Derrick Green discussed Eloy Casagrande’s unexpected departure from Sepultura in a recent episode of the ‘One Life One Chance With Toby Morse’ podcast. Casagrande left the band just a few weeks before their ‘Celebrating Life Through Death’ farewell tour started.
“We had already announced that we’re going to do a farewell tour,” the vocalist recalled. “It was in December that we announced it. And so, then I think it was February, we started playing shows. And so it was, like, Andreas [Kisser] calls me was, like, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna do rehearsals. It’s all set. Everybody’s in line. You’ll come down to Brazil and then we’ll rehearse a few days and then we’ll start the tour.’ And I was, like, ‘Great.’ [I was] literally waking up, packing my shit. I think I was flying out literally the next day to start rehearsals.”
“Andreas [gets in touch with me and he] is, like, ‘Yo…’ I was, like, ‘What’s going on?’ He’s, like, ‘He’s out.’ I was, like, ‘What do you mean? What are you talking about? Who’s out?’ And then he was just, like, ‘Yeah, Eloy’s out.’ And I was just kind of like falling in a black hole, like, ‘What are you talking about?’ It was totally surreal. It was like literally in slow motion. I was just trying to get my breath. And he explained everything,” he continued.
The band announced Casagrande’s departure just three days before the tour’s first gig in February. Since then, Casagrande started playing with Slipknot in Jay Weinberg’s place.
Green shared, “[Eloy] wanted a meeting with everybody in the band and with the managers and everything, and I wasn’t there. But he came in and it was just, like, ‘I’m doing this gig. I signed a contract. And I’m out.’ And I was just trying to get my head around it, because it’d been 13 years playing with this guy. And I was just really in shock. I was, like, ‘Dude, what are we gonna do?’ And we’ve been in this position where it’s just, like, so crazy changes.”
“I’m sure when Max [Cavalera] left, [Andreas] was in that position, like, ‘What are we gonna do?’” he continued, comparing the situation to former frontman’s departure in 1996. “And then when Jean [Dolabella] left and Igor [Cavalera] left, like different people: ‘What are we gonna do?’ It wouldn’t be the first time of total chaos…”
Casagrande quit Sepultura after a 13-year run and three records. The band hired Suicidal Tendencies’ Greyson Nekrutman to replace him. “I’m on the phone with [Andreas]. He’s, like, ‘My son showed me a video of Greyson,’” the singer said. “I was, like, ‘Greyson, he’s in Suicidal. Yeah. I just saw the show.’ And he’s, like, ‘I was thinking of maybe calling him.’ I was like, yeah. ‘Call him up. Call him up and see what’s up with him.’”
“I was, like, ‘You should call him immediately.’ He’s, like, ‘I am. I’m gonna get his number. I’m gonna call him up, see what’s up. Just to see what’s up.’ I was, like, ‘He’s playing with Suicidal. Maybe he has some off dates.’ And we’re just, like panicking because we had no clue what to do. We weren’t expecting this at all.”
Sepultura’s farewell tour is currently in America. The band will carry the shows to Europe in late October.