Dillinger Escape Plan scared of a life without gigs

A picture of The Dillinger Escape Plan in concert
Dillinger's Ben Weinman and Greg Puciato take to the crowd (Image credit: Getty)

The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Ben Weinman says he will miss the band’s frantic live shows when the band call it quits.

The group confirmed recently that their new album, Dissociation, will be their last and that they’ll split once the related touring commitments come to an end.

Looking back on a number of smaller shows they’ve played in recent weeks, guitarist Weinman says not having those to look forward to scares him – even though they often lead to nasty injuries.

He tells Fret 12: “The last couple of weeks we’ve done intentionally small shows. My eye like exploded so bad. I had to play all the shows and I couldn’t see, I had stitches.

“That’s not a big deal, it’s what happens when you’re in such close proximity and trying to have the free expression. I love the small shows, but there are some shows we played in the last few weeks that were straight up stupid.

“The scary thing for me, in ending this, is I’m not scared of continuing to do this – I’m scared of not having those shows.”

But the revelation doesn’t mean he’s having second thoughts about calling time on the band after almost 20 years.

He adds: “In another respect, this grind is hard so I think that being able to focus on other things is exciting. And you can’t really do that unless you close some doors. I do think about the fact that I can’t do this forever. Physically, it’s just not possible.

“It forces you to have to either go down a road that a lot of musicians go down, drugs and alcohol, and just fall apart… but we’ve used it as an opportunity to learn about ourselves and grow. To dive inside and look into what it is that makes us tick and makes the world tick.”

This week, Weinman recalled an early Dillinger gig during which he whacked a disruptive fan in the face with his guitar.

The Dillinger Escape Plan are currently touring in North America, with dates to follow in the UK and Europe until March.

The Dillinger Escape Plan tour dates

Oct 19: Indianapolis Vogue, IN
Oct 20: Sauget Pop’s Nightclub, IL
Oct 21: Lawrence Granada, KS
Oct 22: Denver Marquid Theater, CO
Oct 23: Salt Lake City Urban Lounge, UT
Oct 25: Seattle El Corazon, WA
Oct 26: Portland Dante’s, OR
Oct 27: Berkeley UC Theatre, CA
Oct 28: San Diego Brick By Brick, CA
Oct 30: Los Angeles Regent, LA
Oct 31: Phoenix Marquee, AZ
Nov 01: El Paso Tricky Falls, TX
Nov 03: San Antonio Paper Tiger, TX
Nov 04: Dallas Trees, TX
Nov 05: Austin Sound On Sound Festival, TX
Nov 06: Houston White Oak Music Hall, TX
Nov 07: New Orleans Southport Hall, LA
Nov 09: Ft Lauderdale Revolution, FL
Nov 11: Atlanta Variety Playhouse, GA
Nov 13: Knoxville Concourse, TN
Nov 15: Philadelphia Union Transfer, PA
Nov 16: Boston Paradise Rock Club, MA
Nov 17: Burlington Club Metronome, MT
Nov 18: Huntington Paramount, NY
Nov 19: Hartford Webster, CT
Jan 18: Norwich Waterfront, UK
Jan 19: Glasgow QMU, UK
Jan 20: Manchester Academy 2, UK
Jan 21: Nottingham Rock City, UK
Jan 22: Birmingham The Institute, UK
Jan 23: Cardiff Tramshed, UK
Jan 25: London O2 Forum, UK
Jan 26: Brighton Concorde 2, UK
Jan 27: Tilburg 013, Netherlands
Jan 28: Amsterdam Melkweg, Netherlands
Jan 30: Hamburg Markthalle, Germany
Jan 31: Odense Muiskhuset Posten, Denmark
Feb 01: Arhus Voxhall, Denmark
Feb 02: Oslo Rockefeller, Norway
Feb 04: Helsinki Tavastia, Finland
Feb 05: Tampere Klubi, Finland
Feb 07: Stockholm Debaser Strand, Sweden
Feb 08: Gothenburg Pustervik, Sweden
Feb 09: Copenhagen Pumpehuset, Denmark
Feb 10: Berlin Columbia Theatre, Germany
Feb 11: Warsaw Stodola, Poland
Feb 12: Krakrow Kwadrat, Poland
Feb 14: Leipzig Conne Island, Germany
Feb 15: Prague Rock Cafe, Czech Republic
Feb 16: Vienna Szene, Austria
Feb 17: Budapest A38, Hungary
Feb 18: Zagreb Culture Factory, Croatia
Feb 20: Munich Backstage Halle, Germany
Feb 21: Lausanne Les Docks, Switzerland
Feb 22: Turin Hiroshima Mon Amour, Italy
Feb 23: Bologna Zona Roveri, Italy
Feb 24: Lyon L’Epicerie Moderne, France
Feb 25: Barcelona Apolo, Spain
Feb 26: Madrid Barcelo, Spain
Feb 28: Toulouse Le Bikini, France
Mar 01: Paris Le Trabendo, France
Mar 02: Strasbourg La Laiterie, France
Mar 03: Wiesbaden Schlachthof, France
Mar 04: Cologne Gloria, Germany
Mar 05: Brussels AB Ballroom, Belgium

Why have Dillinger Escape Plan really decided to call it quits?

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.