New details unveiled about Eloy Casagrande’s audition to join Slipknot

Eloy Casagrande, former drummer for Sepultura, talked about how he joined Slipknot earlier this year before the heavy metal giants’ 25th-anniversary North American tour began in a recent interview with ProMark Drumsticks. 

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. 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. I have been listening to Slipknot since I was a teenager, and it was very important to my musical formation. 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.