When The Dillinger Escape Plan pulled the pin in 2017, it felt final. No dramatic farewell comeback promises. It was just a clean, chaotic end.
But last year, the band returned to the stage for the 25th anniversary of Calculating Infinity, and the response was a lot louder than expected.
The Brooklyn reunion in June saw the band rip through Calculating Infinity in full, with original vocalist Dimitri Minakakis back on deck alongside Ben Weinman, Liam Wilson, and Billy Rymer. Since then, they’ve kept the engine warm, playing scattered shows that dig deep into Dillinger’s earliest and rawest material.
Speaking with Blabbermouth, Weinman admitted the return wasn’t exactly mapped out. “It’s kind of like we’re playing it by ear. We don’t have a plan with it,” he said. “But we’re having a good time.”
Alongside Calculating Infinity, the band’s been resurrecting tracks from 1998’s Under the Running Board and even earlier demos. This was material that hadn’t seen a stage in decades, if ever. “Honestly, when I was writing that stuff, I couldn’t even play it,” Weinman laughed. “I’d just write what I couldn’t play and then try to get good enough to pull it off.”
The response has been massive. That first Brooklyn show sold out almost instantly, leading to three packed nights. “It ended up doing better than even our final shows,” Weinman said. “That felt pretty crazy.”
And while the shows have been driven by fan demand, they’re also giving the band a chance to reconnect—not just with the music, but with each other. “We’re just hanging out, enjoying it, playing songs that meant something to us when we were kids.”
So, is this a full-blown return? Probably not. But it’s also not a hard no.
“We’re definitely not closing the door,” Weinman said. “If people still want it and we’re still enjoying it, we’ll keep doing it here and there.” So while I wouldn’t get my hopes up quite yet, I wouldn’t consider the door fully closed either.
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