Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante was recently asked by Metal Insider to share his thoughts on the departure of guitarist Rob Caggiano from the group. Caggiano announced his exit from the band early last month and was revealed as Volbeat‘s new guitarist this past Monday, February 04th.
Speaking with the site, he said of the split:
“It was a bit of a surprise to me. I was bummed. He said that he wanted to pursue more producing options, and that was his reason for leaving. He had other reasons, so I guess it was something that he’d been thinking about for a while. He wanted to get back to producing and getting off the road.
And you’re probably going to tell me, ‘well you do know he joined another band, right?’ That makes it a bit confusing. I know a lot of our fans were sad to see him go, but were like ‘if you want to go produce, we understand that.’ But when you read that he went to go join another band, that makes it seem a bit sketchy.”
Anthrax have a new covers EP titled “Anthems” slated for a March 19th release date. It finds the bands serving up their own renditions of tracks from the likes of Rush, AC/DC, Boston, Thin Lizzy and more. The groups immediate touring will see Jon Donais of Shadows Fall filling in for Caggiano.
