Artists

On the basis of this seeming restlessness lies an unbridled curiosity that surfaces in each project he throws himself into. He is the rhythmic motor behind bands such as the Jef Neve Trio, Flat Earth Society (FES) Alexi Tuomarila 4teta and Karanova and he has shared the stage with musicians such as Paolo Fresu, Uri Cain, Jimi Tenor, Toots Thielemans, Fred Vanhove, Trevor Dunn, Magic Malik, John Watts (Fischer Z), Louis Sclavis, Diederik Wissels, David Lynx and Kevin Armstrong (Iggy Pop). After endless jobs as a sideman he became hungry for his own projects.

He discovered Mike Pattons Fantômas, Alas No Axis and Jim Black, and dived into punk, noise and free. His search led to the formation of groups such as GOWK, VVG trio and the unlikely Othin Spake trio, an improvisation band with guitarist Mauro Pawlowski and Rhodes specialist Jozef Dumoulin. In 2003 Verbruggen and companion Bruno Vansina set up the Rat Records label on which they released ‘Rare And Treacherous’ musical gems. They also organise ‘Rat Events’ to give more publicity to the free and improvised music scene.

He is currently active in groups such as Too Noisy Fish, Christian Mendoza Group, The B.O.A.T., Igor Gehenot Trio and many others.