A lot of fans of Dillinger Escape Plan were understandably upset when Dmitri Minakakis left the band and they found a fan, Greg Puciato, to replace him. I remember one friend of mine said This isnt Judas Priest. Who the fuck is this guy? But after two years of touring he proved to be a more ample replacement, in fact on a lot of message boards people say he is even better than Minakakis. But up until now we havent heard any original music from him. But now with the release of the Underworld movie soundtrack, Dillinger Escape Plans latest album and his upcoming collaboration with Brett Gurewitz, Puciato is ready to take over the world.
Check out the website for Dillinger Escape Plan.
Greg Puciato: Sorry About our interview last week, man. Ive just been waking up real late because our sleep schedules are all messed up from being in the studio until seven in the morning some nights.
Daniel Robert Epstein: Its cool. So what made you decide to put the 43 percent burnt on the new Relapse Records sampler?
GP: We didnt have any say in that [laughs]. We didnt even know what the fuck was going on. I just actually saw that yesterday for the first time. There putting out a re-issue of Calculating Infinity in a couple of weeks too and no one knows anything about it.
DRE: Okay [laughs] and how about the DVD?
GP: Whether or not its still happening or whats going on with it?
DRE: Whats going on with it? Is it still happening?
GP: The DVD kind of got shelved because we were kind of running behind on getting the new album out. That DVD originally came up before we realized how much time the Irony is a Dead Scene EP was going to take out of our time recently. Our original plan was to have the forthcoming album coming out in the summer of 2003. We were thinking that we would get a DVD out around Fall/Winter 2003 or around now and then it turned out we took forever to write the album. Then we filmed a lot of the recording of it, so were like man we want to get this on there too and now we want to do some touring. So were just trying to keep recording, getting footage and maybe well put out something more substantial later on. We dont want to put out some 45 minute DVD and charge people 20 bucks for it.
DRE: Right. What took so long with the album?
GP: Well Irony is a Dead Scene was big for us and we knew it was going to be big, but we didnt know the extent that we were going to have to tour for it. We just thought wed do one or two tours, that would be it and then wed get back to writing our album. But opportunities kept coming up that really did a lot for us. So we had to keep touring. Also were not a band that really writes on the road, like we always say were going to, but we just never ever do. Thats definitely going to have to change or else were never going to write another album. But we finally got some time off, and we had a ton of loose ideas lying around, so it didnt take to long to get the basic structures of the songs down. But then we just kept changing em, adding to em, changing em and adding to em. Plus everybody in the band is, in some fashion, a perfectionist. So it just took a long time, but if were going to be the type of band that puts an album out every four years we want the album to be perfect, and we want it to be enough of a musical progression. We didnt want to take it out of the oven until its done.
DRE: Hows it going with Relapse?
GP: Relapse has been great for us. Weve had our problems here and there. Its just re-negotiating our contract and things like that. Thats another reason this album took a little while.
DRE: Why did you have to renegotiate?
GP: Our contract was kind of, pretty archaic because the contract was representative of a band that didnt sell any albums. It was a contract that was for Dillinger before anybody knew how big Dillinger was going to get. When Relapse first started, way before I was in the band, I think they knew that Dillinger was going to be a little over everybodys head because it was so nutty at the time. Maybe we would do a couple of weekend tours and that would be it. Now weve gotten to a size where we cant do anything but the band because it takes up so much of our time. Our contract needed to be reworked so we could get compensated a little bit better.
DRE: Are you satisfied with the contract now?
GP: Oh yeah man were all psyched. Just from a business perspective, Relapse was looking for the best interest in them and we were looking out for the best interest for us. It took some time to get everybody on the same page. But were all ready to move forward now. Were all excited for the future of Dillinger and the future of Relapse because this is all new territory for both of us. Relapse has never really had a band bigger than we are right now and weve never been bigger than we are right now so neither of us knows what the fuck were doing.
DRE: What has made you guys so much more popular then ever before?
GP: Definitely the [Mike] Patton EP did a lot for us in terms of exposure but also the climate was right. Like you see all these bands that sound nothing like us like Thursday, Thrice, Poison the Well and bands like that are really starting to get a lot bigger. But it shows that Extreme Rock and then the Headbangers Ball shit are coming back. Then you see bands like Limp Bizkit and Korn who are selling a fraction of the albums they were selling three or four years ago. Its kind of like a mirror image of what happened at the end of like the Hair Band Era, and the beginning of the Grunge Era, where the scene is totally independent of the scene that came before it. Bands like us arent extensions of like Limp Bizkit, P.O.D. and bands like that. Its a whole different thing and I think thats exciting for kids who have just grown totally sick of whats been going on for the last four or five years. Hopefully itll continue, it can just keep digging deeper and finding more underground bands that are worth listening to.
DRE: What do you think about having your first song on the Underworld movie soundtrack?
GP: It was cool. I was just excited to have a recording out with me on it but Im more excited for the new album. Ive been in the band for two and a half years now and still Ive only sung other peoples songs live. This current line-up has never recorded an album. There are only two people in the band that were there for the recording of Calculating Infinity, Ben and Chris. Theyre the two main people so the sound doesnt change that much, but me, Brian Benoit and Liam never really contributed to a full length album at all. So thats 3/5 of the band that adds something totally new creatively to our sound. Were just excited to have everything in place. As far as Underworld goes, I dont really care. We didnt have any particular affinity for that movie; Ive never even seen it. At the time we signed on to do it, the only other people that had signed were David Bowie, and Maynard Keenan so we thought that sounds pretty fucking good. You cant get much more artistically acclaimed than those guys.
DRE: How did the fans react to you at your first appearance with the band at CMJ Festival?
GP: That was a surreal experience. I had only been with the band for two weeks. When I joined the band it was like my second audition and after the audition they were they were playing a show together in two weeks and they told me I was in the band. So we only practiced twice. It was just like so quick and since then its been such a constant onslaught of shows. That particular show I was really nervous, I had no idea what to expect. I really dont even remember how people reacted.
DRE: So it was just a blur for you?
GP: Complete blur. Well I remember the first couple seconds of the first song and nothing else.
DRE: How has it been singing songs that you collaborated on?
GP: For a while now weve played songs that are going to be on this album. Just testing them out and seeing how an audience responds.
DRE: How have they been responding?
GP: Good man but its hard. You cant expect an audience to take in the type of shit that we do by hearing it live. Its all going to be a blur to them. I dont really expect them to go home and remember them. Its not like where you hear a song on the radio and then later on you can hum it. Its a totally different kind of thing. Everybodys been pretty enthusiastic about it. Were going to play a lot of the new songs on this upcoming tour. The whole purpose of this tour is to preview songs off the album. Were probably going to play five or six a night. Hopefully kids will bring their mini-discs [laughs].
DRE: Have you had any conflicts with old school fans?
GP: No not at all, everyones been really supportive. As a fan I would have been really skeptical myself. I was a giant fan of the band before I was in it and if there had been any kind of member change, especially at the singer position, I definitely would have been skeptical. This album is so good, not to toot our own horn or anything, but we really worked hard on it, and we really feel like this is the best this band could possibly do at this point and time. Everybodys abilities, songwriting, the technicality, intensity and everything cant be taken any further. So anybody that is questioning whether were going to be as good as we were on past CDs, well were going to be like a million times better.
DRE: I read that Mike Patton made time to work with the band while they broke you in. Is that right?
GP: When I joined the band that album was already recorded musically. I was in the band for like a year before Mike Patton got time to do his vocals it was just a really hard to get his schedule pinned down because he has so many other projects.
DRE: So what did it do for you to have him help you out?
GP: You mean as a band?
DRE: As a band and you personally.
GP: The greatest thing about that collaboration is that you dont really know what Mike Patton is going to do next. His next CD might sound nothing like his first CD, even though its the same band. Mr. Bungle sounded like a completely different band on all three CDs. The new Fantomas sounds completely different. The new Tomahawk sounds completely different than Fantomas. The new Fantomas sounds different than the last Fantomas album. His whole thing is to not know what to expect from him and I think working with someone like that kind of put us in a similar position, which is a great position to be in because we dont have the shadow of Calculating Infinity hanging over our heads. Now theyve heard Mike Patton sing over our music, which is something that people probably never thought theyd hear. Hes got a million different types of vocal stylings. Im sure a lot of people are expecting this album to be awesome and a lot of people are expecting it to suck. If they didnt like the Mike Patton thing theyre probably thinking to themselves This bands done, theyll never do anything as good as Calculating again. Weve heard stuff like that from people and weve heard people say Irony is the greatest thing weve ever done. Thats great because no one has any idea what to expect and that just puts us in a good position. Me personally it was a lot of pressure taken off because he did so much vocally on that album. Now I can pretty much do anything and have it not be a shock to people.
DRE: I heard youre like an ape up on stage.
GP: [laughs] Aw man how did you hear that particular word? I want to know where that came from.
DRE: I read it in some article. That youre like King Kong on top of the speakers.
GP: Thats so fucking funny man. Everybody in the band is always comparing me to a monkey. People in other bands just refer to me as the Ape. We toured with Icarus Line and after two shows hey were just like Hey whats up Ape. They didnt even refer to me as Greg. Everybody keeps comparing me to a monkey or something. I really cant figure it out. The guys will get a kick out of that. Ive got to tell them that you brought that up.
DRE: Well its because the way you sing is so animalistic. Do you feel like you revert to something else when youre up on stage?
GP: Oh, I definitely think so. I dont walk around in public destroying things and flipping out. We were in a Dennys once and there were some younger kids like 13 or 14 years old who just saw our show. They were talking to us and they couldnt believe that we could just sit and have a good time. Did they think we were going to walk into Dennys and start fucking throwing chairs across the room and jumping on top of the table?
I think I probably would have a lot more frustration in our day to day life if I didnt have this band. The band is a great outlet for that. Just day to day stresses that just build up, we dont really have any other way of dealing with it and I think thats a problem in society right now. People dont have a way of coping in a world where everyones just kind of squeezed into particular molds and a lot of people are unhappy with the role that they play. Its just great to have music as a way to deal with it because so many people dont.
DRE: So its a big release for you?
GP: Oh yeah. Also besides being a release we just get so caught up that you cant really separate the music from the physical manifestation of it because you just feel when that the performance is just channeling through you. So as long as you keep yourself relaxed, you just allow it to take control of you and whatever happens, happens. We dont plan on flipping out or plan on going ape shit. Its not like that. If we were to play and the vibe felt pretty dead, wed just be Alright were just going to stand still tonight. That would be perfectly fine as long as it felt non-forced.
DRE: And if you werent doing music, would you walk into Dennys and flip out?
GP: [laughs] You never know, man. I think thats a lot of the reason why certain stuff happens now like teenagers committing violent crimes. Its the whole scenario where you hear about people going into offices and just flipping out. You never know what would happen if you didnt have the thing that kept you sane. For some people its their families for us its music. Who knows what would happen I might become like an alcoholic or a drug addict, or you might walk into Dennys and fucking throw French fries around.
DRE: When did you start blowing fire?
GP: Well I started breathing fire pretty soon after I joined.
DRE: Were you doing it before you joined?
GP: I had done it a couple of times. It seems to really add something to the show but now we cant do it because of Great White.
DRE: Oh thats right.
GP: They ruined it for everyone. We used to do it in clubs and now as soon as we get to the club the first thing they say to us is they cant have any of that on stage. Some clubs are actually concerned about lights being too close to rugs and things. People dont realize what an impact that incident had on clubs fire codes and things like that. It was immediate across the country. Every single club on the tour after that happened, called us up beforehand to make sure there wasnt going to be any of that, or theyd get fined five thousand dollars.
DRE: Thats too bad.
GP: Yeah, whatever, but were not about breathing fire. Its actually kind of a relief we cant do it in some ways. Some kids get bummed, they come to us and theyre like oh I went home and told my friend that you were crazy and you breathed fire. Now I bring my friend to the show and you guys didnt breathe fire. Im like Sorry, I let you down dude. Were not about fucking fire or having a trapeze artist on stage. I dont want a gimmick to become more important than what we are really about.
DRE: That makes sense. Is Error happening?
GP: Yeah man, Im really happy about how thats come about. That was just an amazing thing to be involved in, I mean.
DRE: Yeah, Its Brett [Gurewitz] and Leopold Ross right?
GP: Its Brett, Leopold, and Atticus Ross. Atticus is a sick programmer. Hes just a guy from England, who is just disgusting at electronic things, somehow he caught the eye of Trent Reznor and now hes working with Trent on the new Nine Inch Nails record. Atticus and Brett met at a party or something and found they have a lot of the same musical ideals. I think him and Atticus really wanted to catch the spirit of punk and hardcore, but use more of an electronic medium, just because you do so much more with it. You can turn anything into part of a song by sampling, distorting and fucking with it so much that you cant even tell what it is. It could be car horn or a dog barking or something youd never even know. So they just came together and wrote five songs. Brett had seen us play a couple times and he said After hearing you live wed definitely like for you to sing on Error. I was just blown away that they even asked me because being involved with someone that is involved with Nine Inch Nails and someone from Bad Religion, its two people of a high caliber right there.
DRE: Thats so cool.
GP: Yeah, its coming out February 24th. Were all excited to see how its received and if we can get our schedules together hopefully we can get a full length out by 2005.
DRE: Awesome.
I know its been a couple of years now. But do you ever just go I was just a fan and now Im in Dillinger Escape Plan.
GP: Sometimes its weird man, because you think of a band as being on a pedestal, before you actually meet them. I was blown away by this band before I was in it. The first year I would just be in sound check watching Chris play drums and Ben play guitar, and I was like Shit, these dudes are absurdly good. There has to be a like a point where you think Im not good enough to play with these dudes. This has got to come to an end. The joke is over. Now that weve realized that were all just right for one another musically. It feels like a perfect fit and I feel like Ive known these dudes my whole life musically and personally.
DRE: And where did you grow up?
GP: In Baltimore.
DRE: How old are you?
GP: 23
DRE: Youre 23?
GP: Yeah Ill be 24 in a couple of months.
DRE: Jesus!
GP: [laughs] Yeah.
DRE: Did you go to college?
GP: Yeah, I went to a year in Maryland and then I didnt really know what I was doing. All I really wanted to do was music from the time I was young. If you want do music then its hard to see what college is going to do for you. If you want to be a symphony player, youre studying horn or something like that Its really not what you want to do. You say you want to sing, you want to be a good rock singer, theres not really too much you can do for that. Im not the type of person who can focus energies on more than a couple of things at once. I couldnt focus on getting a degree just in case this didnt happen. I just had to try to focus all my energy on singing and music and where I need to be, talent wise. I knew that if I kept working at my own ability, that eventually the right opportunity would come. As soon as the Dillinger thing happened, I knew that was it and it felt real natural.
DRE: How are the Dillinger groupies?
GP: They dont exist man. If you find them ask them how they are because Ive never seen them. Honestly if there are girls at the show, theyre usually girlfriends of guys who dragged them there and they really arent to it. I dont understand why there arent a lot of girls at are shows. I dont know if were just not a cool band for girls to like or something. Maybe were not good looking enough; I dont know what it is.
DRE: Do you have a girlfriend?
GP: Yeah, yeah
DRE: How long have you been with her?
GP: Not to long, I dont know how serious it is. We might not be boyfriend/girlfriend. Im not really certain whats going on to be honest with you. Shes just a cool chick that I hang out with a lot we dont really have a title for a relationship.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Check out the website for Dillinger Escape Plan.
Greg Puciato: Sorry About our interview last week, man. Ive just been waking up real late because our sleep schedules are all messed up from being in the studio until seven in the morning some nights.
Daniel Robert Epstein: Its cool. So what made you decide to put the 43 percent burnt on the new Relapse Records sampler?
GP: We didnt have any say in that [laughs]. We didnt even know what the fuck was going on. I just actually saw that yesterday for the first time. There putting out a re-issue of Calculating Infinity in a couple of weeks too and no one knows anything about it.
DRE: Okay [laughs] and how about the DVD?
GP: Whether or not its still happening or whats going on with it?
DRE: Whats going on with it? Is it still happening?
GP: The DVD kind of got shelved because we were kind of running behind on getting the new album out. That DVD originally came up before we realized how much time the Irony is a Dead Scene EP was going to take out of our time recently. Our original plan was to have the forthcoming album coming out in the summer of 2003. We were thinking that we would get a DVD out around Fall/Winter 2003 or around now and then it turned out we took forever to write the album. Then we filmed a lot of the recording of it, so were like man we want to get this on there too and now we want to do some touring. So were just trying to keep recording, getting footage and maybe well put out something more substantial later on. We dont want to put out some 45 minute DVD and charge people 20 bucks for it.
DRE: Right. What took so long with the album?
GP: Well Irony is a Dead Scene was big for us and we knew it was going to be big, but we didnt know the extent that we were going to have to tour for it. We just thought wed do one or two tours, that would be it and then wed get back to writing our album. But opportunities kept coming up that really did a lot for us. So we had to keep touring. Also were not a band that really writes on the road, like we always say were going to, but we just never ever do. Thats definitely going to have to change or else were never going to write another album. But we finally got some time off, and we had a ton of loose ideas lying around, so it didnt take to long to get the basic structures of the songs down. But then we just kept changing em, adding to em, changing em and adding to em. Plus everybody in the band is, in some fashion, a perfectionist. So it just took a long time, but if were going to be the type of band that puts an album out every four years we want the album to be perfect, and we want it to be enough of a musical progression. We didnt want to take it out of the oven until its done.
DRE: Hows it going with Relapse?
GP: Relapse has been great for us. Weve had our problems here and there. Its just re-negotiating our contract and things like that. Thats another reason this album took a little while.
DRE: Why did you have to renegotiate?
GP: Our contract was kind of, pretty archaic because the contract was representative of a band that didnt sell any albums. It was a contract that was for Dillinger before anybody knew how big Dillinger was going to get. When Relapse first started, way before I was in the band, I think they knew that Dillinger was going to be a little over everybodys head because it was so nutty at the time. Maybe we would do a couple of weekend tours and that would be it. Now weve gotten to a size where we cant do anything but the band because it takes up so much of our time. Our contract needed to be reworked so we could get compensated a little bit better.
DRE: Are you satisfied with the contract now?
GP: Oh yeah man were all psyched. Just from a business perspective, Relapse was looking for the best interest in them and we were looking out for the best interest for us. It took some time to get everybody on the same page. But were all ready to move forward now. Were all excited for the future of Dillinger and the future of Relapse because this is all new territory for both of us. Relapse has never really had a band bigger than we are right now and weve never been bigger than we are right now so neither of us knows what the fuck were doing.
DRE: What has made you guys so much more popular then ever before?
GP: Definitely the [Mike] Patton EP did a lot for us in terms of exposure but also the climate was right. Like you see all these bands that sound nothing like us like Thursday, Thrice, Poison the Well and bands like that are really starting to get a lot bigger. But it shows that Extreme Rock and then the Headbangers Ball shit are coming back. Then you see bands like Limp Bizkit and Korn who are selling a fraction of the albums they were selling three or four years ago. Its kind of like a mirror image of what happened at the end of like the Hair Band Era, and the beginning of the Grunge Era, where the scene is totally independent of the scene that came before it. Bands like us arent extensions of like Limp Bizkit, P.O.D. and bands like that. Its a whole different thing and I think thats exciting for kids who have just grown totally sick of whats been going on for the last four or five years. Hopefully itll continue, it can just keep digging deeper and finding more underground bands that are worth listening to.
DRE: What do you think about having your first song on the Underworld movie soundtrack?
GP: It was cool. I was just excited to have a recording out with me on it but Im more excited for the new album. Ive been in the band for two and a half years now and still Ive only sung other peoples songs live. This current line-up has never recorded an album. There are only two people in the band that were there for the recording of Calculating Infinity, Ben and Chris. Theyre the two main people so the sound doesnt change that much, but me, Brian Benoit and Liam never really contributed to a full length album at all. So thats 3/5 of the band that adds something totally new creatively to our sound. Were just excited to have everything in place. As far as Underworld goes, I dont really care. We didnt have any particular affinity for that movie; Ive never even seen it. At the time we signed on to do it, the only other people that had signed were David Bowie, and Maynard Keenan so we thought that sounds pretty fucking good. You cant get much more artistically acclaimed than those guys.
DRE: How did the fans react to you at your first appearance with the band at CMJ Festival?
GP: That was a surreal experience. I had only been with the band for two weeks. When I joined the band it was like my second audition and after the audition they were they were playing a show together in two weeks and they told me I was in the band. So we only practiced twice. It was just like so quick and since then its been such a constant onslaught of shows. That particular show I was really nervous, I had no idea what to expect. I really dont even remember how people reacted.
DRE: So it was just a blur for you?
GP: Complete blur. Well I remember the first couple seconds of the first song and nothing else.
DRE: How has it been singing songs that you collaborated on?
GP: For a while now weve played songs that are going to be on this album. Just testing them out and seeing how an audience responds.
DRE: How have they been responding?
GP: Good man but its hard. You cant expect an audience to take in the type of shit that we do by hearing it live. Its all going to be a blur to them. I dont really expect them to go home and remember them. Its not like where you hear a song on the radio and then later on you can hum it. Its a totally different kind of thing. Everybodys been pretty enthusiastic about it. Were going to play a lot of the new songs on this upcoming tour. The whole purpose of this tour is to preview songs off the album. Were probably going to play five or six a night. Hopefully kids will bring their mini-discs [laughs].
DRE: Have you had any conflicts with old school fans?
GP: No not at all, everyones been really supportive. As a fan I would have been really skeptical myself. I was a giant fan of the band before I was in it and if there had been any kind of member change, especially at the singer position, I definitely would have been skeptical. This album is so good, not to toot our own horn or anything, but we really worked hard on it, and we really feel like this is the best this band could possibly do at this point and time. Everybodys abilities, songwriting, the technicality, intensity and everything cant be taken any further. So anybody that is questioning whether were going to be as good as we were on past CDs, well were going to be like a million times better.
DRE: I read that Mike Patton made time to work with the band while they broke you in. Is that right?
GP: When I joined the band that album was already recorded musically. I was in the band for like a year before Mike Patton got time to do his vocals it was just a really hard to get his schedule pinned down because he has so many other projects.
DRE: So what did it do for you to have him help you out?
GP: You mean as a band?
DRE: As a band and you personally.
GP: The greatest thing about that collaboration is that you dont really know what Mike Patton is going to do next. His next CD might sound nothing like his first CD, even though its the same band. Mr. Bungle sounded like a completely different band on all three CDs. The new Fantomas sounds completely different. The new Tomahawk sounds completely different than Fantomas. The new Fantomas sounds different than the last Fantomas album. His whole thing is to not know what to expect from him and I think working with someone like that kind of put us in a similar position, which is a great position to be in because we dont have the shadow of Calculating Infinity hanging over our heads. Now theyve heard Mike Patton sing over our music, which is something that people probably never thought theyd hear. Hes got a million different types of vocal stylings. Im sure a lot of people are expecting this album to be awesome and a lot of people are expecting it to suck. If they didnt like the Mike Patton thing theyre probably thinking to themselves This bands done, theyll never do anything as good as Calculating again. Weve heard stuff like that from people and weve heard people say Irony is the greatest thing weve ever done. Thats great because no one has any idea what to expect and that just puts us in a good position. Me personally it was a lot of pressure taken off because he did so much vocally on that album. Now I can pretty much do anything and have it not be a shock to people.
DRE: I heard youre like an ape up on stage.
GP: [laughs] Aw man how did you hear that particular word? I want to know where that came from.
DRE: I read it in some article. That youre like King Kong on top of the speakers.
GP: Thats so fucking funny man. Everybody in the band is always comparing me to a monkey. People in other bands just refer to me as the Ape. We toured with Icarus Line and after two shows hey were just like Hey whats up Ape. They didnt even refer to me as Greg. Everybody keeps comparing me to a monkey or something. I really cant figure it out. The guys will get a kick out of that. Ive got to tell them that you brought that up.
DRE: Well its because the way you sing is so animalistic. Do you feel like you revert to something else when youre up on stage?
GP: Oh, I definitely think so. I dont walk around in public destroying things and flipping out. We were in a Dennys once and there were some younger kids like 13 or 14 years old who just saw our show. They were talking to us and they couldnt believe that we could just sit and have a good time. Did they think we were going to walk into Dennys and start fucking throwing chairs across the room and jumping on top of the table?
I think I probably would have a lot more frustration in our day to day life if I didnt have this band. The band is a great outlet for that. Just day to day stresses that just build up, we dont really have any other way of dealing with it and I think thats a problem in society right now. People dont have a way of coping in a world where everyones just kind of squeezed into particular molds and a lot of people are unhappy with the role that they play. Its just great to have music as a way to deal with it because so many people dont.
DRE: So its a big release for you?
GP: Oh yeah. Also besides being a release we just get so caught up that you cant really separate the music from the physical manifestation of it because you just feel when that the performance is just channeling through you. So as long as you keep yourself relaxed, you just allow it to take control of you and whatever happens, happens. We dont plan on flipping out or plan on going ape shit. Its not like that. If we were to play and the vibe felt pretty dead, wed just be Alright were just going to stand still tonight. That would be perfectly fine as long as it felt non-forced.
DRE: And if you werent doing music, would you walk into Dennys and flip out?
GP: [laughs] You never know, man. I think thats a lot of the reason why certain stuff happens now like teenagers committing violent crimes. Its the whole scenario where you hear about people going into offices and just flipping out. You never know what would happen if you didnt have the thing that kept you sane. For some people its their families for us its music. Who knows what would happen I might become like an alcoholic or a drug addict, or you might walk into Dennys and fucking throw French fries around.
DRE: When did you start blowing fire?
GP: Well I started breathing fire pretty soon after I joined.
DRE: Were you doing it before you joined?
GP: I had done it a couple of times. It seems to really add something to the show but now we cant do it because of Great White.
DRE: Oh thats right.
GP: They ruined it for everyone. We used to do it in clubs and now as soon as we get to the club the first thing they say to us is they cant have any of that on stage. Some clubs are actually concerned about lights being too close to rugs and things. People dont realize what an impact that incident had on clubs fire codes and things like that. It was immediate across the country. Every single club on the tour after that happened, called us up beforehand to make sure there wasnt going to be any of that, or theyd get fined five thousand dollars.
DRE: Thats too bad.
GP: Yeah, whatever, but were not about breathing fire. Its actually kind of a relief we cant do it in some ways. Some kids get bummed, they come to us and theyre like oh I went home and told my friend that you were crazy and you breathed fire. Now I bring my friend to the show and you guys didnt breathe fire. Im like Sorry, I let you down dude. Were not about fucking fire or having a trapeze artist on stage. I dont want a gimmick to become more important than what we are really about.
DRE: That makes sense. Is Error happening?
GP: Yeah man, Im really happy about how thats come about. That was just an amazing thing to be involved in, I mean.
DRE: Yeah, Its Brett [Gurewitz] and Leopold Ross right?
GP: Its Brett, Leopold, and Atticus Ross. Atticus is a sick programmer. Hes just a guy from England, who is just disgusting at electronic things, somehow he caught the eye of Trent Reznor and now hes working with Trent on the new Nine Inch Nails record. Atticus and Brett met at a party or something and found they have a lot of the same musical ideals. I think him and Atticus really wanted to catch the spirit of punk and hardcore, but use more of an electronic medium, just because you do so much more with it. You can turn anything into part of a song by sampling, distorting and fucking with it so much that you cant even tell what it is. It could be car horn or a dog barking or something youd never even know. So they just came together and wrote five songs. Brett had seen us play a couple times and he said After hearing you live wed definitely like for you to sing on Error. I was just blown away that they even asked me because being involved with someone that is involved with Nine Inch Nails and someone from Bad Religion, its two people of a high caliber right there.
DRE: Thats so cool.
GP: Yeah, its coming out February 24th. Were all excited to see how its received and if we can get our schedules together hopefully we can get a full length out by 2005.
DRE: Awesome.
I know its been a couple of years now. But do you ever just go I was just a fan and now Im in Dillinger Escape Plan.
GP: Sometimes its weird man, because you think of a band as being on a pedestal, before you actually meet them. I was blown away by this band before I was in it. The first year I would just be in sound check watching Chris play drums and Ben play guitar, and I was like Shit, these dudes are absurdly good. There has to be a like a point where you think Im not good enough to play with these dudes. This has got to come to an end. The joke is over. Now that weve realized that were all just right for one another musically. It feels like a perfect fit and I feel like Ive known these dudes my whole life musically and personally.
DRE: And where did you grow up?
GP: In Baltimore.
DRE: How old are you?
GP: 23
DRE: Youre 23?
GP: Yeah Ill be 24 in a couple of months.
DRE: Jesus!
GP: [laughs] Yeah.
DRE: Did you go to college?
GP: Yeah, I went to a year in Maryland and then I didnt really know what I was doing. All I really wanted to do was music from the time I was young. If you want do music then its hard to see what college is going to do for you. If you want to be a symphony player, youre studying horn or something like that Its really not what you want to do. You say you want to sing, you want to be a good rock singer, theres not really too much you can do for that. Im not the type of person who can focus energies on more than a couple of things at once. I couldnt focus on getting a degree just in case this didnt happen. I just had to try to focus all my energy on singing and music and where I need to be, talent wise. I knew that if I kept working at my own ability, that eventually the right opportunity would come. As soon as the Dillinger thing happened, I knew that was it and it felt real natural.
DRE: How are the Dillinger groupies?
GP: They dont exist man. If you find them ask them how they are because Ive never seen them. Honestly if there are girls at the show, theyre usually girlfriends of guys who dragged them there and they really arent to it. I dont understand why there arent a lot of girls at are shows. I dont know if were just not a cool band for girls to like or something. Maybe were not good looking enough; I dont know what it is.
DRE: Do you have a girlfriend?
GP: Yeah, yeah
DRE: How long have you been with her?
GP: Not to long, I dont know how serious it is. We might not be boyfriend/girlfriend. Im not really certain whats going on to be honest with you. Shes just a cool chick that I hang out with a lot we dont really have a title for a relationship.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 7 of 7 COMMENTS
mercie:
I swear, I get so excited when I see Greg on something like this! I am good friends with Greg, no bullshit, and he's an awesome guy. He's funny as shit and smart as hell. I always say Greg is his own person. He definitely marches to the beat of his own drummer, and being in DEP proves that. Love ya Greg!
thedynamicaura:
i love dillinger, and greg has proven to be an amazing addition to the band, the past few live performances i have seen have proven to me what a great artist he truly is! he definatly has the ape traits though hahaha, he flails around all crazy, but then again the rest of the band does as well, thats part of their live "magic" if you will. anyways just wanted to say a few words about the best band ever. dillinger forever muahaha.