The Dillinger Escape Plan had a peculiar special guest join them onstage at The Belasco in Los Angeles, CA last night, December 12th. Keith Buckley, the former frontman of Every Time I Die and current vocalist for “Many Eyes” got up onstage to help front a cover of Nine Inch Nails‘ “Wish“, and a set closing performance of “43% Burnt“.
While it’s not the first time the band have covered “Wish” with Buckley (such a pairing has taken place as far back as at least 2009,) given the modern history that has transpired between Every Time I Die and The Dillinger Escape Plan since, it’s kind of hard not to read into this cameo a bit further.
If you’re unaware, Keith Buckley and Every Time I Die bitterly split back in early 2022. 4/5th of the band made it clear that they were unified against Keith in that split. Keith would go on to form the outfit Many Eyes, while 3/5th of Every Time I Die (guitarist Jordan Buckley, bassist Steven Micciche and drummer Clayton “Goose” Holyoak) would launch the band Better Lovers. The latter outfit recruited ex-The Dillinger Escape Plan vocalist Greg Puciato as their frontman.
While The Dillinger Escape Plan initially broke up back up in 2017 following a farewell tour, the mathcore greats would eventually reunite in 2023, bringing back their original vocalist Dimitri Minakakis. Since getting the band back together, Puciato has not been involved, and the band’s guitarist Ben Weinman has indicated that he and the rest of the group “do not share the same values as Greg.“
The aforementioned collective have since been respectful enough to each other in the press, but fans of The Dillinger Escape Plan have often viewed the apparent wall put up between the current incarnation of the band and Puciato with some suspicion over the years.
Weinman commented on social media of last night’s onstage pairing:
“This is not the first we did this @nineinchnails song with the mighty Keith Buckely. What an epic night!”
The Dillinger Escape Plan are winding down their West Coast run this weekend with the following shows:
12/13 Santa Ana, CA – The Observatory (feat. Cynic & Deaf Club)
12/14 San Francisco, CA – Regency Ballroom (feat. Cynic & Hong Kong F*ck You)
