Eloy Casagrande opens up about Slipknot audition nerves and uncertainty

Slipknot’s drum chair is one of metal’s most scrutinized jobs, and Eloy Casagrande has now pulled back the curtain on how he landed it. When the former Sepultura drummer was invited to audition in early 2024, he said he did not know exactly what the band wanted from him. He could not tell whether Slipknot were looking for a strict replacement for Joey Jordison or Jay Weinberg, or whether they wanted a different personality on the kit entirely.

That uncertainty is what makes Casagrande’s story hit so hard. A Slipknot audition is not a normal tryout where good chops solve everything. It is a test of memory, nerve and judgment, with a player expected to lock into a band built on precision, chaos and a very specific live identity. Casagrande later said he spent about ten days learning Slipknot’s catalog and jamming with the band, and that the first day was visibly rough because meeting the musicians in person was overwhelming. He made mistakes. He was nervous. For a drummer stepping into a legacy act, that kind of pressure is part of the gig.

The backdrop matters. Slipknot officially parted ways with Jay Weinberg on November 5, 2023, calling it a “creative decision.” In that same statement, the band said no one could ever replace Joey Jordison’s “original sound, style or energy,” while also thanking Weinberg for ten years with the group and noting his role in carrying Joey’s parts and contributing to the last three albums. Jay Weinberg had joined Slipknot in 2014 after Jordison’s departure, so by the time Casagrande entered the picture, he was walking into a chair already defined by two distinct eras and a decade of comparison.

Casagrande’s own move was abrupt, too. Reporting from 2024 said he left Sepultura in early February, just days before the band’s farewell tour began, then moved into Slipknot’s orbit in time for the group’s 25th-anniversary North American tour. Slipknot confirmed Casagrande as its new drummer on April 30, 2024, and an Instagram reveal tagged him among the current lineup. The result was more than a personnel change. It was a high-pressure handoff in plain view, with one of metal’s biggest bands asking a Brazilian drummer to honor the past, survive the nerves and still sound unmistakably like himself.