Would GREG PUCIATO Reunite With THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN For A Tour? He Responds

In a new interview with Lochlan Watt of the "Music Is My Life" podcast, Greg Puciato, who fronted THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN between 2001 and 2017, was asked if thinks about the band much these days still, Greg said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's hard [not to] because it's in your face all the time. It's in my face all the time. It's impossible [not to think about it]. Every single show, there's people with the shirts, every single show there's people outside that [have] a record [for me] to sign. They've got 'Ire Works', they've got 'One Of Us Is The Killer', or they're asking me about it. But I'm proud of it. I'm not, like, 'Fuck, that's not me anymore. No one talk to me about that.' I'm proud of it. It made both of our, and everyone involved, lives possible to a degree. Everything that anyone who is majorly important in that band has done since stemmed from our involvement with each other. So I look at it positively. There's not a single ounce of me that has any negativity towards it. And, yeah, I would say that every day of my life, I'm aware of it, but I'm not thinking about it, if that makes sense. Because you can't — you need to let yourself be who you are right now. I think the only way to do that is to keep looking forward. You can be aware of what happened behind you, but you don't wanna like turn around and look at it. Just kind of be aware of it. It's no different to me than high school or middle school or elementary school. You know that you went through it, it's a huge part of your development, you're proud of everything that happened during that time, or an ex or something like that, but you gotta keep going that way."

Regarding the fact that original THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN vocalist Dimitri Minakakis has reunited with guitarist Ben Weinman, the group's lone consistent member over the years, along with fellow alumni Liam Wilson (bass) and Billy Rymer (drums),for shows celebrating the 25th anniversary of their groundbreaking 1999 debut album, "Calculating Infinity", Greg said: "'Calculating Infinity' is massively important. I bought it the day it came out. I was a fan of that band… But, yeah, Dimitri was perfect on that record. That record's got a vibe that, unlike all of our other records, it's a very isolated vibe, whereas after that, we started becoming a different band, where we had pretty much a lot of different possibilities vocally and creatively. But I think that that record is so pointed — it's such a pointed vibe — and for me it's still cool.

"It's so funny 'cause people expect me to have some negative [opinion of what they are doing], like, 'Fuck that.' But I wasn't on that record," he explained. "What would be goofy is if I was included in that. I don't have anything to do with that record. Why would I go out and play that record? If they're doing like a playthrough of that record, I don't need to be there just for the fuck of it. If they went out and did a 'Miss Machine' playthrough, or a 'One Of Us Is The Killer' playthrough… I mean, they, obviously that's not gonna happen, but…"

Asked if he would reunite with THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN for tour celebrating the "Miss Machine" album, which came out in 2004, Greg said: "There's something about doing that, to me, that you really gotta put a cap on it if you were to do it. I feel like it would be a concession in a way to like be, like, 'Oh, I'm no longer…' That's what I used to think. I would be, like, 'Oh, I, I need to be creatively valid now.' It doesn't really interest me, 'cause it takes a lot of your time to do that. And I have a lot of gas for doing new things. I wanna write new music. I wanna write new songs, do new things, collaborate with new people. I'm excited about music, I'm excited about art, and I'm excited about singing. You already have to drag around something you already did when you go on tour. We already were playing songs from 15 years ago when the band was still going. We were playing 'Panasonic Youth' every night, and it started to become, like, 'Fucking hell, man. How many times…?' … So you gotta step away. So when the band ended, I would've told you no way. There's no fucking way. It's gonna take too much of my time. I came outta that band just feeling like I was shot out of a rocket and like I had so much fuel for doing new shit. There was no question. I wasn't, like, 'What am I gonna do now?' I was filled with fuel."

He continued: "Now — would I do it? I wouldn't do a 'Miss Machine' playthrough, 'cause I think that's a little weird. There's no real need. They're doing a one album playthrough, because that's the only album really that there is [with Dimitri], besides the EPs and stuff. It would have to encapsulate everything from 'Miss Machine' to 'Dissociation', and it would have to have a cap on it. Because the more you start doing that — it's easy money too, and then you're, like, you start feeling, like, you're getting this money, but your life is passing. I'm 46 almost, and it's, like, what am I gonna do? Do it for a couple years, then suddenly you're 48. You can't let it take up too much of your time. You gotta just keep doing new things. And then you get hooked… There is something about it where you have to feel good about the fact that you got enough new things going that that's not your whole identity anymore, and you could still go back to it without it sucking up all your time."

THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN's last album was 2016's "Dissociation", which was followed by another year of touring. The band played its final three shows in 2017 at New York City's Terminal 5, with FAITH NO MORE and MR. BUNGLE frontman Mike Patton, Minakakis, and original bassist Adam Doll all making appearances.

After years of unwavering fan support, an incessant barrage of reunion appeals, and numerous reissues, THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN returned in 2024, honoring the album that initiated their groundbreaking journey.

THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN played its first show in seven years in June 2024 at California's No Values festival. This marked the beginning of a run of select U.S. reunion shows celebrating the 25th anniversary of "Calculating Infinity".

Upon its release, "Calculating Infinity" landed on countless "Best Of The Year" lists the year it dropped including Best Metal Album of the Year by Revolver magazine. It was later listed among the Top 10 Metal Albums of All Time by Metal Injection. Loudwire has since placed the record third on their list of "25 Best Metalcore Albums Of All-Time" with writer Stephen Hill stating that "the influence of THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN is present at every major rock festival in the shape of any forward-thinking, heavy band and even in the current metalcore or tech-metal production line (who have aped elements of their sound in the most piss-weak and desperate way). But the fact that these bands are here at all and able to appeal to a wider audience is in no small part due to the trail blazed by "Calculating Infinity" and its utter contempt for compromise and uniformity." In 2017 Rolling Stone called "Calculating Infinity" "one of the greatest metal albums of all time".

Photo credit: Jim Louvau