It came as a huge shock to the metal community when guitarist Rob Caggiano announced last month that he was leaving Anthrax. He announced he wasn't feeling creatively fulfilled and that he wanted to focus on producing, starting with the new record from Volbeat. Earlier this week, in another shocker, Caggiano confirmed that due to all the fun he was having working with Volbeat, he would be joining the band full time.
Many were confused, including his former band mate, Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante.
In a new interview with Metal Insider, Benante was asked about his thoughts on Caggiano joining a new band so quickly.
I’m not going to dwell on this, but I’ll start by addressing the elephant in the room, which is Rob’s departure. Did you know he was creatively unsatisfied with Anthrax, or did it come as a surprise to you?
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.
Has Caggiano burned a bridge with Anthrax? I can see how his joining Volbeat came naturally after having a great time producing the record, and Caggiano did say he wasn't allowed to be creative in his former band, so it's understandable why he would be so quick to jump somewhere else.
