From Moises to Slipknot

What does it take to become the drummer for one of the biggest heavy metal bands in the world? Talent, passion, a lifelong dedication to learning, and a little help from a useful app–at least that was true for Brazilian drummer Eloy Casagrande, who was announced as Slipknot’s newest member in April 2024.

When the band held auditions for a new drummer, Casagrande had to learn 32 songs and play them perfectly in different sets. It was a mammoth task for which he relied on the help of Moises to study and learn the drum lines of every track.

Moises is made for musicians. Powered by AI, it makes learning and practising songs infinitely easier, breaking down tracks in a way that makes sense for specific goals, and giving you the ability to isolate instruments, change the tempo, identify sections (and loop them while you study) and organize your set lists with imported songs.

For musicians like Casagrande–who started playing the drums at the age of 7 and was the drummer for heavy metal band Sepultura for 12 years before joining Slipknot–Moises is a game changer.

What would have in the past required an entire studio of equipment is now possible with one app. The win for musicians is how the study of complex parts of a track is so much more accessible and straightforward.

During a break in Slipknot’s 25th anniversary tour, we spoke to Casagrande about how Moises has been instrumental in his career and helped him conquer that epic audition.

“I remember when we wanted to play a song by another artist, we had to call other musicians to record and I had my backing track to perform,” Casagrande says. Today, with a single recording, it’s possible to isolate tracks and practise with crystal-clear quality.

Try this: When you open a track in Moises, you can divide it into different elements such as guitars, vocals, and drums. By isolating each one, it’s possible to learn more easily by listening to the other instruments and switching between them to refine your practice.

“An important thing for any student, whatever the instrument, is repetition,” Casagrande says. “The perfection, or almost perfection, comes with practice and repeating the same thing. Your body starts to understand. It becomes more natural.

“For you to get into the flow you have to stop thinking, the more you practise and the more confident you are, the better,” Casagrande adds. “That’s the reason studying is so important–flow comes with practice.”

For one of the songs he needed to rehearse for Slipknot, “Disasterpiece,” Casagrande played it every day about four or five times. “It was from January to April, before we first did a concert. So it was at least 500 times playing that song,” he recalls.

Try this: In Moises it’s possible to divide your track into sections that you can loop over and over without stopping play. With the app’s pitching tool, you can slow down the tempo for every repetition and therefore play with more precision.

“I slowed down the songs that I had the most difficulty with, so that I could learn them easily, saving time and making them more precise,” Casagrande says. “In a listening session that would have taken me one, two, three plays, but with a reduced time I can understand and identify everything that is happening in one single play.”

Try this: Moises let you work with tracks in a variety of ways. You can change the speed of a song without distortion, which is useful for repeated listens to understand the details. While the song is playing, tap the bottom left corner (the metronome icon) and slide the bar to select the tempo. The music changes perfectly in real time.

When you’re preparing for an audition or a concert, it’s important to know how your body will behave during a set of more than 40 minutes. As Casagrande puts it: “Having a set list with the songs in the correct order prepares my body, my physical resistance and my breathing to play in that exact order. It’s something purely physical.”

Try this: Tap Setlists on the bottom menu in Moises and create your set. The songs will play in order and you’ll be able to edit everything including tempo, sessions, instruments, and more. You can also share your set list with friends and bandmates.

Moises: The Musician's App

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