Aledo teen makes top 40 young drummers list

In it, drummers aged 16 or under from countries around the world showcase their skills on a national and international level.

According to Zildjian, the contest has served as “a launchpad for the next generation of drumming talent,” and Aledo teen Austin Arbalaez was recently selected as one of the top 40 young drummers of 2025.

Austin’s father, David Arbalaez, said it is a prestigious honor and added that it is very difficult to put into words just how proud he is of his son.

“It’s been a blessing seeing him grow into the young man that he is,” David said. “Although he has been extraordinarily successful at such a young age, he is still so humble, kind, and caring of his family and all others that surround him.”

The drummers who participated were asked to submit a video, and though Austin was not named to the final top 10, the Aledo teen was humbled by the experience.

“I think it’s amazing that I got the opportunity to even be in it,” Austin said. “And, I think it was lots of fun making the video.

I think just being in the top 40 is amazing, not even like being in the top 10. And especially all the other drummers did good too.”

Austin, 15, has been playing drums most of his life, but has branched out over the last two years to a few other instruments and aspects of music that he said he enjoys equally as much.

“Whenever I was doing drums, I never thought I’d be doing vocals, picking up the guitar, or doing anything else,” Austin said. “But when I started getting into producing, I started to want to do more after seeing artists do other things, and I wanted to just try new instruments and try new things out. I was open to trying anything — any kind of instrument. And so I picked up the guitar and I started learning a few songs on it for fun. I started kind of incorporating it with the videos. And I think it’s all equal…I don’t put any of the instruments over each other.”

Making videos is how things got started for Austin, who, since 2023, has met with the likes of Dirk Verbeuren from Megadeth, Art Cruz from Lamb of God, along with multiple other artists at functions in Los Angeles leading up to NAMM, a drumming convention that happens every year.

The Aledo teen met with the owner of SJC Drums, Mike Caprari, the drummer for Ringo Starr’s band, Gregg Bissonette, Brandon Toews from Drumeo, John Otto from Limp Bizkit, and many more.

Austin said that while he does have other interests, he feels like something in the music field would suit him for a career.

“I have thought of other careers, like maybe aviation or real estate,” Austin said. “But right now, I think the focus is probably music. Music’s pretty much my whole life. I do it all the time.

I’m always making music, always playing the drums and instruments. But on the side, I think I’m going to do things like maybe acting and learning to become a pilot, possibly.”

On the horizon, Austin, who has recently taken up piano as well, said he is going to continue to add to his online collection of videos.

“I’m going to start posting music more,” Austin said. “Before, I wouldn’t post as much, because I would be a little bit shy about it. But you know, I think…I’m going to start posting a lot more with that…and it’s not really a genre. I just kind of get ideas from other people, get inspiration, and I just kind of go up there and start making stuff.”