a long time decide what I wanted to do! I really worked my ass off with Scarve for like ten years to get my band going; we had an album out, there was a lot of hype and a lot of shows, and I ended up touring with both bands at the same time. In 2005, Soilwork gave me an ultimatum as to whether I wanted to play with them full time, and I decided to do it!

MPJ — Did the rest of the band give you a hard time when you joined, since you were the new guy?

DIRK — (laughs) They were actually pretty cool! When I finished my first tour with them, they told me I was welcome to join the band! It was very unexpected. We just immediately got along. This band has no ego. Some musicians get a little carried away with being successful, but in this band, it’s just not the case. People are very down to earth. We’re just lucky to be doing this.

MPJ — How involved are you with the songwriting process?

DIRK — I try to bring in whatever I can; mainly drums, as I really haven’t played much guitar in the past seven or eight years. I used to play a lot more. But these guys are so good, it’s hard for me to compete! But I do bring in a bunch of drum stuff. I just record ideas, rhythms, and song structures, and then I’ll explain it to them. “Deliverance is Mine” was pretty much built from drum beats I made in the beginning, and then it evolved, and now there’s other beats in there that I based on what they came up with. There’s that interaction. The two main songwriters for the record were definitely Peter [Wichers, guitar] and Sylvain [Coudret, guitar]. Peter wrote like six or seven tracks, they co-wrote two tracks, and Sylvain wrote two tracks on his own. They did the bulk of the songwriting, but we all bring in some ideas and arrange things together. When it comes time to putting down our actual parts, we still play what we feel like. We talk about it and everybody has their input, but when Sven [Karlsson] plays his keyboard parts, nobody tells him “No, that’s not the way you should play that.” It’s pretty much the same for everyone.

MPJ — Do you write songs while on tour?

DIRK — For the previous record, “Sworn to a Great Divide,” we wrote four or five pretty solid songs on tour. But for this one, when Peter came back [after his departure from Soilwork in 2005] we just went home, took a break and relaxed, and took care of other things. Then we went back to it, and started sending each other files; we didn’t rehearse at all to record “The Panic Broadcast” because we’re so spread out. We have people in Europe and people in the US. We just sent files over the Internet and worked from home, and the album came together like that.

MPJ — What’s your take on the current metal scene in Europe, and how it compares to the rest of the world?

DIRK — Hmmm. To be honest, I haven’t followed it that much! (laughs) I used to follow it a lot more, but I’ve just been so busy working! It seems to be thriving, still. There was kind of a down period a few years ago, but it’s been kicking off and getting back ever since. There’s a lot of young bands both in the US and Europe, and metal seems to be doing good! The only thing that I really care about personally is that bands put in their own flavor. Maybe it’s because I’m an old fart, but I get fed up with bands that just do what’s already been done. A band like Meshuggah is pretty big, but there’s so many bands that just copy what they do. They throw in a few little extra things, then they get huge, and I’m like “Why? They’re not doing anything original whatsoever!” And that kind of frustrates me sometimes.

MPJ — You mentioned that Soilwork has really found its identity now. Where do you see that going from here?

DIRK — I’m just stoked about working on new stuff again! This was a really fruitful collaboration. I think Peter and Sylvain are a great guitar duo, and I respect every single musician in this band tremendously. Björn is an incredible vocalist, Sven is an incredible keyboardist but also a great guitar player and songwriter. That guy can do anything! And [Ola] Flink [bassist] is amazing at what he does, too. If this lineup stays together — and our goal is that this will be the final Soilwork lineup! — I think that we can really put out some great music. “The Panic Broadcast” is just the beginning, and with the next album, hopefully we can take it a step further and make it better.

MPJ — Anything else you’d like to say to your fans?

DIRK — Thanks for supporting us, and “The Panic Broadcast” seems to be selling well, so thanks to all of the people who are buying it! We hope to see you guys on the road, and stay tuned, because there’s going to be more Soilwork stuff coming out!

MPJ — Thanks for the interview, Dirk!