The Dillinger Escape Plan
The Dillinger Escape Plan may be one of the most important extreme metal bands of recent memory…but they’ve got horrible luck when it comes to maintaining a stable roster. A tragic automobile accident sidelined original bassist Adam Doll shortly before the release of Dillinger’s classic debut album in 1999. Original vocalist Dimitri Minakakis exited the band in 2001, making way for a recording stint with Mike Patton [you know him] and the introduction of the gnarliest frontman in all of modern metal, Greg Puciato. Guitarist Brian Benoit succumbed to degenerative nerve damage in his left hand and exited the band in 2004, just as his official replacement Jeff Tuttle left the band in 2012 after five years of gnarly stage dives. Inhuman drum cyborg Chris Pennie left the band prior to the recording of their 2007 album, Ire Works, which allowed Gil Sharone to step in and man the drum throne for the next year until Billy Rymer grabbed the sticks in 2009. Thankfully, the musical core of founding guitar hero Ben Weinman, longtime bassist Liam Wilson and singer/acrobat Greg Puciato, has remained strong throughout the 2000’s.
The Haunted
ex-At The Gates drummer Adrian Erlandsson and his guitar warrior homeboy Patrik Jensen formed The Haunted in 1996. They recruited Erlandsson’s old bandmates the Bjorler twins, Jonas and Anders, to fill in on bass and second guitar and also introduced the metal world to the wild musings of frontman Peter Dolving. Erlandsson and Dolving left The Haunted shortly after the release of their self-titled debut in the late 90’s. They were replaced by new screamer Marco Aro and drummer Per Moller Jensen respectively. Aro recorded two albums with the band before jumping ship in 2003, which allowed for Dolving’s return to the fold. The Haunted would go on to enjoy an eight year period of stability until 2012, when three-fifths of their rooster up and quit [Dolving, Per Moller Jensen and Anders Bjorler all said ‘see ya’]. Marco Aro and Adrian Erlandsson have rejoined the team, enjoying their second stint as members of The Haunted, while new axeman Ola Englund was recruited through the magic of YouTube in 2013.
GWAR
The loss of Dave Brockie earlier last year was beyond tragic. Such a talented individual and an iconic persona in the metal world, gone so suddenly. Brockie aka Oderus Urungus, had claimed that GWAR was more important than any one individual member and theoretically could go on forever. It appears as though the unstoppable scumdogs have heeded their master’s advice and have decided to solider on, introducing two new vocalists/characters, Michael Bishop as Blothar and Kim Dylla as Vulvatron, to propel the GWAR machine into the future. Of course GWAR has had an influx of incoming and departing members for decades. Only NASA is qualified to properly calculate all of the band’s former members. It is common knowledge however that there have been four different versions of guitarist Beefcake The Mighty as well as five different incarnations of Flattus Maximus over the years [including Rise Against guitarist Zach Blair]. The Flattus persona was retired after the passing of guitarist Cory Smoot in 2011 and was replaced with a new intergalactic axeman, Pustulus Maximus soon after.
