While more than a few fans got their hopes up for a The Dillinger Escape Plan reunion after some recent wishful thinking by drummer Billy Rymer, the band’s guitarist Ben Weinman soon clarified that the infamously chaotic mathcore unit won’t be back anytime soon. The group hung it up following a a farewell tour in 2017 and have stayed dormant since.
During a recent appearance on Revolver‘s ‘Songs For Black Days‘ podcast (see here), Weinman expanded on his current feelings for his former outfit
“I’m proud of Dillinger [but] I feel that it was not really healthy to stay in it. I feel like we were not going to create music that was as inspired if we didn’t intentionally and purposely end in a way that was consistent with how we lived in that band and created that band and wrote music and stuff from the beginning. Like I said, the intention, like, everything has a purpose. So I don’t miss it. Honestly. But I’m very proud of it.”
Weinman, who currently plays guitar for crossover legends Suicidal Tendencies, also elaborated on his relationship with Dillinger‘s former vocalist Greg Puciato:
“I’m glad he’s doing cool stuff and making cool stuff. He’s out there in L.A. doing his thing. That’s where he is. It’s not really for me. We have different values and different ways of life. And that’s OK. I think we have different values and different ways of doing things and different loyalties and things like that. I’m just the same guy as I always was. I have the same friends from when I was a kid. I still live in New Jersey. I still hang out with parents. I still feel the same way. I feel the same person that sat and made those albums in his room with a 4-track.
I think with me, similar to Mike [Muir] in Suicidal, I’ve probably hurt the band from succeeding as much as I helped the band succeed. You know, that’s something that, when Q Prime was managing Suicidal Tendencies, and they were trying to bring them up with the Metallica and the thrash bands that were doing well, the guy’s so stubborn about his ways that they realized … I think someone there said, ‘You are simultaneously the thing that will make this band huge, and also make the band never huge.’
You know, I’ve always felt that what you say no to defines you more than what you say yes to. And so, yeah, I mean, I feel like I stuck to my guns. And I tried really hard to keep and maintain the values of the band from the beginning.”
Weinman himself also hinted at some of the reasoning to end The Dillinger Escape Plan this past October. Speaking via social media at the time of MRC‘s decision to scrap a Kanye West documentary amid Ye‘s troubling anti-Semitic comments, Weinman spoke of integrity and staying true to his core values:
“…I do not believe in censorship but there are always consequences and if anything, 20 years of creating and performing Dillinger Escape Plan music has taught me that we are often defined by what we do not do. What we do not accept or want to be associated with. @mrc is losing upwards of $10 million by not releasing this film. A company owned ny a Muslim, a Christian, and a Jew.
There were many decisions I made, sometimes in protest to the other band members, for these reasons. Including ending the band when we did. @Mike Muir and @suicidaltendencies have conducted themselves in this way from before I was born and I’m proud to be along for the ride. Please speak out.”
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