Dillinger Escape Plan Interview
Posted by Paul on 06.06.2008, 12:27 | Last update: 07.06.2008, 12:53
After a three year break, Dillinger Escape Plan came back to the UK and with no surprise, they were still as brutal as ever. With an eclectic new album that ranges from catchy pop-metal songs to the unmistakable trademark warped sound of DEP, the boys mean business. After an insanely furious performance at Leeds Cockpit a couple of months ago, we spoke to a rather humble Ben Weinman about how recent times have been for the band....
Dillinger Escape Plan Interview– Text and pics by Krystal Clair Unwin
You’ve had so many line up changes over the years. Being the only remaining original member, how is the current line up working out?
We’re stronger now than we’ve ever been, it’s a good recipe. I recommend it, it’s delicious! Everyone is replaceable if their heart’s not in the right place.
Our drummer left and joined another band...
Yeah, Coheed & Cambria right?
Yeah, at first I was pretty pissed ‘cos he did it in such a shitty way, but now I’m actually thankful ‘cos now we have an awesome new drummer. We’re all so much happier, there are no egos and everyone’s on the same team, it feels really good.
‘Calculating Infinity’ is perhaps your most talked about album, do you feel you have to strive to ‘out do’ yourselves in terms of heaviness or craziness?
Sometimes I feel like fans misunderstand that record, like its just about being clever all the time, for us that’s not as important as being energetic or emotional.
We kinda ended up having our sound by having so much density in our music and playing it so fast that it’s energetic.
So how did the development of (new album) ‘Ire Works’ differ from previous albums?
There’s only so many ways you can play fast and crazy, ya know what I mean? Almost every record we tried to add something new, a dash of this and a dab of that, we’ve always been a bit schizophrenic so with this record we tried to be more focused and make the whole album more of a journey. Some songs will be more straightforward but I’ll work on a kick drum sound for like fucking 4 months! It’s that same insaneness, just in different ways.
How has Dillinger changed for you over the years?
The big change has come more recently, because we’re so much more positive. Someone told me the other day “I saw you guys years ago and this time I saw you smile on stage”. I’d never thought about that before. We all had our own ideas of what we wanted when doing this band and for the first time I feel like it’s a united front. Its just as powerful and as aggressive, it’s like we’re fucking attacking with a spear.
Do you feel like you have a reputation to live up to when you play live?
You ever see that movie ‘Unleashed’? Where they take the collar off him and he started beating the shit out of everybody? I feel like him!
Its just part of what we do, when we get out there, there’s no other way to do it.
So the UK tour, so far so good?
This run has been ridiculously awesome, kids have been so excited. Honestly I feel a lot more energy over here right now. Something we’re most proud of is being a real working band that can go away for three years and come back and people still care.
So many bands now are just Myspace, bullshit, flavour of the month bands, I guarantee if Avenged Sevenfold disappeared for three years and came back nobody would give a fuck.
How do you see the future of DEP? Do you think it will be something that’s going to be part of your life for years to come?
We just take it day by day at this point, try and roll with the opportunities. You get to the point when you think you’re just gonna break up ‘cos your drummer quit or fucking guitar player has nerve damage and all this stuff is against you, then all of a sudden you make a record that you feel is your best ever. It’s like “Wow! We actually could tour, there’s people that wanna see us”.
It’s much better to be surprised by it all and appreciate it than just expect the world like every band does right now. I don’t mean to sound hippy or nothin’, but seriously I just appreciate every day.