Slipknot drummer Eloy Casagrande has explained the meanings behind the design of his mask.
Talking to the Modern Drummer podcast, the 33-year-old, who joined the nu metal nine-piece last spring, says that he designed his mask with founding percussionist Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan.
The colour and linework jointly references Casagrande’s Brazilian heritage and Slipknot’s original drummer Joey Jordison, who was dismissed from the band in 2013 and died of undisclosed causes in 2021, age 46.
“The first thing [Clown] asked me at the beginning is like, ‘Can we have a white mask for you?’” says Casagrande (via Kerrang!). “The first thing to bring back Joey’s memory. Respect his legacy.
“And I made the suggestion to have, like, these black lines to remember the Brazilian indigenous people. You know, so it brings with me the Brazilian people, the Brazilian culture. But my expression, my face expression, this was designed by Clown. He was watching me playing without the mask and he said, like, ‘That’s the way you look when you’re playing Slipknot music. So we’re going to put that in your mask.’”
Casagrande goes on to explain arguably his mask’s most notable feature: that black bullet hole in the centre of his forehead. He reveals that it harks back to when he was mugged on the streets of his hometown São Paulo “two years ago”.
“I came with the idea of the bullet hole,” he explains. “Two years ago, I was robbed in São Paulo. I was walking in my neighbourhood, it was 9am, I was going to the gym, and two guys on motorcycles stopped me and they put a gun to my head and they asked me to give them my phone and my backpack. That was something that somehow changed a lot inside me. And he decided to not shoot. So I was lucky.”
The drummer adds, “It’s also from the philosophy that... gives like the feeling of, you’re going to like me, you’re going to love what I do, you’re going to hate what I do, but I have nothing to lose. I’m already dead. That’s a way of feeling that gives me some kind of freedom when I go on stage. It’s very inspirational as well.”
Casagrande was named as Slipknot’s new drummer in April 2024, following months of speculation. The drummer’s predecessor, Jay Weinberg, was dismissed in November 2023 in what the band have described as a creative decision.
Shortly before his unveiling as Slipknot’s drummer, news broke that Casagrande had abruptly quit Brazilian extreme metal act Sepultura. He’d manned the kit for the four-piece for 13 years, before leaving just days ahead of the band starting rehearsals for their ongoing farewell tour. Greyson Nekrutman replaced him.
Slipknot have just finished a world tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of their self-titled debut album, where they performed the release in full every night. According to Clown, the band are now focussing on new music and the release of their long-anticipated “experimental” album Look Outside Your Window.
