As Megadeth embarks on a multi-year farewell tour following the release of their final studio album, fans might have a massive live record to look forward to. In a recent interview with Stefan Nilsson of Roppongi Rocks, drummer Dirk Verbeuren discussed the current state of the band and the strong possibility of capturing their final era on tape.
When asked about the dynamic of the current Megadeth lineup—which features Verbeuren, frontman Dave Mustaine, guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari, and bassist James LoMenzo, and possibility of new live record capturing final tour, Dirk said:
“Yeah, it’s true. We do get along really well. I do think we have a really good relationship in the band. I think we all understand our roles and how we can best fulfil those roles and support each other and mostly support Dave because, obviously, he has the entire weight of Megadeth and Megadeth‘s history on his shoulders. We’re kind of there to help with that and support him. His linebackers, if you will. I think we all do that really well.”
Verbeuren, who joined the legendary thrash outfit in 2016 after a long tenure with Soilwork and as a replacement for Lamb Of God‘s Chris Adler, expressed profound gratitude for his position.
“It’s been increasingly fun in the years that I’ve been in the band. I think I’m having more fun now than ever before playing with the guys. It is obviously a huge honor playing with such amazing musicians. I just really take every day and just look at my job and go, ‘Wow, I can’t believe I’m doing this.’ That’s pretty cool.”
Addressing the idea of a live album to commemorate this final tour, Verbeuren was highly optimistic. He envisions a comprehensive release that draws from multiple performances to cover the band’s extensive catalog.
“I’m pretty sure we’ll probably do a live record. I don’t see why we wouldn’t. We have plenty of opportunities to record. I think it would be cool. I hope we do. It would be great to have maybe a career retrospective type of live record where we record several shows and make sure there is a big variety of songs on there, because we have way too many songs than we can put in a live set that we wanna play. I think that right now we have somewhere between 40 and 50 songs that we know, that we are always, more or less, ready to play. And that’s not even mentioning anything from the new album. We have already played ‘Tipping Point‘ and ‘I Don’t Care‘ live. Those and ‘Let There Be Shred‘ would be on the setlist coming up, I would imagine. So, yeah, hopefully, a live record. That would be great.”
Megadeth‘s self-titled final album, Megadeth, was released in late January through Mustaine‘s Tradecraft imprint under the new BLKIIBLK label. The record was a massive commercial success, debuting at the number one spot on the U.S. album chart with 73,000 equivalent album units, driven largely by 69,000 pure physical and digital sales.
