That which does
not kill them…

>> A bruised and battered Dillinger Escape
Plan still seek to obliterate their pals

HEAVY DUTY: The Dillinger Escape Plan

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

The Dillinger Escape Plan’s latest record, Ire Works, may have been one of aggressive rock’s most anticipated records of the year, and these Jersey tech-heads rose to the occasion on every front. All the anger and musical complexity with which the New Jersey band almost single-handedly changed the face of metal on 1999’s Calculating Infinity returns, but that album sounds a petulant tantrum compared to the teeth-gnashing fury they now bring to the table. Even 2004’s genre-bending Miss Machine is improved upon with further flirtations with pop structures and intricate electronic elements.

Like all things that have to do with the Dillinger Escape Plan, though, this crowning jewel of their strong discography didn’t come easy. As guitarist and sole founding member Ben Weinman admits, the DEP curse that has dogged them for the past 11 years has hardly been lifted, and only continues to brew. After the band finished its first North American tour, their original bass player suffered a car accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down, shortly after their original guitarist had also quit. After the highly successful and influential Calculating Infinity, their lead singer quit, followed by their replacement bass player. More recently, their second guitarist was permanently sidelined with nerve damage.

On the eve of entering the studio for Ire Works, the band again hit an obstacle when drummer (and only remaining founding member) Chris Pennie left the band to join Coheed and Cambria. “Losing our drummer just before recording a record really added a lot more stress and extra work on my shoulders,” says Weinman, “but between himself and I, we never really got along on a personal level, so that ended up being kind of a good thing. Losing him at that time also added more to the aggressive moments on the record. The band all had a common enemy of our old drummer, and now we’ve gone beyond that and don’t even care if the record makes him jealous or whatever, we just know we made a great record.”

If that weren’t enough, Weinman also suffered a broken foot during a video shoot after the completion of the record. This forced the band to cancel two months of shows, just as Ire Works was being released. No stranger to broken bones—his stage antics have earned him two cracked ribs and numerous other injuries—Weinman takes his injuries as par for the course. “When we get up onstage, we play at our full potential at all times, and anything less wouldn’t be what this band is all about. The day that we aren’t able to do that, we’ll just stop doing it.”

If it sounds like Weinman is selling us a bill of goods when talking about the Dillinger Escape Plan’s explosive live show, he does indeed walk the walk. Already often imitated, DEP are one of the best aggressive rock bands in a live setting since Bad Brains ruled the roost in the early ’80s. “We definitely have a healthy competition amongst ourselves and bands we play with. We may even like the bands we play with, but when we’re onstage, we want to hand any other band that plays before us or after us their asses in a hat. We’re not scared to play in any situation or with any band because we’re out to just kill and obliterate.”

With A Life Once Lost and Genghis Tron at
le National on Friday, Dec. 21, 8 p.m., $18