Most boundaries mean nothing to Teun Verbruggen, he’s constantly in search of new or different ways to approach the drums and as a child of his times, he’s wide open for a wide range of styles. © Jazz Middelheim

Drummer Teun Verbruggen (°1975) is a very dedicated and active member of the Belgian jazz scene. He graduated in 1999 as ‘Master in Music/jazz’ at the Conservatory of Brussels.

His quest for a special touch and fresh sounds as well as his desire to explore different styles and ways of playing drums, made him work as a sideman of Jef Neve Trio, Flat Earth Society, Alexi Tuomarila 4tet, Karanova,…  He also shared the stage with musicians as Paolo Fresu, Uri Cain, Jimi Tenor, Toots Tielemans, Fred Vanhove, Trevor Dunn, Magic Malik, John Watts (Fischer Z), Louis Clavis, Diederik Wissels, David Lynx, Kevin Armstrong (Iggy Pop),...

After an endless list of sideman-jobs, he realized that the craving for his own project just kept on increasing. He discovered Mike Patton's Fantômas, Alas No Axis and Jim Black, and dove head first into punk, noise and free. His soul search brought him to GOWK, VVG trio and the unlikely Othin Spake, an impro band with guitarist Mauro Pawlowski (from the band dEUS) and Rhodes specialist Jozef Dumoulin.

In 2003 Teun Verbruggen and his companion Bruno Vansina founded the label ‘Rat Records’ on which they release ‘Rare And Treacherous’ musical jewels. As the artistic director of ‘Rat Event’ Teun Verbruggen strives for more visibility and concerts for free and improvised music.