Pre-Dillinger Escape Plan (1996) The Dillinger Escape Plan evolved from the
hardcore punk band Arcane. Arcane was an aggressive, political-oriented act formed in 1996 by vocalists
Dimitri Minakakis, Brad McMahon, guitarist
Ben Weinman, bassist Bruce Fulton and drummer
Chris Pennie. Arcane played for a few months but eventually disbanded because they "were kinda sick of trying to become part of a clique and to write music that would fit into a theme", according to Weinman. Encouraged by him, they turned around their sound and aesthetic, with bassist Adam Doll, who was Pennie's bandmate in the bands Samsara and Malfactor, becoming interested in their new direction and hence joining the band. Backerman had just decided to form Now or Never records and asked the band to record what would be their
self titled six-track EP. Their second show was supporting
Earth Crisis @Sea Sea's in Moosic, Pennsylvania. Shortly after their second EP, John Fulton left the band to focus on his
computer programming studies. Before the recording of
Calculating Infinity, bassist Adam Doll was involved in a car accident that left him paralyzed from the chest down. The accident was a minor
fender bender, but because Doll had leaned over to pick up a CD beneath the stereo, the accident caused a small fracture in his spine, inducing paralysis. Guitarist Weinman played both guitar and bass on the album, though liner notes credited Doll as providing a great deal of help.
Calculating Infinity was released on September 28, 1999, through Relapse and was met with critical acclaim.
Faith No More vocalist
Mike Patton, one of the first people to hear the album, asked the Dillinger Escape Plan to tour for two months with his band
Mr. Bungle. Shortly before touring began for the new album, former Jesuit guitarist
Brian Benoit auditioned for the band, taking the place of the departed Fulton in November 1998 and Jeff Wood, former
M.O.D. bassist and a childhood friend of Weinman, took the place of the injured bassist Doll. Without a vocalist, The Dillinger Escape Plan began a nationwide search for a replacement via their website, releasing an instrumental version of "43 % Burnt" from
Calculating Infinity and inviting prospective vocalists to record and send their own vocal tracks. They received many submissions, including one with
rapping and one with
death growls. While the search was underway, the band had already composed some songs and decided to record an instrumental EP, eventually asking Mike Patton to sing on it. In the meantime, they played some shows as an instrumental act and invited vocalist
Sean Ingram of
Coalesce to join them for their performance at
Krazy Fest 4 on July 28, 2001. In late 2001, Dillinger Escape Plan met
Greg Puciato, one of the people who submitted a recording to the band. Puciato included two versions of "43% Burnt"; one in the style of with all of the same lyrics, and one with original lyrics written by him. The band offered him the job after two practice sessions. He accepted, first appearing at the
CMJ Music Festival in New York City in October. The EP features Weinman, Pennie, Benoit, Wilson, Patton on vocals, and ex-bassist Adam Doll assisting with keyboards and sample effects. These tours were replete with injuries; in late 2004, guitarist Benoit suffered nerve damage (
brachial plexus neuritis) in his left hand, and other than a short return to the stage in 2005, he has not played with the band since. Former
Fenix*TX guitarist James Love ended up playing most shows in the late 2004–2006 period. In 2005, the band was forced to drop out of
Dave Mustaine's "
Gigantour" slightly early due to a
rotator cuff injury and fractured vertebrae Weinman had sustained performing in
Anaheim, California at all-ages venue Chain Reaction. Simultaneously, The Dillinger Escape Plan opened for
AFI on tour after being invited by vocalist
Davey Havok. Shortly thereafter, the band toured with label mates
Dysrhythmia and later with progressive rock band
Coheed and Cambria. While resting his arm, the guitarist stated he began to compose and experiment with
sound design and electronics for the upcoming album. In a 2017 interview, the drummer pointed out two defining incidents for his departure: before releasing
Miss Machine, a member of the band turned down a tour slot with a "really big" band without clearing it with the other members, straining his relationship with Weinman, and legal issues of the guitarist in 2006 which put the band on hold. Other reasons were his priorities in composing and studying music over touring and contractual commitments. According to The Dillinger Escape Plan members and
Relapse Records's Matt Jacobson, Pennie did not inform them until late, despite contractual obligations for the new Dillinger album. Weinman started to
program drums daily for two months out of desperation. On June 15, the band announced the title of the album as well as confirming the departure of Pennie. Among the drummers considered to handle drum duties were
Morgan Ågren and
Sean Reinert, but the band decided to choose the relatively unknown
Gil Sharone of
Stolen Babies by the suggestion of
Chris Hornbrook. Eventually, The Dillinger Escape Plan completed their follow-up album to
Miss Machine in 2004, titled
Ire Works.
Ire Works was released on November 13, 2007, through Relapse. Despite the inner turmoil, when the record was finished the band was more satisfied with it than with any of the previous ones, calling it a "turning point". The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at number 142 with 7,000 copies scanned, but was later corrected when it was revealed that Relapse did not account for album pre-release sales, increasing the number of total copies sold to 11,000. Despite critical acclaim, members expressed concern over finances, with Puciato claiming the band had "no safety net" and Weinman having to move back in with his parents. and the band performed live the song "Black Bubblegum" on ''
Late Night with Conan O'Brien''. Missing from the new line up was Benoit, who had left the band because of injury. Although assured his place in the band is secure should he ever be able to perform again,
Jeff Tuttle formerly of Heads Will Roll and Capture the Flag took his place on stage. Tuttle, however, does not make an appearance on the record.
Party Smasher Inc. and Option Paralysis (2009–2011) In January 2009, Sharone left the band and was replaced by
Billy Rymer. Furthermore, a website for the record was set up, linking to all of the studio update videos and demo snippets. During their North American
East Coast tour with
Thursday in December 2009, the band sold download cards at their shows that entitled the customer to a download of the 10 song album upon its release with 3 additional exclusive bonus tracks. The song "Farewell, Mona Lisa", debuted on Liquid Metal SXM on
Christmas Day, 2009; it became available for download on January 19, 2010. "Chinese Whispers" was debuted on
Full Metal Jackie's syndicated radio show broadcast on 29 stations throughout the USA on the March 5, 2010, and was subsequently played on the next two days. On March 9, the blog
MetalSucks featured the online debut of the song. The band released their fourth studio album,
Option Paralysis on March 22, 2010, through Party Smasher in partnership with
Season of Mist Option Paralysis was confirmed as the title of the new album in a press release by Season of Mist. Puciato has noted that
Option Paralysis was the toughest album the group and himself have ever written. In an interview in
The Aquarian Weekly, Weinman stated that it was the most organic and less forced than previous works. The Dillinger Escape Plan started the
Option Paralysis touring cycle with a short North American tour with
Thursday in December 2009, followed by a headlining run in Feb/March 2010 with
Darkest Hour,
Animals as Leaders, and
Iwrestledabearonce. While on the tour, the band received a Golden God Award from
Revolver magazine, for "Best Underground Band", which Weinman and Puciato accepted. After a short trip to Europe, they participated in
Warped Tour 2010, playing June 24 through August 15. During a January 12, 2011 interview on the Metal Injection Livecast, Puciato announced that the band was currently in the process of writing new music which would either surface as an EP later in the year or else a full-length album the following year. However, in 2011 The Dillinger Escape Plan continued to tour, accompanying
Deftones for a nine-week-long North American trek from April to June. Touring continued with former labelmates
Mastodon, both in the US in late 2011 and the UK in early 2012, followed by their second appearance at
Soundwave Festival in Australia, as well as dates with System of a Down in New Zealand and Australia. The group also played its first shows in Malaysia and Bangkok, as well as their first South American performance, headlining the second stage on the first night of the prestigious
Rock al Parque festival in Bogota, Colombia.
One of Us Is the Killer (2012–2014) , 2014 On August 17, 2012, the band announced via their Facebook page that Tuttle had left the band to pursue other projects in music and film. On November 24, the band played at the California Metalfest alongside bands such as
Killswitch Engage and
As I Lay Dying. While playing this show, a mystery guitar player was noticed filling in for former rhythm guitarist Jeff Tuttle, who had left the band in August. A couple of weeks later, during a phone interview (on the Metal Injection Livecast) while in the studio recording their new album, Weinman announced that this mystery guitar player was James Love, who had played with the band briefly while they toured in support for their album
Miss Machine. On February 18, 2013, the band announced the title of their new album,
One of Us Is the Killer, On March 12, they released "Prancer", the first single from the album. On April 23, The Dillinger Escape Plan released the music video for "When I Lost My Bet", the first from the upcoming album. It was directed by Mitch Massie and was posted on the band's Facebook page and Sumerian Records' YouTube account. Subsequent videos released from the album were "One of Us Is the Killer", "Hero of the Soviet Union", and "Paranoia Shields". The band released their fifth studio album,
One of Us Is the Killer on May 14, 2013, through Party Smasher in partnership with various labels around the world, including
BMG for Europe, Grind House for Japan,
Remote Control for Australia and Sumerian Records for North America. On July 14, 2014, it was announced that the band would be playing for two weeks as the opening slot on the Nine Inch Nails and
Soundgarden North American tour. This decision was announced following the supposed disbandment of
Death Grips, who was originally scheduled to appear as the opening act.
Dissociation and disbandment (2015–2017) In May 2015, Kevin Antreassian, a former member of New Jersey progressive metal band Knife the Glitter and former guitar student of Ben Weinman, became the new rhythm guitarist of the band replacing James Love. In July, Weinman announced during an Australian interview that the band would return to the studio in November to record the follow-up to
One of Us Is the Killer. In the following year,
BBC Radio 1 premiered the band's new single "Limerent Death", which would be featured on their sixth studio record
Dissociation. In an interview with
Noisey, Weinman said the Dillinger Escape Plan would stop performing, with Puciato later saying "we're breaking up". Puciato was quoted saying that the band still enjoyed writing, recording and performing together but "we started to reach what felt like a thematic conclusion to our band", comparing the decision to a filmmaker who enjoys the current film he is creating but cannot continue the process indefinitely. Weinman said, "we are going to do the cycle for this album and that's it." In 2019, the singer acknowledged this album the first part of a trilogy, followed by his 2019 book
Separate the Dawn (written during their last tour) and finished with
The Black Queen record
Infinite Games. On February 12, 2017, during their European farewell tour, The Dillinger Escape Plan was involved in a vehicle crash after a truck collided with their bus near
Radomsko, Poland. The truck driver, who ended up seriously wounded, pleaded guilty to falling asleep while driving. Thirteen people in all were injured, but the band members were not gravely hurt.
Revolver reported that they "narrowly survived" the incident. Puciato tore a quadriceps, which he did not treat immediately, and later revealed that he began to suffer from serious mental health issues during this tour, including
panic disorder and
hypochondria, but following the accident his symptoms became "almost unlivable" and had to receive treatment. Fans raised over $20,000 in a week to the band following the crash. On September 5, The Dillinger Escape Plan were honoured at the 2017
Association of Independent Music Awards. The band received the "Outstanding Contribution to Music" prize at the ceremony at The Brewery, Clerkenwell. The band's final show took place at
Terminal 5 in
New York City on December 29, 2017, with
Code Orange and
Daughters as support acts. The band also played two additional shows on December 27 and 28, before the final show. For the first show the band announced that they would be joined by Mike Patton to perform their collaborative EP,
Irony Is a Dead Scene, and were supported by
God Mother. On the December 28 show, the band was joined on stage by original frontman
Dimitri Minakakis, and he performed several early Dillinger Escape Plan songs. Minakakis also sang with Puciato during the encore performance of "43% Burnt". Minakakis appeared again on the last night, whereas former guitarist
Brian Benoit joined them for parts of the December 27 and December 28 shows. Original bassist Adam Doll joined as well for the final night, playing keyboards on their last song "Dissociation," which was debuted live and accompanied by New York string quartet seven)suns.
Post-disbandment (2018–2023) Puciato continued touring with his electronic band
The Black Queen throughout 2018 and has plans to record as
Killer Be Killed for a second album. Weinman became the rhythm guitarist for
Suicidal Tendencies in 2018. He is also the manager for Grammy award-winning artist
Kimbra, while also running an animal sanctuary from his home in New Jersey. Wilson formed the progressive metal band
Azusa with members of
Extol and Sea + Air, and released their debut album in November 2018. He has also been playing bass occasionally for
Devin Townsend. In September 2019, Rymer reunited with Weinman while playing a series of shows for Suicidal Tendencies as a fill-in for
Dave Lombardo. He has also been performing as the touring drummer for
Ho99o9, and has joined the band thoughtcrimes. Antreassian owns and operates Back Room Studios in
Rockaway, New Jersey, which operates as a full recording studio and rentable rehearsal space. Puciato released the poetry and photography book
Separate the Dawn on February 12, 2019, marking the second anniversary of the band's bus accident in Poland. It was written during the last Dillinger tour and released through Federal Prisoner. In March 2023,
Sumerian Comics announced a four issue comic series in celebration of the tenth anniversary of
One of Us Is the Killer. The series took inspiration from the story behind the album's production and lyrics and expanded it into a fictional and futuristic crime story. Ben Weinman appeared at
WonderCon in promotion and signed copies of the first issue. In April 2023, it was announced that Puciato would form part of a new hardcore supergroup known as
Better Lovers; consisting of three ex-
Every Time I Die members in the form of Jordan Buckley, Steve Micciche and Clayton Holyoak, and
Will Putney of
Fit For An Autopsy. The band released their debut single "30 Under 13" during this time, and announced a run of UK shows for October 2023.
Reunion with Dimitri Minakakis (2023–present) On December 12, 2023, it was announced that the Dillinger Escape Plan would reunite at the
Brooklyn Paramount Theater in celebration of the 25th anniversary of their debut album
Calculating Infinity, set to take place on June 21, 2024; Apart from the Belgian show at the Lokerse Feesten, a further three European shows were scheduled. Also in May 2024, Wilson was confirmed as a full
In Flames member. == Style and artistry ==