Considering that his band won Best Metal Album at the recent U.S. Plug Awards, it comes as a surprise when Dillinger Escape Plan vocalist Greg Puciato admits, Im not too big into metal. Having left a trail of destruction and confused metal fans in their wake since the release of their 1998 E.P. Under The Running Board, DEP are dragging the genre into directions it has never been before. Their latest album, Miss Machine, received rave reviews across the board, in both the metal press and beyond, drawing comparisons to Nine Inch Nails and even Radiohead.
Im not really excited by anything new thats happening in the metal scene, says Greg. I like Converge, and a couple of other heavy bands. A lot of heavy bands only tour with one another. You read a lot of interviews about what people listen to, and theyre always like, We listen to a lot of metal, we listen to a lot of hardcore. If you only play with one another and you only listen to one another, then youre gonna end up sounding like one another.
We speak to Greg easily as pumped as Henry Rollins backstage on the latest date of DEPs successful headlining tour. This tour has taken them all over Europe and the U.S. In support are like-minded hardcore band Poison The Well. Were really good friends with those guys, says Greg. We try to take bands on tour that have nothing to do with the way we sound.
Not that this always pleases the audience. In an hours time, Poison The Wells melodic hardcore will be greeted with shouts of Pantera!!! Pantera!!! from the more disgruntled factions of the crowd. Later on, Dillingers set is also met with confusion and, for the first half of the set, there is no moshpit. There is a noticeable conflict between the bands and the audience. However, for Dillinger, a band always driven by hostility, this is nothing new.
We played these festivals in Scandinavia with, like, PJ Harvey and Alicia Keys, says Greg, laughing at the absurdity of it. We dont think those musicians are amazing, but we realised a lot people that listen to them would think were terrible, and a lot of people that listen to us would probably think that theyre terrible. We just wanna show people that you dont have to listen to just one thing. That there are other emotions that can be expressed through music, and it doesnt all have to be a certain way.
Greg Puciato joined Dillinger Escape Plan in August 2001. By this point, the band had already released their seminal 1999 debut LP Calculating Infinity which shifted the goalposts of metal, showing how it could benefit by drawing influences from different genres. Shortly afterwards, original vocalist Dimitri Minakakis quit, saying he was no longer excited by the band. The remaining members began the hunt for a new singer, putting an instrumental version of their track 43% Burnt on a website and inviting young hopefuls to supply vocals for it. Of those who rose to the challenge, only Puciatos cut the mustard. He made his live debut with the band in October 2001, to glowing reviews.
By this point, however, DEP had already signed up with the legendary vocalist Mike Patton, to begin work on the Irony Is Dead Scene EP. A cursory listen to Calculating Infinity had drawn Patton to the group. When I joined they were like, Weve already agreed to do the EP with Mike Patton, does that bother you? remembers Greg. I was like, Nah, its something youve already agreed upon. He [Patton] actually asked if I wanted to do backing vocals, and I was like, I dont want my first release with this band to be playing second fiddle to somebody else. Just do your thing, and Ill do mine.
In the mean time, the new Puciato-fronted Dillinger supported System Of A Down on their world tour. We did that System Of A Down tour and people hated us on it, smiles Greg. Nevertheless, Dillinger felt an affinity with the headliners. I remember hearing SOADs early stuff and thinking, Woah, dude, thats intense! I think their early stuff sounded to the mainstream what our stuff probably sounds like to the mainstream now. We feel a strong kinship to them, and to bands like Tool and Nine Inch Nails that have come out, have defied odds. Theyve become huge entities on their own terms. I think that the point were at right now is a ridiculous accomplishment for how insane our music is to most people.
Dillinger have a right to enjoy their success. For a band so willfully confrontational, and defiantly original, building up a steady fan base in the five-year gap between Calculating Infinity and Miss Machine is a major accomplishment. It feels good, man, to know to these people have probably done some kind of work to enjoy this band. Its not an easy listen. I think its kind of changed the way I feel on stage, to more of a celebration of knowing that we helped to change these kids minds a little, maybe. In the five years since Calculating Infintity, how have Dillinger won people over?
I think maybe Calculating Infinity was just far enough ahead of its time. I think if we had waited any longer, we would have been fucked, honestly. But I feel that the Mike Patton EP helped a great deal, man, bringing in listeners who have never even heard of us before, and I think if it wasnt for it, that it would have been career suicide to wait five years between two albums. However, the the EP received as much attention as a full-length would have.
It certainly did. The Irony Is A Dead Scene EP is a lasting testiment to the possibilities of hardcore metal, with Mike Patton contributing his diverse vocal styles and influences to one of DEPs heaviest offerings. Their cover of Aphex Twins Come To Daddy attracted the most attention, forging a link between metal and electronica not seen since the Nine Inch Nails remix album Things Falling Apart. Pattons influence also provided a springboard for Puciatos debut on Miss Machine.
It allowed me to do whatever I wanted on the album without people being shocked. He [Patton] came out and pretty much made every sound a human being could make over our music. I think he freed me up to sing without pressure, from worrying what are kids going to think? Now, nobody has any idea what to expect from us, cause I feel now that our past three releases have sounded completely different. Miss Machine is nothing like the other two, so I feel we can go anywhere now. I think, artistically, its the best position to be in.
Miss Machine delves further into the other-worldliness of Irony, exploring the bands love of electronica and other non-metal genres and - like kindred spirits Mike Patton and Mad Capsule Markets - introduces fresh influences to metal. The bands use of laptops when recording ensures that even hardened metal fans will hear sounds they havent heard before. Me and Chris [Pennie, drums] are huge soundtrack fans, explains Greg. We actually do a lot on the side, theres programming stuff and instrumentals. We just dont want to try to fit it into this band. We can maybe sell it to a big video game company.
As well as its numerous excursions into electronica and movie-like ambience, Miss Machine also excites with its references to early-D.C. Hardcore, particularly in live favourite Babys First Coffin (think Slayers Reign In Blood crossed with Queens Of The Stone Age and the random cut-ups of DJ Shadow, and youre part way there). For Puciato, a native of Baltimore, the influence of hardcore was inevitable.
My biggest influence to start singing? That was H.R. from Bad Brains. But honestly, I probably listen to more Hip-hop and R n B than almost any other type of music. I think it maybe just comes from growing up in a city, an urban setting like Baltimore. Thats pretty much the only type of music people listen to around there, so its pretty inescapable.
While Babys First Coffin allows the band to exercise their Black Flag fetish, lengthy slow-burner Phone Home has invited comparisons to Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails, breaking from the confines of metal to create something textured and atmospheric. As a whole, Miss Machine showcases a technical flair and creative spontaneity that eclipses anything the band achieved on Calculating Infinity. Meanwhile, the space left by Mike Patton allows Greg to explore a range of vocal styles that Dimitri would never have dared. Miss Machine is an album unafraid of challenging its audience, and he displays confidence and conviction throughout.
Amidst the apocalyptic madness of Sunshine the Werewolf, for instance, he screams the listener into submission with the line, Without my existence, you are nothing!! Greg insists that most of his lyrics are inadvertently dealing with relationship issues, and with lines like We fucked like a nuclear war release, and Cracks slip between my desire to keep your broken heart bleeding, on Phone Home, you cant help but wonder what his girlfriend makes of it all.
Among the surprises packed by Miss Machine, are the tracks Ultraretrofied and the single Setting Fire To Sleeping Giants, which contain choruses and dont threaten internal haemorrhaging to whoever hears them. This, along with Plug Awards win putting them alongside the likes of Interpol and Tom Waits suggests that a cross-over (of some sort at least) might be on the cards.
Not that appealing to the mainstream is part of the bands agenda. For now, they remain devoted to their cause, backed by an ever-growing army of supporters who respect their mission to avoid compromise, never sell-out and push their music to its limits. As Greg says, Dillinger is a name built on being confrontational.
We just set out to be intense, but different, yknow, he says. We wanted to write something where, even people who listened to some of the most brutal death metal at the time or any death metal at the time could hear this and be like, What the fucks going on? I hope thats still the case for a lot of people.
For Dillinger Escape Plan, it looks like confrontation is the way forward.
Im not really excited by anything new thats happening in the metal scene, says Greg. I like Converge, and a couple of other heavy bands. A lot of heavy bands only tour with one another. You read a lot of interviews about what people listen to, and theyre always like, We listen to a lot of metal, we listen to a lot of hardcore. If you only play with one another and you only listen to one another, then youre gonna end up sounding like one another.
We speak to Greg easily as pumped as Henry Rollins backstage on the latest date of DEPs successful headlining tour. This tour has taken them all over Europe and the U.S. In support are like-minded hardcore band Poison The Well. Were really good friends with those guys, says Greg. We try to take bands on tour that have nothing to do with the way we sound.
Not that this always pleases the audience. In an hours time, Poison The Wells melodic hardcore will be greeted with shouts of Pantera!!! Pantera!!! from the more disgruntled factions of the crowd. Later on, Dillingers set is also met with confusion and, for the first half of the set, there is no moshpit. There is a noticeable conflict between the bands and the audience. However, for Dillinger, a band always driven by hostility, this is nothing new.
We played these festivals in Scandinavia with, like, PJ Harvey and Alicia Keys, says Greg, laughing at the absurdity of it. We dont think those musicians are amazing, but we realised a lot people that listen to them would think were terrible, and a lot of people that listen to us would probably think that theyre terrible. We just wanna show people that you dont have to listen to just one thing. That there are other emotions that can be expressed through music, and it doesnt all have to be a certain way.
Greg Puciato joined Dillinger Escape Plan in August 2001. By this point, the band had already released their seminal 1999 debut LP Calculating Infinity which shifted the goalposts of metal, showing how it could benefit by drawing influences from different genres. Shortly afterwards, original vocalist Dimitri Minakakis quit, saying he was no longer excited by the band. The remaining members began the hunt for a new singer, putting an instrumental version of their track 43% Burnt on a website and inviting young hopefuls to supply vocals for it. Of those who rose to the challenge, only Puciatos cut the mustard. He made his live debut with the band in October 2001, to glowing reviews.
By this point, however, DEP had already signed up with the legendary vocalist Mike Patton, to begin work on the Irony Is Dead Scene EP. A cursory listen to Calculating Infinity had drawn Patton to the group. When I joined they were like, Weve already agreed to do the EP with Mike Patton, does that bother you? remembers Greg. I was like, Nah, its something youve already agreed upon. He [Patton] actually asked if I wanted to do backing vocals, and I was like, I dont want my first release with this band to be playing second fiddle to somebody else. Just do your thing, and Ill do mine.
In the mean time, the new Puciato-fronted Dillinger supported System Of A Down on their world tour. We did that System Of A Down tour and people hated us on it, smiles Greg. Nevertheless, Dillinger felt an affinity with the headliners. I remember hearing SOADs early stuff and thinking, Woah, dude, thats intense! I think their early stuff sounded to the mainstream what our stuff probably sounds like to the mainstream now. We feel a strong kinship to them, and to bands like Tool and Nine Inch Nails that have come out, have defied odds. Theyve become huge entities on their own terms. I think that the point were at right now is a ridiculous accomplishment for how insane our music is to most people.
Dillinger have a right to enjoy their success. For a band so willfully confrontational, and defiantly original, building up a steady fan base in the five-year gap between Calculating Infinity and Miss Machine is a major accomplishment. It feels good, man, to know to these people have probably done some kind of work to enjoy this band. Its not an easy listen. I think its kind of changed the way I feel on stage, to more of a celebration of knowing that we helped to change these kids minds a little, maybe. In the five years since Calculating Infintity, how have Dillinger won people over?
I think maybe Calculating Infinity was just far enough ahead of its time. I think if we had waited any longer, we would have been fucked, honestly. But I feel that the Mike Patton EP helped a great deal, man, bringing in listeners who have never even heard of us before, and I think if it wasnt for it, that it would have been career suicide to wait five years between two albums. However, the the EP received as much attention as a full-length would have.
It certainly did. The Irony Is A Dead Scene EP is a lasting testiment to the possibilities of hardcore metal, with Mike Patton contributing his diverse vocal styles and influences to one of DEPs heaviest offerings. Their cover of Aphex Twins Come To Daddy attracted the most attention, forging a link between metal and electronica not seen since the Nine Inch Nails remix album Things Falling Apart. Pattons influence also provided a springboard for Puciatos debut on Miss Machine.
It allowed me to do whatever I wanted on the album without people being shocked. He [Patton] came out and pretty much made every sound a human being could make over our music. I think he freed me up to sing without pressure, from worrying what are kids going to think? Now, nobody has any idea what to expect from us, cause I feel now that our past three releases have sounded completely different. Miss Machine is nothing like the other two, so I feel we can go anywhere now. I think, artistically, its the best position to be in.
Miss Machine delves further into the other-worldliness of Irony, exploring the bands love of electronica and other non-metal genres and - like kindred spirits Mike Patton and Mad Capsule Markets - introduces fresh influences to metal. The bands use of laptops when recording ensures that even hardened metal fans will hear sounds they havent heard before. Me and Chris [Pennie, drums] are huge soundtrack fans, explains Greg. We actually do a lot on the side, theres programming stuff and instrumentals. We just dont want to try to fit it into this band. We can maybe sell it to a big video game company.
As well as its numerous excursions into electronica and movie-like ambience, Miss Machine also excites with its references to early-D.C. Hardcore, particularly in live favourite Babys First Coffin (think Slayers Reign In Blood crossed with Queens Of The Stone Age and the random cut-ups of DJ Shadow, and youre part way there). For Puciato, a native of Baltimore, the influence of hardcore was inevitable.
My biggest influence to start singing? That was H.R. from Bad Brains. But honestly, I probably listen to more Hip-hop and R n B than almost any other type of music. I think it maybe just comes from growing up in a city, an urban setting like Baltimore. Thats pretty much the only type of music people listen to around there, so its pretty inescapable.
While Babys First Coffin allows the band to exercise their Black Flag fetish, lengthy slow-burner Phone Home has invited comparisons to Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails, breaking from the confines of metal to create something textured and atmospheric. As a whole, Miss Machine showcases a technical flair and creative spontaneity that eclipses anything the band achieved on Calculating Infinity. Meanwhile, the space left by Mike Patton allows Greg to explore a range of vocal styles that Dimitri would never have dared. Miss Machine is an album unafraid of challenging its audience, and he displays confidence and conviction throughout.
Amidst the apocalyptic madness of Sunshine the Werewolf, for instance, he screams the listener into submission with the line, Without my existence, you are nothing!! Greg insists that most of his lyrics are inadvertently dealing with relationship issues, and with lines like We fucked like a nuclear war release, and Cracks slip between my desire to keep your broken heart bleeding, on Phone Home, you cant help but wonder what his girlfriend makes of it all.
Among the surprises packed by Miss Machine, are the tracks Ultraretrofied and the single Setting Fire To Sleeping Giants, which contain choruses and dont threaten internal haemorrhaging to whoever hears them. This, along with Plug Awards win putting them alongside the likes of Interpol and Tom Waits suggests that a cross-over (of some sort at least) might be on the cards.
Not that appealing to the mainstream is part of the bands agenda. For now, they remain devoted to their cause, backed by an ever-growing army of supporters who respect their mission to avoid compromise, never sell-out and push their music to its limits. As Greg says, Dillinger is a name built on being confrontational.
We just set out to be intense, but different, yknow, he says. We wanted to write something where, even people who listened to some of the most brutal death metal at the time or any death metal at the time could hear this and be like, What the fucks going on? I hope thats still the case for a lot of people.
For Dillinger Escape Plan, it looks like confrontation is the way forward.
VIEW 21 of 21 COMMENTS
bethbr00tality:
best band EVAR. and really nice guys to boot. =] i'm glad to see this interview on here, even if it's old. looking forward to Option Paralysis. They have never let me down.
milloux:
Greg is my lover. SO fucken awesome.