ELOY CASAGRANDE Reflects On His SLIPKNOT Audition: 'I Didn't Know What The Guys Were Looking For'

In a new interview with Thomann's Drum Bash, former SEPULTURA drummer Eloy Casagrande explained how he came to join SLIPKNOT in early 2024 prior to the launch of the heavy metal giants' 25th-anniversary North American tour. Reflecting on how he approached his first jam with the other SLIPKNOT musicians, Eloy said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "When I was invited to do the audition for SLIPKNOT, I didn't know how the guys wanted the drums to sound like, what they were looking for, if they wanted just a replacement for [original SLIPKNOT drummer] Joey [Jordison], for [more recent former SLIPKNOT drummer] Jay [Weinberg], or if they wanted a new, a different personality on the drums. So that was my biggest concern at the beginning — how I'm gonna approach the songs. Can I put myself into the music, or I have to respect all the original recordings, the original drummers? So when I went to the audition, I knew all the songs, but I knew also things that I could change by myself. But at the beginning, I was trying just to be the most respectful that I could be for the original arrangements. Don't change the music, don't change the songs. And then from time, like after a few months, I was able to change a few things. The band liked that. They also wanted to have a different personality on the drums. They wanted to have myself, Eloy, on the drums and not any previous member playing the drums."

Elaborating on how much freedom he had to express himself on the drums during his SLIPKNOT audition, Eloy said: "It depends a lot on the gig that you're gonna get. But the best thing that you can do is to talk to people, talk to the other musicians. Don't try to guess what they want from you, what they expect from you. So if you get a new gig, just go there and talk to the other musicians, what they are looking for, what they expect. And then you can prepare yourself. And in my case, I didn't have the chance to talk to SLIPKNOT before I went for the audition. I just met the guys on the first day of the audition, so I had to be prepared for everything. But I had that mentality — if you don't know how it's gonna be, just be prepared the best you can in different perspectives."

Asked if he feels comfortable in gigs where there's no place for him to be himself and where he is expected to only replicate the parts that were previously recorded and performed by another drummer, Eloy said: "Oh, yes. I did that a few times in my life. And some of the arrangements that I had to play either with SLIPKNOT or with SEPULTURA, I had to respect the original arrangement. Some of this stuff is very classic; you're not supposed to change that. There are just a few things, small details that I can change, some drum fills, but the structure of the song, the soul, the meaning, you cannot change that. But also if I had to play exactly the same thing, I wanna be able to do that, I was able to do that. But I feel a lot more comfortable if I have my freedom of speech, my freedom of musicality, if I can be myself at least a little bit. And that's something that I have always been concerned [about] in my life — to be in a band, to be in a place that I can express myself, that I'm not gonna be just a hired gun, a hired musician playing whatever they want me to play. And I was lucky enough to play in bands that the guys, the other musicians, they wanted me to be myself. They wanted me to have my perspective regarding music. So I'm very lucky regarding that. But in the past, yes, when I was a teenager and I was playing professionally, doing some pop gigs, country gigs in Brazil, a lot of recording sessions, I was just doing what the producer wanted me to do, or the band wanted me to do. I was having fun either way because I was playing the drums by the end of the day, but it's different when you can just sit and the people wanna listen to you. I'm very grateful for that."

Back in October 2024, Eloy told ProMark Drumsticks about how he came to join SLIPKNOT: "I just got a call from the manager. He asked me if I was interested in doing an audition for the band. So I came here to the U.S. I spent 10 days with the band. We were just jamming so we could check if there was some kind of chemistry between us. We spent, like, four or five days just recording new stuff. I think they wanted to check if I was able to compose some drum parts and to check if I was also able to record drums in the studio, because that's a whole different universe. So that was a very complete audition. And after those same days, I went back to Brazil. And they gave me a call two days later saying that I was in the band, that I made it. That was super cool."

Reflecting in more detail on his SLIPKNOT audition, Eloy said: "I had, like, 15 days to learn the songs; they gave me a big list of songs that I was supposed to learn. Every day in the rehearsal, we were trying different songs, picking different stuff from different albums. But, of course, I already knew how to play some of their songs.

"I remember the first day that I was there. I was warming up in the studio. I had, like, my pad, drumsticks, pedals. And the guys from the band, they started arriving at the studio, and I was in shock. When we played the first song, I did several mistakes, because I was so in shock to see everybody in front of me. And I couldn't think. I couldn't even breathe. But they were, like, 'Okay, we understand that you're in a difficult situation right now. We understand your side. So just relax, have fun. We're just here to see the vibe.' And then from the second day, I think everything got better. I was more relaxed to play the drums and just let the music flow."

Casagrande said that it was a huge honor and a dream come true for him to be an official member of SLIPKNOT.

"I have been listening to SLIPKNOT since I was a teenager, and it was very important to my musical formation," he said. "And here we are now, after a couple of months, we're here. When I was — I don't know— 12 years old, watching them on MTV playing 'Duality', that blew my mind. It's such an honor to be here now.

"Now, I never imagined that this was something possible," he added. "There is the difference of countries — I live in Brazil; it's an American band. We don't forget that I was lucky to be at the right moment in the right spot. So, I was invited to be here."

In an interview with Tone-Talk, SLIPKNOT guitarist Jim Root spoke about how Casagrande came to join SLIPKNOT and his impact on the band's overall sound. He said: "We didn't even try anybody else. Eloy's name came up. He contacted us, actually, about wanting to be a part of it and started sending a bunch of videos in. I think him and our bass player [Alessandro 'Vman' Venturella] might've had a little bit of a relationship before. I think they knew each other. They had mutual friends. And Vman's really in tune with a lot of really great, proggy, heavy musicians that are passionate about their instruments. And it just seemed like a no-brainer. And he's really respectful of the legacy of Joey, and Joey was a huge influence on him. And he's so humble. The dude has so much humility. And you could tell he just lives and breathes his craft, to the point where I see his passion and it ignites my passion for my instrument. And Brazilians, South Americans in general, are so passionate about what they do. Our manager told me, he was out to dinner with four or five promoters from South America, and they were all really stoked. They're all, like, 'It's so good you've got a Brazilian drummer in SLIPKNOT now. We kind of feel like we've won the World Cup.' It's a cool feeling. And God, he just fits in so well. I don't know, man. I mean, there's a lot of things I can say about it. I'm just glad it happened when it did. And we're lucky to have him — we are really lucky to have that dude."

After parting ways with Jay Weinberg in November 2023, SLIPKNOT teased fans with a hint about a new drummer in March 2024, posting a photo of a single broken drumstick online with the caption "Rehearsal."

The band explained in a statement that the split with Weinberg was a creative decision. Jay followed up with a statement of his own, saying that he was "heartbroken and blindsided" by his dismissal.

Casagrande abruptly quit SEPULTURA in February 2024, shortly before he was supposed to begin rehearsals for the band's recently launched 40th-anniversary farewell tour.

"February 6th, a few days prior to the first rehearsal, drummer Eloy Casagrande informed the band that he was leaving SEPULTURA to pursue a career in another project," the band said in a statement.

Casagrande joined SEPULTURA more than 14 years ago as the replacement for Jean Dolabella.

SLIPKNOT's latest album "The End, So Far", arrived in August 2022. It marked the band's the last full-length LP before the departure of both keyboardist Craig Jones, who left the group in June 2023, and Weinberg.