When a long-standing band announces the end of their days, it can either be due to death, drama in the band leading to breaking up, or gracefully retiring. The Dillinger Escape Plan was formed back in 1997 and, despite the immense popularity and loyal following they’ve acquired throughout the years, the band has decided to call it a day after they conclude their next touring cycle for the upcoming album Dissociation.
In an interview with Noisey, guitarist Ben Weinman detailed the band’s future plans to hang it up once they finish touring next year in support of their newest album, which will be released on October 14 on their own label, Party Smasher Inc. Weinman explained a bit about the decision:
I think in some ways we didn’t want to pull a Seinfeld, you know what I mean? The band has actually never been more prolific and we’re as credible and popular as ever. I think whenever we’re on stage, there’s not another band in the world playing at that time that even comes close to us, and that’s our goal. 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.
The band has a set of shows announced for this summer, but they plan to go into an intense touring cycle in the US and Europe next year, as Weinman explained:
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.
The news shouldn’t come much as a surprise, considering all the points discussed by Weinman and it’s definitely an elegant way to finish things with Dillinger. If for whatever reason you haven’t seen them live, we strongly recommend getting your tickets to see them as soon as they reveal their plans to hit your town. Aside from the fact that they will sell out every single date they perform after this announcement, it promises to be an intense experience and you should definitely see that before it goes away. And if not, well hey, there’s always Giraffe Tongue Orchestra and The Black Queen.
