Sometimes a record comes out a few months into the year that everyone can tell is going to be on their year end top ten list. In 2007, it took right up until mid-November for Dillinger Escape Plan to blow all of our minds with their new album Ire Works.
The disc feels like a new underground street drug that's more potent, mind expanding and scary than the stuff that's currently sweeping the 'hood. And while it's heavier and crazier than Dillinger's last offering, 2004's Miss Machine, it contains the band's catchiest song yet, the Beck-meets-Faith No More apoplexy "Black Bubblegum." Plus, the disc is filled with experimental computer samples and electronic beats that expand the band's musical palate without detracting from their savagery.
From this point forward, life looks pretty promising for the New Jersey extreme metal/hardcore band, however the light comes only after having navigated a long, dark, destructive tunnel that left the group's only original member, songwriter and guitarist Ben Weinman, questioning himself, his bandmates and the entire music scene. Before Dillinger even entered the studio to record, they lost longtime drummer Chris Pennie, who split to join Coheed and Cambria. Then, when they were shooting a video for "Black Bubblegum," Weinman broke his foot, and the first leg of the Ire Works tour had to be canceled.
Headbangers Ball Blog recently sat down for a podcast interview with Ben Weinman, in which the guitarist discussed the departure of Pennie, the addition of new drummer Gil Sharone (ex-Stolen Babies), the creation of Ire Works, the stagnation of heavy music, how to break your foot during a video shoot and the black cloud that seems to follow him.
Click here for a direct MP3 download of the podcast interview with Dillinger Escape Plan's Ben Weinman
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