Dillinger Escape Plan
Dec.4, 2007
Cleveland, Ohio
by Mike Hammer
Dillinger Escape Plan is a dynamic metal/hardcore band. Their music is screamy noisy violence, degrading to nasty pillow talk, then going back to violence. The band just released a brand new record – following their acclaimed albums “Calculating Infinity” and “Miss Machine” - called Ire Works on Relapse Records. The 13-track disc started out with all angry, fast ‘beater’ songs, guitarist Ben Weinman says, but the album expanded and became a dynamic album of ebbs and flows, an album that softly whispers, then punches you in the mouth and throws in some garbled love and noise. The album is a bit schizophrenic, like a DEP song, and people seem to either love DEP and their frenetic ways, or hate them, Weinman says.
DEP hit the road to tour in support of “Ire Works” and I crawled onto their tour bus in Cleveland Ohio and talked with Weinman, the last original Dillinger Escape Plan member.
The first song Ben ever played on his guitar was “Sunshine of your Love” by Cream. Ben says he grew up listening to rock and hard rock, then got into metal – like Napalm Death – then he got into punk rock and post-punk – like Minor Threat and Drive Like Jehu and Splitlip – then he heard some prog rock from King Crimson (Robert Fripp of King Crimson has voiced his fanhood of DEP) and he took all those influences, mashed them up and got together with some buddies in Northern New Jersey, to form DEP.
New Jersey gets a bad rap, Weinman says. The media focus on 10 miles of the state around Newark, but it’s a nice place and a good music scene, and there are no ‘toothless, topless whores’ like there are in Cleveland, Weinman says.
But… Ben ignored the toothless whores and was happy to do an interview for Burning Angel, because he helped program and design the Burning Angel Web site, years ago – before doing DEP full-time (although the band hasn’t made a lot of money off record sales yet, just $75 that they had to give back because it was given to them by mistake. They make money on tour though -people love their thrashing, body flinging, throat tearing live shows, Weinman says).
Burning Angel still has a special place in Weinman’s heart, and he says his version of the ideal DEP fan is still one who listens to DEP while jerkin it to Burning Angel.
When I stepped onto the DEP tour bus, Ben was warming up on his guitar, playing some scales, getting ready to shread, and I said……
Hammer: What are you jamming out there?
Ben: Just a run.
Hammer: I remember pounding out scales in Catholic church on the back of the pews, keeping my fingers limber.
Ben: You’re not supposed to talk about PEWS with Burning Angel. You’re supposed to talk about PUBES. It’s all about Pubes.
Hammer: Just pubes, no peeing or other P stuff?
Ben: Just pubes.
Hammer: How many pubes should we expect to see at a Dillinger Escape Plan show?
Ben: A lot of pubes, but no nipples.
Hammer: No?
Ben: Pubes are the new nipples?
Hammer: Who are you?
Ben: I’m Ben from the Dillinger Escape Plan. I play the trumpet.
Hammer: Trumpet?
Ben: No. I play guitar.
Hammer: What is the new Dillinger Escape Plan album called?
Ben: It’s called “Ire Works.” It just came out about a month ago.
Hammer: It’s the 4th day of your tour for it. What is making the tour special so far.
Ben: Well, we have 2 new band members, so that’s pretty special, we haven’t toured in a year and a half, so that’s pretty special, we have a new record out, so that’s special, and makes it special playing new songs. And maybe we’ll be able to pay some bills when we get home.
Hammer: What’s special about the new record?
Ben: Absolutely nothing. It’s terrible.
Hammer: Really?
Ben: Yes. No. It was a tough record to make. Our drummer left the band, kinda unexpectedly, so we had to find an amazing drummer to fill his shoes, which we did. It was a lot of obstacles going into it, a lot of people getting sick, or producer’s best friend died in the middle of the thing, his back went out and he had trouble working, and I got sick and was in the hospital throwing up for some reason. So it was just one thing after another. So it was a very triumphant record to get done.
Hammer: The making doesn’t sound very sexy though. Let’s get onto the sexy. What is the sexiest part of Dillinger Escape Plan?
Ben: Well, one young man who is on the tour, and I’m not gonna mention any names, we brought him out from California with us, to help us engineer and tech, and now he’s a guitar tech for us, and we brought him to Vegas one night, took 200 bucks out of an ATM and got him a hot black whore.
Hammer: OK, nice.
Ben: Yeah. It was a really good experience.
Hammer: I thought what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas though.
Ben: Herpes doesn’t stay in Vegas.
Hammer: Herpes know no borders?
Ben: Herpes don’t give a shit about the rules. Our friend Adam was involved too.
Hammer: Really, how was that?
Ben: Well, our friend Adam, who used to play in the band, and is paralyzed, the hooker tried to fuck him too, and that was an interesting experience. He tried to crawl away.
Hammer: This is all on video tape I’m assuming.
Ben: Some of it’s on video tape. They went into the bathroom and I put the camera up to the door with the microphone and there were some interesting noises coming from there.
Hammer: Will that make it onto the tour DVD?
Ben: I don’t know. It may just wind up as a hidden track someplace.
Hammer: When I lived in New Orleans there was a guy who wanted to put out a “Sounds of Fucking” CD. Just lock people in a soundroom and have them go at it.
Ben: That would sell.
Hammer: So that’s the sexy part of DEP?
Ben: That’s about as sexy as it gets. Other than, my penis fell out one time when we were playing.
Hammer: That’s the ‘pubes’ part of the show.
Ben: Yeah. My pants were ripped and my whole dingdong fell out and hit a girl in the front row. I didn’t even know. I wasn’t wearing underwear. I just had pants on - I didn’t wanna get sweaty - and when we were done playing I realized my dingdong had fallen out and I got terribly embarrassed and the whole crowd got quite, then out of the back of the room some guy yelled “Penis!!”
Hammer: I will definitely not stand in the front row tonight then. I don’t want that kind of extra concert experience.
Ben: It’s interactive experience.
Hammer: Do you guys have much fan interaction?
Ben: Not really.
Hammer: Maybe invite some fans on stage.
Ben: Last time we did that a guy jumped on stage and punched me in the balls.
Hammer: Is it hard to play guitar when getting punched in the balls?
Ben: You start playing the high notes.
Hammer: But, maybe fans could be on the Vegas video tape, next time you’re out there. Are your own porn videos your favorite? You watch the porn on Burning Angel obviously, what’s your favorite video on Burning Angel?
Ben: My favorite video on Burning Angel is one that I was actually there when they were filming it. It was Jeff Wood of Shet, who stared in one of the early Burning Angel porno videos. Called “Adventures of Shet.” And he actually barked into a girls vagina.
Hammer: Was it a cavernous vagina? Did he get a nice Echo?
Ben: It was interesting. It did bark back, I believe.
Hammer: Did he get paid?
Ben: No. God no. He would have paid any amount of money to do it.
Hammer: Well, unfortunately that won’t be your favorite part of Burning Angel anymore. Now your favorite part will be this interview.
Ben: It shall.
Hammer: And you will tell everyone, while you’re on tour, to check out the Burning Angel I’m sure.
Ben: Of course. We are very supportive of the Angel.
Hammer: And you’re telling everyone when you’re on tour that they should buy you new album, because…..
Ben: Burning Angel could sell the record on the site.
Hammer: You could work that out maybe. I’m not gonna speak for the site, I’m just a freelance writer, but I think it could happen. I’ll put in a word for you though.
Ben: Cool. I appreciate that.
Hammer: Until you work that out though. You guys are on Relapse Records and the album is available through them. How is Relapse? How are they treatin ya?
Ben: It’s a weird industry right now. Things are changing every day. We don’t know where we will be tomorrow. Some bands don’t have labels anymore. Some bands are signed to promotions… to Live Nation, who Madonna just signed with, some bands are on Starbucks records, it’s a new world. We have grown with Relapse and they’ve grown with us. So we have had a pretty good run and we’ll see where the future takes us.
Hammer: Would you guys ever go without a record label?
Ben: Possibly. Right now though we put out a record that we really like and we know we will be touring on it and in a couple months I think the answer will present itself. Maybe we will sign to Hot Dog Cart Records and every hot dog cart in the city will sell our record.
Hammer: That would be good. You’d get nutritional value with the album. Or you guys could put your own record out on the Internet like Radiohead just did.
Ben: I’m kinda interested in the possibility of putting the record out for free and selling advertising.
Hammer: Would you do that while you’re on stage too? Sell advertising on your ‘dingdong’ as you whip it out.
Ben: That’s a lot of advertising.
Hammer: Oh. I’m sure. You could sell it by the centimeter … I mean … by the foot.
Ben: Oh yeah. 100 grand per foot.
Hammer: That’s not a bad price. It would go all over the country and make appearances.
Ben: Right. I’d whip it out in the front row, and it would say Pepsi down there.
Hammer: Burning Angel, Pepsi and Dillinger Escape Plan could put together the next tour.
Ben: Burning Angel should just put out our record.
Hammer: I think maybe if you tattoo Burning Angel on you dick, Joanna might put out your record.
Ben: Why not.
Hammer: I’m sure she can front ya 5 grand to record for a few months. How long did it take you to record “Ire Works?” Did you do it big studio style or…
Ben: No. Our producer has a little home studio out in Orange County in California, and we shacked up out there. All of us in one hotel room for a couple months.
Hammer: Did you draw a bunch of inspiration from the O.C. then? I imagine you guys fit in well with the O.C. and Hills crowd.
Ben: Oh yeah. Fuck yeah. Actually I didn’t talk to anyone for 3 months. We were just in the studio for 3 months straight. Except for that day we went to Vegas and got the Herpes.
Hammer: And you brought them back for everybody.
Ben: Yep. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, except for Herpes. Herpes know no borders.
Hammer: But. We should point out there are absolutely no Herpes on Burning Angel . com.
Ben: I don’t know about that. I got some bumps on my fingers when I was typing. When I was trying to get into the url there.
Hammer: I don’t know if you can get a refund for that or not. You know Joanna though. Call her up and ask.
Ben: Maybe I will. Maybe I will.
Check out a track from Dillinger Escape Plan HERE.
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