MetalSucks

Readers Matthew Mitchell and DruM both sent me a link to this Fox News interview with Ben Weinman, Greg Puciato, and Liam Wilson from The Dillinger Escape Plan. Needless to say, the joksters in DEP keep it entertaining – and bonus points to Puciato for his explanation of why Bill O’Reilly is a great inspiration to his vocals. (And if you don’t know what incident Puciato is referring to here, watch this.)

The video isn’t embeddable, but you can watch it by clicking on the screen cap below!

And by the way, in case you’re the only person in the world who doesn’t know this, DEP’s new album, Option Paralysis, is March 23. That’s just out one week from tomorrow!

-AR

So last night I went to the kick-off date for The Dillinger Escape Plan’s headlining tour with Darkest Hour, Iwrestledabearonce, and Animals as Leaders. All of the bands were pretty great, but after the show, it was really hard to talk about any of them but DEP; their live act is just some other-level shit. They might be one of the last bands on the planet where their live show feels legitimately spontaneous and dangerous; there always comes at least one moment during their show when I become concerned that we might be watching the process of Greg Puciato killing himself. Even if you think you hate this band, you should go check them out, just to see how absolutely nuts it can get.

So. Rob from Metal Injection has a nifty new toy, called the Samson Zoom Q3, and he filmed the band doing their new song “Chinese Whispers” (we debuted the studio version earlier this week). You can view the footage below. The audio quality is actually better than the video quality, but it’s still pretty good. It was not one of the songs where I feared for Mr. Puciato’s life, but it still kicks major ass.

Get Dillinger tour dates here.

-AR

The video for The Dillinger Escape Plan’s “Farewell, Mona Lisa” just debuted on Justin.tv,  and while the image quality, at least on my computer, isn’t that hot, what I can see looks pretty cool. And the fact that the song is so awesome – especially the kind of melancholic, epic second section – means that they could probably have just posted footage of Greg Puciato taking a crap and I would’ve been happy.

“Farewell, Mona Lisa” will be on Option Paralysis, which comes out March 23 on Party Smasher/Season of Mist.

-AR

The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Greg Puciato is ripped. But it would never even occur to me to accuse the dude of taking steroids, for the following reasons:

1. He might kick my ass.
2. To make an accusation like that requires something known as “evidence,” and I have none. In fact, I’ve never even heard a rumor about the guy taking ‘roids.
3. He might kick my ass.
4. It seems perfectly feasible to me that Puciato spends the hours and hours of downtime that come with touring working out.
5. He might kick my ass really, really bad.

None of these issues gave pause to James Montgomery, though. I have no idea who Montgomery is, but in what has to be the stupidest act of 2010 so far, he’s written a piece for MTV in which he accuses ten musicians – including Puciato, Trent Reznor, and Glenn Danzig – of taking steroids. “Proof?” Montgomery actually bothers to raise the issue in his intro. “Who needs it when you’ve got pure suspicion?”

As far as I know, Reznor and Danzig haven’t weighed-in (no pun intended) yet about this absolutely moronic article – but Puciato has, and he ain’t happy about. He tells our friends at Noisecreep:

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…and that omen said it will come out May 4 on Roadrunner. And that it will feature guest appearances from The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Greg Puciato, Prong’s Tommy Victor, and (on b-side covers) Igor Cavalera and Zyon Cavalera. And, oh yeah, that it will be called Omen.

I’ve never liked Soulfly as much as I love Sepultura, but I did really enjoy Dark Ages, and the one time I caught the band live, they slayed. So while I’d much rather have a new Cavalera Conspiracy record, color me curious to hear this.

I’m less curious to hear the cover of “Refuse/Resist,” featuring the aforementioned Zyon Cavalera. Why does anyone ever cover their own song? The results are almost always disasterous – just ask Chuck Mosley or Slash…

-AR

In the second tragedy to befall a Brooklyn drummer this Autumn (the other being the freak death of Maserati’s Jerry Fuchs), Spylacopa drummer Troy Young was shot and killed in his own apartment, according to the NY Daily News [via Metal Insider]. Spylacopa was (is?) an experimental project that featured members of The Dillinger Escape Plan, Candiria, Isis and Made Out of Babies. Young had also logged time in bands The Spines and State of Emergency.

“Drummer Troy Young, played on the Spylacopa EP, was shot to death in his apartment. Sad day. Talented drummer and nice person, 29yrs old,” read an update on Dillinger Escape Plan / Spylacopa frontman Greg Puciato’s Twitter page.

The Post reports that Young was shot once in the shoulder, and that the bullet pierced his heart. No suspects or motives are known at this time.

I can’t speak to Young’s talent the way I could to Fuchs’, as I’m really not too familiar with his work outside of Spylacopa… but any guy who can hang with the rest of those dudes has got to be quite talented. And any time the metal community loses a member is always a sad day. Please share your memories of Troy Young in our comments section.

-VN

Here’s The Dillinger Escape Plan’s fifth webisode chronicling the making of their forthcoming album, Option Paralysis. And sorry if I got your hopes but, no, James Hetfield (Hatfield?) is not actually on the album. Just watch, it’ll all make sense.

The best part of watching these remains the all-too-brief teases of new music the band keeps feeding us. But everything we’ve heard thus far seems to be in the vein of classic, Calculating Infinity-style DEP mathcore, and while there’s nothing wrong with that at all, I am starting to wonder if there’s going to be any Ire Works-style Faith No More pop. I’d love for the band to continue to strike a balance between the two styles (as they did on Ire and, to a lesser extent, Miss Machine), but… who knows. I’m obviously speculating based on next to no concrete information, so… “Dead as History” fans shouldn’t lose sleep just yet.

-AR

Above you’ll find the fourth in-studio webisode for The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Option Paralysis. It’s worth watching mostly for the all-too-brief taste of new music you get, which sounds, well, pretty much like vintage DEP.

Maybe just as exciting is the band’s new, limited edition t-shirt for “Mouth of Ghosts,” one of my favorite songs off of Ire Works. Vocalist Greg Puciato explains:

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As one of the chief riff providers for swaggercore titans Every Time I Die, Andy Williams takes pride in making the discordant into catchy. For a perfect example of this, look no further than the band’s latest (MetalSucks-approved) album, New Junk Aesthetic. Distilling the band’s decade-plus essence into a tight half hour, it’s a satisfying mix of thunderous heaviness and easily the most appealing material the band have put to tape. But while he’s often overshadowed by vocalist Keith Buckley’s relentless wiseassery, it’s his and Jordan Buckley’s Skynard-by-way-of-Dillinger-Escape-Plan guitar work that make the band stand out and ultimately worthwhile.

A self-described “chatty Cathy,” Andy Williams was remarkably frank and refreshingly earnest in a recent interview with MetalSucks on the eve of the release of New Junk Aesthetic. Among other things, he discussed why he can listen to the new album and none of the band’s other material, his thoughts on the new Converge record, the changing landscape of the scene he came up in, and life over at ETID’s new label, Epitaph.

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Yesterday, at 10 a.m., our friends at Metal Insider reported that Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz has recorded guest vocals for the new Every Time I Die album.

This morning at 1 a.m., they reported that ETID drummer Mike Novak has split from the band due to “personal conflicts.”

Coincidence?

While you ponder that, enjoy the new ETID song below, entitled “The Marvelous Slut.” Metal Injection discovered it floating around on YouTube. It originally appeared on a recent Hurley-Epitaph Records compilation, which you can download here.

And, yes, that is Dillinger Escape Plan’s Greg Puciato doing guest vox.

-AR

Last month, The Dillinger Escape Plan frontman Greg Puciato lashed out at President Barack Obama in a lengthy blog post, taking the sitting prez to task for the bailout and calling him “George W. Bush lite, wearing a young black man costume.”

Well, you’d assume that Obama a) has never heard of The Dillinger Escape Plan and b) therefore would not have heard about/cared about what Puciato had to say.

Apparently, this is not the case.

Read President Obama’s response to Puciato after the jump… it’s a doozy.

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Wowza. Greg Puciato posted this Sunday on his MySpace blog (and I think it’s important to note that it’s his MySpace blog – I don’t know if we can assume this represents the feelings of the entire band). It’s fucking War and Peace length, so wait ’til your boss isn’t around to start reading.

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So last week Dillinger Escape Plan’s Greg Puciato and Ben Weinman got up on stage in Australia with Nine Inch Niles to help out with “Wish,” a song DEP had previously covered. Up ’til now, all we’ve seen is shitty cell phone capture of the performance – but now NIN have posted something considerably higher quality on their web site.

Not much to say here – you just gotta love it when there’s so many great musicians on one stage.

-AR

Well… happy friggin’ new year, everyone. We gots some catchin’ up to do.

As Dillinger Escape Plan fans may have heard by now, the band has hired some dude no one has ever heard of, Billy Rymer from The Rivalry, to replace Gil Sharone, who, in turn, replaced founding drummer Chris Pennie for 2007’s orgasm-inducing Ire Works and all subsequent touring for that album. Now, I know that Sharone’s departure may worry the DEP faithful – the dude was not only an awesome drummer, but watching how chill he always was live, even while playing some retardedly complex drum parts, would seem to suggest that he may very well be a god amongst men (or at least drummers). Hell, even DEP front dude Greg Puciato told us that Sharone is like “the kid in school who always gets good grades just because he’s naturally fucking super gifted.”

But here’s the thing.

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On August 25, 1988, Metallica released what many consider to be their last great album, …And Justice for All. To my ears, this would probably be my favorite Metallica album of all time if not for the lack of bass (Which, to this day, I think was an idiotic way to haze then-new-now-former bassist Jason Newstead – I mean, why would the band punish themselves by damaging their own album? How does that pay tribute to the memory of Cliff Burton? It doesn’t). Justice features Metallica at their heaviest, and, often, their proggiest. I’ve been trying all week-end to think of words that could do Justice, um, justice – but I just can’t. And I probably don’t need to to: I’m sure you all have your own feelings on this classic recording.

So here’s Metallica performing the title track on the Justice tour in ‘89. After the jump, keep the celebration going with more live clips, the now classic video for “One,” and some other cool shit.

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I know that some people think that The Dillinger Escape Plan have gotten too big for their britches in light of all the critical acclaim heaped upon them for Ire Works. I don’t see it. Sorry. When we interviewed front man Greg Puciato last November, the dude told us to stick around the band’s tour bus and help ourselves to whatever we wanted from the fridge. And that was after the interview was already over. Does that sound like rock star ego to you? If it does, you’re too thin skinned, and God help you if you’re ever in the room when someone brings Marilyn Manson oranges instead of the grapes that his rider specifically called for.

ANYWAY, here’s DEP’s new clip for “Black Bubblegum,” directed by drummer Gil Sharone’s bro-bro Ilan. Like when I lost my virginity, I have almost no idea what’s going on here, but I love it.

-AR

So The Dillinger Escape Plan were on Conan last night, and while front man Greg Puciato did not make good on his promise to set the late night talk show host’s desk ablaze, he did jump on it, and he also, as I predicted he would, ran into the audience, where, sure, enough, almost everyone seemed freaked out by him (except that one dude who jumped and high fived him; that guy is cool).

ANYWAY, watch the clip of the band performing “Black Bubblegum” below.

-AR

NBC. 12:35 am tonight/tomorrow morning. Greg Puciato has vowed to burn Conan’s desk down; even if he doesn’t, it should be interesting (I got five buck that says he runs into the audience and scares the living shit out of some tourists from Nebraska).

It’s gonna be special. Watch it with someone you love.

-AR

Chris Brown – Exclusive – Kiss Kiss, With You, Take You Down, Throwed

Chris Brown for the construction of an entire career, growing from a temporary replacement for an undeniably big pop star. It seals the deal with Exclusive, an all-grown-up album on a level with Justin Timberlake’s beneficiaries, Rihanna’s Good Girl Gone Bad, or even Bobby Brown’s King of Stage. “With You” is the convincer, even if you immediately recognize that producers Stargate was just trying to roll-out “Irreplaceable” one more time – Brown groans on the acoustic guitar loop a poignant account with R & B-wave

Alicia Keys – No One (As I am) – As I Am is the third studio album by American R&B/soul singer Alicia Keys, and was released on November 13, 2007. It features appearances by John Mayer, Marsha Ambrosius, Linda Perry.

Album by Rihanna: Good Girl Gone Bad found in Billboard Singles Chart

Good Girl Gone Bad is the third studio album by singer Rihanna, which was released on June 4, 2007 in most European countries and on June 5, 2007 in the United States. The album achieved considerable success worldwide following the release of its smash-hit lead single “Umbrella” and maintains its successful chart run. The album has spawned 3 top 10 hits and 1 top 20 hit in the United States. To date, the album has sold more than 4 million albums worldwide, and has earned a platinum certification in the United States.

So I’m not gonna pretend to know very much about motorcycle culture – call me old fashioned, but I like my motor vehicles to come with mufflers – but O’Neal USA, who a press release tells us are “one of the leading manufacturers of motorcycle and BMX accessories,” are releasing a line of limited edition Slayer helmets (pictured above). The helmets will come in three varieties ranging in price from $159 to $349 and “will be boxed in a custom-made container patterned after the Anvil road cases, which are used to transport band equipment while on tour.”

So here’s the thing: like I said, I have no use whatsoever for a motorcycle helmet, but I do have use for some protective head gear to wear into the pit the next time I go to a Slayer show. Seriously, those things are brutal; even Greg from Dillinger Escape Plan thinks so, and he’s a big scary dude himself. And since the helmet has the band’s art on it, I feel like it will give me some cred amongst my fellow Slayer fans.

Whatever use you have planned for these things, they hit stores February 25. The press release dramatically declares that “once they’re gone, they’re GONE,” so if you’re planning to buy one, you should, like, totally get on that already.

-AR

After interviewing Greg Puciato on The Dillinger Escape Plan’s tour bus just hours before their sold-out show at The Blender Theatre in NYC, Axl and Vince agreed upon two things: Puciato might be the best interview subject they’ve ever had, and he’s definitely the nicest. After half an hour of giving incredibly open, honest, and detailed answers to the MetalSucks boys’ every query, he told them they could just hang out and help themselves to some food and drinks from the band’s fridge. Some horrifically scary Satanic metal dude, Puciato is not.

After the jump, read Puciato’s thoughts on The Dillinger Escape Plan’s current tour, the band’s new members, the making of Ire Works, how he chooses song titles, and the lawsuits brought on by the angry parents of injured teenage concert goers…

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