Anthrax elaborate on departure of Rob Caggiano

Thrash metalers Anthrax have elaborated on the departure of lead guitarist Rob Caggiano who left the band earlier this month. Jon Donais of Shadows Fall has stepped in for Anthrax over the Soundwave festival period, only weeks away. 

Scott Ian has made the following comments taken from musicfeeds.com.au:

“We didn’t know he was planning on leaving while we were tracking this [Anthems EP], he was literally finishing solos in Berlin on the last days of the tour. It wasn’t until after the tour ended and we started having conversations, and just to put it in a nutshell, he just needs to do his own thing at this point in time.

We knew he had a record that he was going to be doing, possibly. We had already told him, “If you need to take a hiatus, that’s fine.” The best thing I can say is that he’s on a mission to do his own thing at this point. And I’m certainly not going to stand in his way.

It was actually Rob. He had already spoken to Jon and had kind of filled him in about what his plan was. He didn’t want to leave us hanging.

As much as it sucks, this whole thing has been friendly. I may think Rob has made a mistake by leaving the band, but at the same time he’s my friend and I back his decision all the way in whatever he needs to do. He feels the same about us. We all know Jon. I’ve actually worked with him before on [comedian] Brian Posehn’s record. We all know he’s a great lead guitar player. And Jon said absolutely he wanted to do it.”

Shadows Fall's Donais is not stranger to Soundwave after the band stormed through Australia for the 2012 festival.