The Dillinger Escape Plan are about to begin a major promotional push for their sixth album, Dissociation, which will be released October 14th via the band's own Party Smasher Inc. Earlier this week, they posted the first single. But it turns out, the album might be the band's last.
In a new interview with Noisey, band founder Ben Weinman says they want to go out on top:
We're really excited about this new album as well, but at the same time, it's going to be our 20-year anniversary in 2017—it might be even longer because I'm not sure when I started writing songs, but the first EP came out in '97—so I think it's one of those things where we didn't want to get to the point where we're stopping because we have to or because we're old or people are kind of over it. Who knows if that would ever happen, but I feel way more empowered in making hard decisions. I don't like the idea of slowing down or doing it less often, I like to just dive in full-force and take things to the extreme because that's what this band has always been about.
When asked by interviewer Jonah Bayer if it was due to the band's intense live shows, Weinman says that played a part in the decision:
I mean, it's probably a fact that we couldn't do it when we're 60, but we're not stopping right now because we feel incapable, that's for sure. There's a reality that eventually, the type of show that we're doing wouldn't be realistic—I'm pretty much falling apart at the limbs at this point—but it doesn't matter, because when we play, we play. The rest of the world and anything else going on in our lives doesn't exist. I think that's what I'll miss the most, those moments.
Weinman made it clear that the band wasn't ending because of his new project with Mastodon's Brent Hinds, Giraffe Tongue Orchestra:
Not really because I have no intention of replacing Dillinger with GTO at all. It's just about going off and doing these new things in life, new challenges and things like that, which may not be bands at all. The GTO thing for me was just to accomplish putting something out that's not Dillinger, you know? I've been so involved in every aspect of Dillinger for 20 years that I really need to do something else, collaborate with other people and release something that isn't only tied to Dillinger because that isn't really healthy.
As for when they're quitting, it seems like there's still a year of touring left:
We are going to do the cycle for this album and that's it. But there are a lot of things that go into this cycle. We have a full US tour that we'll be doing in the fall and then we'll be doing a massive tour in Europe in the winter, and that will probably take us towards playing other areas like Australia or wherever we have to hit. Then I'm sure we'll come back around and hit summer festivals and figure out what our very last shows will be around that time.
Read the entire interview here.
At the beginning of the interview, it seemed like some sort of prank, but reading through it, it seems like a very deliberate decision by the band and ultimately, a respectable one. One thing is for sure, you damn well believe I gotta see these guys again!
