Escuela Grind adds drummer Jake Sanders, shifts Jesse Fuentes to guitar duties

Escuela Grind has turned a lineup shuffle into a signal of where the band is headed next. Jake Sanders has joined as the new drummer, Jesse Fuentes has moved off drums and onto guitar, and the next release is already finished and recorded, setting the stage for a new live and studio balance as the group heads into Europe.

The band said in an April 17 post that Sanders looks like a longer-term addition and praised his blast beats as being “on another level.” That matters in Escuela Grind, where the drums do more than keep time. On records like Memory Theater and Dreams on Algorithms, the rhythm section has helped drive the band’s brutal, tightly coiled attack, and Sanders now steps into that role just as the group prepares to put fresh material on the road.

Fuentes’ move to guitar is the other major change. Rather than splitting attention between drums and strings, Fuentes will now join Justin and Krissy on guitar duties, giving Escuela Grind a fuller front line and more room to shift the weight of its songs live. For a band built on speed, pressure and abrupt turns, that could change the way the set breathes, with Sanders anchoring the blast-driven backbone while Fuentes expands the harmonic and riffing side of the sound.

The exit of Tom Sifuentes closes another chapter, although the split was framed as amicable. The band said it hopes he may return later as a third guitarist. Sifuentes had previously said he was leaving in 2024 after raising hearing-safety concerns, part of a difficult stretch that also included vocalist Katerina Economou being injured during a January 18, 2024 Dallas show and the band later acknowledging mistakes in how its first full-tour crew was hired and managed.

The timing gives the personnel move immediate stakes. Escuela Grind is booked for a European run from June 3 to June 20, with stops that include Mystic Festival in Gdańsk, Poland, on June 4 and Hellfest in Clisson, France, on June 20. Mystic Festival’s 2026 bill spans more than 90 artists across five stages, while Hellfest has Escuela Grind on Mainstage 2 from 13:10 to 13:50 on Saturday, June 20. Hellfest also describes the band as politically charged grindcore with two women in the lineup, a sharp reminder that Escuela Grind’s identity has always been as much about force and presence as it is about speed. With the record done and Sanders in place, the next phase starts in front of festival crowds.