Hannes Van Dahl

Dahl changed his name to "Hannes Van Dahl" as an adult.^[1] His interest in rock and metal music came from the skateboarding scene and a big inspiration was his cousin who played in a local band and his mother playing records to him from young age.^[2] At the age of 10 he started playing the bass guitar, but quickly lost interest and moved on to the drums. His first band was called "The Motherfuckers".

Later, Van Dahl started the band Downthrust and ended this engagement to join Evergrey in 2009 while replacing Jonas Ekdahl. Van Dahl's drumming teacher Snowy Shaw, after seeing the potential in him, recommended Van Dahl for Evergrey. During Shaw's engagement as Sabaton drummer, Van Dahl joined him as a drum tech for four shows.^[3]

After a rehearsal in The Abyss, Van Dahl joined Sabaton as an official band member during the Swedish Empire Tour in 2013. In 2014, Sabaton released the album Heroes, which was the first album Van Dahl recorded with the band.

Van Dahl is married to Nightwish lead vocalist Floor Jansen. They have two daughters, born in 2017 and 2023, respectively. Together with former Sabaton member Tommy Johansson, and current members Thobbe Englund and Chris Rörland, he was in the band The Last Heroes.