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Q&A time with Hannes Van Dahl

Ask Hannes Anything

We recently asked you to ask Hannes, our talented drummer and brother in arms, anything you wanted. After going through the many brilliant questions you posted across our social media channels, he hand-picked four.

These were his answers:

When you guys are on a long tour, how do you stop yourselves from really getting on each other’s nerves?

It’s a good question. When you tour so extensively like we do, you realise after a while that you’re basically married to 4 other guys haha! This also means that you get to know each other very well after a while and understand people´s needs and therefore respect them. Except, annoying the singer. As a drummer, that’s something that has to be done at all times, at all costs 😉

What is the best way to relax when you’re not touring or recording with Sabaton?

Just spend time with my family, our horses, dogs and cats! A lot of time is spent in nature and photography!

If you could give some advice or some encouraging words to new drummers, what would it be?

Practice, practice & practice! But make sure that you have an organised way of doing just that. Figure out what you want to improve or something new to learn. Make a practice schedule for the week(s), for example, Mondays: double bass practice, Tuesday: rudiments, or whatever. Practice with full focus and dedication for 1 hour (or less, or more) but make sure that you have the energy and focus when you do it. Make sure you also just play tunes or with a band for fun in-between the practice.
Play with as many different musicians as you possibly can. Play with musicians that are “better” than you and get as much live experience as possible. Hit hard and kick ass!

What’s the most unlikely piece of music you like to listen to considering you are a ”metal guy”. The classical composers are ruled out (too cliche). C’mon…give us some dirt please.

Dude, I’m married to a schooled opera singer! So in our house there’s so much music, all the time. Everything from Dimmu Borgir to Fleetwood Mac! Both of which I highly enjoy listening to. For me there’s never any stigma when it comes to what music to listen to or not, what’s cool or not cool. I don’t give a f**k – a good song is a good song and then I’m gonna listen to it! So there’s no dirt unfortunately. I’d have to say our daughter listened to a lot of baby shark, and that is something I’ve heard a million times. Do I enjoy it? Hell no! haha.