Slipknot has evolved significantly since their 1999 debut. With only five of the original nine members remaining, including frontman Corey Taylor and percussionist Shawn “Clown” Crahan, the band has welcomed fresh talent into their lineup. Some of their new blood is comprised of bassist Alessandro “VMan” Venturella, percussionist Michael “Tortilla Man” Pfaff, and most recently drummer Eloy Casagrande, who replaced longtime member Jay Weinberg earlier this year.
In a recent interview with Revolver, Corey Taylor discussed the band’s decision to choose Casagrande as their new drummer, and spoke about how the drummer’s attitude and bravery to get together with the band instead of sending a video of him playing, was fundamental in their decision: “I think we just kinda went, ‘You know what? Let’s just tell people.’ It was really as simple as that, you know? Eloy was the only one who was brave enough to get in the room with us. There were a handful of other people that we were looking at, and none of them wanted to jam with us. They just wanted to do their own thing and send it in — a very TikTok thing, you know?”
“And we were like, ‘That’s not the way this works, dude.’ Eloy rearranged his schedule to come to see us. He was so hungry to jam and just see what would happen that we were immediately impressed just by that alone. He didn’t get it right away — getting to know him was just as important as jamming with him — but by the time we made that decision, we were like, “Let’s tell the world now. He’s earned it.” Our audience is so used to us kind of keeping our cards close to our chest, but to me, it was more refreshing to just kind of come out and go, “Yeah, he’s our dude,” Corey added.
Guitarist Jim Root also shared insights into Casagrande‘s integration into the band. “Yeah, he’s a super cool dude. He’s really quiet, but he just lives, eats and breathes drums. If he’s got an idle moment, he’s got a practice pad in front of him or a practice kit.”
Root described Casagrande‘s intense focus on music, recalling how he eagerly practiced even during downtime between festivals: “I recently bought a new place that has a little tiny demo studio attached to the garage. I’ve got a drum set in there and a big couch that you can turn into a bed. Eloy and VMan came to stay here for a week between the Rockville and Sonic Temple festivals, and Eloy was like, “Is it possible that I can stay in the room with the drums?” [Laughs] At literally seven the next morning, I could hear drums being played out in my studio. He’s like some sort of Jedi drum master, which is inspiring to me. He makes me want to be a better guitar player to match his abilities, you know?”
Regarding new music, Root mentioned ongoing creative sessions with Casagrande and Venturella, highlighting their collaborative spirit in exploring fresh musical ideas. Despite challenges during the pandemic, the band is eager to reunite for intense jam sessions, reminiscent of their early album-writing processes.
“have a bunch of holdover stuff that was written during COVID — but it was such a manic, depressing, chaotic time that I think a lot of the ideas that came out of that aren’t necessarily the greatest, just because we couldn’t work on anything with a hundred percent focus. We had Eloy play on a tune that kind of spilled over from some of that writing, and I think some of the guys like it more than some of the other guys like it; I don’t love it. But when he and VMan were staying with me, we jammed a couple of different times in my home studio while running Pro Tools, and all these ideas were just flowing. I’m gonna go through it and do some riff mining, and see if I can start some arrangements to get us going on some new songs. I think we’re going to try to get a time together where all of us can be in the same place, and get into a room and just jam as a band and write — like the way the Iowa record was written, or the way the self-titled album was written.”
