Guitarist Rob Caggiano's exit from Anthrax has been a confusing one. At first, Caggiano chalked up his departure as wanting to focus primarily as an in-studio producer, specifically with Volbeat, but exactly one month after leaving Anthrax, Caggiano joined Volbeat as a full-time guitarist. The reactions of Anthrax band members have been mixed, but now Caggiano has gone further in-depth as to why he chose to leave the thrash legends.

Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian wished Caggiano the best after his departure, stating, "I'm certainly not going to stand in his way." Only days after Caggiano officially joined Volbeat, Anthrax drummer charlie Benante would go on to call the guitarist's exit "sketchy" and "a bit confusing," before 'Thrax bassist Frank Bello clarified that both he and the band still "all love Rob."

In a new interview with Noisecreep, Caggiano explains feeling a lack of emotional attachment to Anthrax's music. "I just wasn't happy," the guitarist states. "I'm a musician and I'm a creative person. At the end of the day, I think they really understand why I left. I'm extremely proud of everything we accomplished together over the years. I love everything I did with them. We made two great records together. We played tons of killer shows all over the world but the fact that there was no emotional investment in it for me became more and more obvious."

When presented with the theory that more people now know Caggiano's name after his break with Anthrax, the guitarist responded, "I never thought about that. It's so crazy the way this whole thing rolled out. I feel like my life has been a tornado over the past few months. For me, it was a very emotional and scary step leaving Anthrax and then not knowing what I was going to do next. I feel extremely lucky and blessed by the way things panned out."

As for joining Volbeat, Caggiano says he hadn't planned on his producing gig leading to a full-time membership in the band. "We started the actual tracking and as the record starting to take shape I ended up playing more and more guitar on the songs," explains Caggiano. "One thing led to another and a little more than two weeks into the process, Michael and the guys asked me: 'Would you consider being in the band?' I didn't expect that at all and I basically told them I was flattered but I wanted to sleep on it and continue that conversation in the morning. [laughs] When I went back to my room that night I seriously thought about things and it definitely didn't take me long to realize this was the perfect situation for me."

For the full interview with Rob Caggiano, head on over to Noisecreep.

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