In an interview with Australian Musician, The Dillinger Escape Plan guitarist Ben Weinman was asked how he views the band's legacy.
His response (transcribed by Blabbermouth.net):
It's really weird, because I just got off an interview with a young guy who does a radio show that does predominantly metal and hardcore music, and he said something like he didn't think his show would exist if it wasn't for us, 'cause so many of the bands he felt were influenced by us. And that just sounds impossible to me. It just seems insane to me.
It's weird to be a band that I felt never reached real commercial success, but also almost every day someone says something that totally blows me away that I can't believe that somebody likes this band or it meant something to them like it does, or it could influence their band or whatever. So, it's sometimes a tremendous amount of imposter syndrome. It's hard to believe anybody would even like this music, but almost every day I get a really cool kind of reminder that I guess we did do something that was important to some people.
Following their reunion shows to celebrate 25 years of Calculating Infinity, their first time playing together since 2017, The Dillinger Escape Plan have been more active than ever, even hinting at possible new music with original vocalist Dmitri Minakakis.
When asked by Metal-Roos about their reunion shows, Weinman stated:
Well, we hadn't had any thoughts of doing any kind of shows since the last shows. And then we had gotten an offer to do a special festival doing our first album with our original singer. And it just wasn't really the right time. We could never be ready in time. And it was, like, "Yeah, we never really thought about it. But, yeah, that was a cool thought." And then I was talking to our booking agent. I was just letting him know. I was, like, "Yeah, my buddy reached out to me about headlining their festival doing this thing. That's pretty funny." And then he's, like, "Well, next year is the 25th anniversary of that album. So if you were gonna do something, that would definitely be cool." I was, like, "Hmm, it'd be cool." And I definitely wanted to do some stuff with our old singer. He's still one of my best friends, and he never really got to really see the band in its full success and stuff like that. So, yeah, it just ended up making sense.
Regarding their reunion setlist:
We're doing these shows with our original singer, who wasn't on the majority of our catalog. He did our first two EPs and our first ful-length. So we're really just doing the entire first album — we're doing Calculating Infinity in its entirety — and then the EP before that in its entirety and then cuts from the first EP plus maybe a cover. It's really just kind of old stuff, but it still feels fresh. It definitely still feels fresh.
And when asked about how the dynamic has been:
We didn't break up because we were fighting, but it was, like, we definitely were tired and we definitely felt like we saw it through. And then we left and didn't hang out too much or talk too much. Dimitri and I continued to always be friends and talk and hang out and stuff. And then when we started getting together to rehearse, it was just so positive and fun.
I think when you're doing something after many years that you don't feel like you have to do it and you've just grown and matured and moved on in life and we've had kids and we've had all kinds of things happen that just really shape you, which a lot of band guys don't get to do for a very long time 'cause they're just stuck in this cycle of a teenager forever. So I think just still feeling hungry and fresh and excited by this music, but having a little more maturity to just really appreciate each other and appreciate the opportunities has made it super fun and enjoyable. Really, really cool. Really fun. We're just having a great time.
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