They hinted at it before, but now Dillinger Escape Plan has confirmed they are working on new stuff, issuing the following update:

"Ben Weinman [guitar] has been holed up like a mad scientist blasting out the furious DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN insanity that will eventually find its way onto our next release. When Ben says that the stuff he's been writing has actually been giving HIM a headache, you know it's gonna be pretty intense.

"We have no touring plans for the immediate future, but you can be sure that we'll take a break from writing at around the halfway point and head out for some quick runs, so that we don't lose our minds (probably too late)."

Color me excited! Dillinger always bring it live, we even have video proof of this fact.

Lately, there has been a lot of speculation as to what's going on with the drummer for THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN. So, Headbangers Blog decided to go directly to the source, guitarist Ben Weinman and ask him just exactly what's going on. The answer is not surprising, Gil has a commitment to his other band STOLEN BABIES and they're trying to figure out a way things could work out for everybody. During the intervew, Ben also talks about dropping off the Suicide Silence tour, his plans for Dillinger’s next album, the band’s upcoming DVD, his opinion of deathcore and his new line of heavy metal t-shirts for dogs. Click here to listen to the interview

Ever since The Dillinger Escape Plan dropped off their co-headlining run with Suicide Silence due to Gil Sharone having previous commitments with his other band, Stolen Babies, rumors have been running rampant that the reason is because Gil Sharone is out of the band. The rumors were further fueled by speculation at the PRP that the band has "allegedly been on the hunt for a suitable replacement with Raanen Bozzio, son of drumming legend Terry Bozzio, said to be a candidate". Raanen even uploaded two videos of him playing Dillinger songs, believed to be his audition. Then a few days later, drummer extraordinaire Marco Minnemann (remember him?) announced at clinic shows that he plans to work with the band in the coming months. Things got so out of hand, that guitarist Ben Weinman had to comment on the situation to Kerrang!:

"He didn't leave and we didn't kick him out. He will be busy, though, working with his other band a lot over the next year, so I am talking to other dudes both for Dillinger possibilities and just for me to play with on other creative projects. We still may be touring and writing with Gil, though. Kinda in the air. No big drama though or anything."

So there you have it. He's busy alright! He may or may not be back!

While no well-versed metalhead would ever consider the ambient sounds of SPYLACOPA to be "metal" by any stretch of the imagination, there are good reasons why news of a debut release from a band that unites members from so many noteworthy metal bands to be of importance. Although this slowly developing project has been Brooklyn-based former CANDIRIA guitarist John LaMaccia's baby since the band disbanded few years ago, the project has accumulated a cast of cohorts over the course of its life that have turned it into a kind of supergroup of sorts. As of now, SPYLACOPA consists of LaMaccia, Greg Puciato of DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, Julie Christmas of MADE OUT OF BABIES and BATTLE FOR MICE, Jeff Caxide of ISIS, (and formerly Chris Hornbrook of POISON THE WELL). Their debut EP will be independently released on November 4 in an extremely limited pressing.

Those who are familiar with CANDIRIA would agree that they were one of the most progressive hardcore/metal bands to be birthed from the scene in the late-90s. While their polyrhythmic technicality and tendency to embrace everything from ambience to free jazz to hip-hop helped to lure in many dedicated listeners, that same eclecticness and propensity to experiment also made it hard for them to cross into more conventional metal territories. In SPYLACOPA, LaMaccia and friends are delving even further into the atmospheric and decidedly "non-metal" aspects which make their respective bands so unique within their sphere of music. SPYLACOPA approach electronic music from a much different point-of-view than is typical for the genre, and as such they layer their songs with a brooding intensity that is not very different structurally from the heavier sounds of their other bands. Although SPYLACOPA has much more in common with artists such as MASSIVE ATTACK or LUSTMORD than the likes of DEP, ISIS, MADE OUT OF BABIES, or CANDIRIA, there is a different kind of rage and a chaos subliminally present within the music that makes it a great listen for even a casual fan of these musicians. Either way, it's an interesting experiment that might give you a better perspective of what is inspiring the artists in all these bands right now. If you're interested in hearing more, check out the band at their homepage at www.myspace.com/spylacopa and pay attention for more info on this unique release in November.

Oh noes…The Dillinger Escape Plan have announced that they had to drop off their upcoming tour with Suicide Silence. A post on their MySpace page reads:

Some of you may have seen October tour dates posted for a tour we were to take part in. Due to circumstances beyond our control(no we're not breaking up so don't believe anything that might start floating around on the internet) we will not be taking part in that tour. We wish every other band on the tour well, and hope that it is a great success for them and for the people behind the scenes working hard to make it a great tour.

e have a lot of exciting things happening. The best of which is writing for the next album, which we'll record sometime next year. We have a good amount of ideas in the initial testing stages, and we're about to really dive in. We also have a DVD of early years Dillinger in the works for all you old heads or people interested in a history lesson.

After a little bit of investigative journalism, we can report that the reason the band had to drop off is because drummer Gil Sharone's other band Stolen Babies just announced a slew of gigs in October which I'm assuming took precedence. The entire blog post is worth a read. In related news, we just reuploaded the band's entire January 2005 performance at the Virgin Megastore. Definitely worth a watch. Also worth the watch, is their latest video diary:

More dates have been released for SUICIDE SILENCE's headlining tour with DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN (Update: Dillinger Escape Plan announced they had to drop off the tour.), EMMURE, BENEATH THE MASSACRE and ARCHITECTS. This is one not to be missed, folks. Dates are:

October 03rd Albuquerque, NM - Sunshine Theatre
October 04th Denver, CO - Cervantes Ballroom
October 05th Wichita, KS - Club Oz
October 06th St. Louis, MO - Pop's
October 07th Louisville, KY - Headliners Music Hall
October 08th Detroit, MI - Majestic Theatre
October 09th Cleveland, OH - Peabody's
October 10th New York, NY - The Fillmore At Irving Plaza
October 11th Worcester, MA - The Palladium
October 12th Sayreville, NJ - Starland Ballroom
October 13th Montreal, QC - Club Soda
October 14th Toronto, ON - Opera House
October 15th Albany, NY - Northern Lights
October 16th Buffalo, NY - Xtreme Wheels
October 17th Baltimore, MD - Sonar
October 18th Richmond, VA - Canal Club ("Virginia Metal & Hardcore Festival")
October 19th Huntington, WV - Monkey Bar
October 20th Raleigh, NC - Lincoln Theatre
October 21st Atlanta, GA - TBA
October 22nd Tampa, FL - TBA
October 24th San Antonio, TX - The White Rabbit
October 25th Ft. Worth, TX - Ridglea Theater
October 26th Houston, TX - Java Jazz
October 27th Tulsa, OK - The Marquee
October 29th El Paso, TX - Club 101
November 01st San Diego, CA - Soma
November 02nd Los Angeles, CA - House of Blues

The Fall is looking better and better with tours galore from a bunch of awesome artists. Case in point: SUICIDE SILENCE will be teaming up with THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN for a co-headlining run and they are taking EMMURE and BENEATH THE MASSACRE along for the ride. So far, only two dates have officially been announced

October 10 - New York, NY @ The Fillmore at Irving Plaza
October 15th Clifton Park, NY - Northern Lights
October 20 - Raleigh, NC @ Lincoln Theatre

If you haven't seen these bands live, we have plenty of live footage in our vaults (Suicide Silence, Dillinger Escape Plan, Beneath the Massacre) to get you up to speed!

In related news, DEP have posted another tour diary which can be viewed here.

Lots of media on the interwebs right now, so we figured we'd post a little roundup of whats out there:

> LAMB OF GOD have posted a video for the track "Walk With Me In Hell" off of their last album, Sacrament. Check the video here. The video is to promote the DVD of the same name which features a full length documentary and new live footage. Check out the trailer to the DVD here.

> CRYPTOPSY have premiered their new video on Headbangers Blog. The video was shot by David Brodsky in upstate New York.

> Everybody knows that MOTORHEAD frontman Lemmy is a bad mother fucker. So bad, in fact, that somebody is making a whole documentary about that very fact. Fuck yes! Check out the awesome trailer right here. The band has also announced they are releasing a new album, Motorizer on August 26 in the US, August 29 in Germany and September 1 in the rest of Europe.

> Three new (shitty) bootlegs of ANTHRAX performing with their new vocalist have made their way online. Check out Fight ‘Em Til You Can’t, Revolution Screams and Vampyres.

> Swedish death metal outfit SCAR SYMMETRY (or as Frank calls them: Death Jovi) have posted their entire album available on their MySpace page.

> Not to be outdone, AMON AMARTH have posted another studio diary which can be viewed here.

> DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN have begun a series of tour diaries which they will continuously post throughout the summer. Check out the first one here

> Finally, check out this cool interview with the makers of "Metal: A Headbangers Journey" as well as the upcoming "Global Metal" documentary.

Well, it was fun while it lasted, but it looks like this whole beef between DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN and DISTURBED may be coming to an end. Earlier today, Ben Weinman posted a guest blog on Headbangers Blog putting this whole feud to an end, blaming being initially misquoted by the author of the piece by writing:

I was asked in an interview about whether or not we practice our stage show based on the fact that we are so active. I simply said no, and that I once saw Disturbed sound check in London when we were playing the smaller club attached to the venue that they were playing the same night. I think our room was 1000 people and their room was like 2,000 people. They were practicing where they would stand and pose and stuff. I was just differentiating what we do and what they do. We don’t do that. Big deal.

Considering how the information was presented to them, I don’t blame them for being a little pissed. But to imply that we need to be taught a lesson from them about how it works in the big time is ridiculous. This band has been self contained and managed for 11 years. We have played in front of 100 people and in front of 50,000 people. We have been on national TV shows and covered in major publications. I don’t really care about their lighting cues or guitar solos. Good for them and good luck with that. I hope they sell a codrillian records and levitate over the crowd on a unicorn. Oh and just to clear another thing up… I never even responded to his comments until now. I don’t write our MySpace blogs. So again, misinformation.

Ok cool, but he did still say that Disturbed guitarist "Dom Deluise or whatever his name is with the little peen complex" but hey, we'll give you a pass cause that was f'n hysterical. We know that where there are shitty bands, Dillinger will be there to call them out on their small peens!

We have tried to stay out of this little "beef" that is manifesting between the DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN and DISTURBED. In case you are not in the loop yet, our buddy Axl Rosenberg over at MetalSucks wrote a pretty fantastic piece on the whole situation a few weeks back. This gist of it was: Dillinger guitarist Ben Weinman talked about seeing Disturbed's sound check and his amazement at how rehearsed everything was, even down to where to stand for solos, to which Disturbed guitarist Dan Donegan was all like "We sell more records than you." Not one to be outdone, Ben posted a blog on the band's Myspace page recently with the following message for Mr. Donegan:

The guitar player Dom Deluise or whatever his name is with the little peen complex from that band Disturbia or whatever they're called thinks that we care about them. Old news, but still funny. Check it. "My Ferrari is better than your Honda!!! Our stages come apart and travel with us and yours don't!!! We have thirty guitar techs and you have one!". Coooool self esteem barometer douchebag. Wait…what's that I hear? The sound of your band still sucking? Oh, right. Gotcha there, bud.

Mega-burn! Then, earlier today interview excerpts were posted on Blabbermouth from a recent interview on Rockline, with DISTURBED frontman David Draiman, and the dude seemed to take the high road: (more…)

DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN keep it surreal in this new clip for their latest single "Black Bubblegum", one of the mellower tunes on their latest release Ire Works. The clip was directed by Ilan Sharone for Pneumatic Pictures.

If you haven't checked it out yet, a few months back we posted a fantastic interview with vocalist Greg Pucatio, where he tells some awesome stories regarding the recording process for the new record and tells a rad story about shrooming in the Grand Canyon. Check out all of our DEP videos here.

More dates have been posted for CAVALERA CONSPIRACY's upcoming headlining run with DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, THROWDOWN, BURY YOUR DEAD and INCITE. Max Cavalera has been quoted as saying this will most likely be the only U.S. tour the band does in support of this record, so make sure to check it out. The final itinerary is as follows:

July 17 - Electric Factory, Philadelphia, PA
July 18 - The Palladium, Worcester, MA
July 19 – The Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza, New York, NY
July 20 - The Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza, New York, NY
July 21 - Rams Head Live, Baltimore, MD
July 23 - Vic Theater, Chicago, IL
July 24 - Orbit Room, Grand Rapids, MI
July 25 - Wake Stock, Toronto, ONT Canada
July 26 - McMahon Stadium, Calgary, ALB Canada (Monsters of Rock fest)
July 27 - Myth, St. Paul, MN
July 29 - Gothic Theater, Englewood, CO
July 31 - The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA
Aug 2 - House of Blues, Anaheim, CA
Aug 5 - House of Blues, Hollywood, CA

Brace yourself. CAVALERA CONSPIRACY is heading out this summer with THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, THROWDOWN, BURY YOUR DEAD, and INCITE. CAVALERA and DILLINGER?!! Sign me up. The first round of dates have been announced:

July 17 - Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory
July 18 - Worcester, MA @ The Palladium
July 19 - New York, NY @ The Fillmore at Irving Plaza
July 20 - New York, NY @ The Fillmore at Irving Plaza
July 21 - Baltimore, MD @ Rams Head Live
July 25 - Toronto, ON @ Toronto Island Wakefest
July 26 - Calgary, AB @ Monsters of Rock