Ben Weinman Clears The Air on Dillinger Escape Plan Reunion, Says Money Was Never Discussed
Earlier this week, Better Lovers frontman Greg Puciato made waves in the metal community by invoking a potential reunion of The Dillinger Escape Plan. While past rumors of a return had been squashed pretty quick, the vocalist’s comments included the insinuation that promoters were offering “astronomical amounts of money” to get the band together, but that they were always turned down to avoid being a cash grab situation.
That made for an exciting piece of news and surely got fans dreaming of a potential future where that would happen. Only, there’s one problem — it apparently isn’t true.
During a conversation with Greg Kennelty over at Metal Injection, guitarist Ben Weinman sought to clear the air about what’s actually being offered and whether there will ever be a reality where Puciato would have any say in the matter. And the answer is a resounding no.
“I want to be as respectful to the band, its members, and the fans as possible so I’ll try to clear some things up without getting into too much of the ‘he said she said’. To be clear, I have not talked directly to Greg since just after the final Dillinger shows in 2018. One of the reasons for that is because, without getting into too much detail as some of this info is not for me to disclose, I think it is safe to say the band’s members – including myself – do not share the same values as Greg. While I cherish the work we did together and will always acknowledge how instrumental his contributions have been to the legacy of this band, there is a lot of misinformation out there based on the perception Greg has crafted through interviews and what he gets quoted on. At the very least, let’s just say the rest of the band has nothing to do with the information Greg has put out there, and that none of it is accurate.”
So as far as Weinman is concerned, anything Puciato said in his previous comments about a potential DEP reunion aren’t real at all. Zero chance of it existing. And while he doesn’t insinuate that Puciato is lying in any way, he definitely lays out in the interview exactly where the vocalist lands within the band.
“I think it is very important to mention that Greg has no ownership of the Dillinger Escape Plan as an entity, no ownership in the overarching corporation, and has no ownership over the name and he never has. He has always been paid as an independent contractor and he has no interactions with our booking agent, lawyers, etc. I’m happy to show anyone who doubts this all the paperwork that says otherwise. That’s that. This band has existed with different singers and musicians over the years and I am proud that my continued involvement from day one has helped keep some consistency in how we functioned and did things as a unit.
“The truth is that any discussions of a reunion with Greg have been shut down before money was discussed. There have been no concrete money offers for a reunion with Greg – meaning that the conversations have never gotten to money as they’ve always been shut down immediately – that I or anyone on our team is aware of. I think there was some preliminary talks thrown around for us to do Furnace Fest, but our agent’s response was that we are not entertaining reunion offers at this time. The end. I have been approached a few times indirectly by people who had talked to Greg while he was out on the road about doing a reunion, and what was conveyed to me was that he really wanted to do it and that it should be discussed with me.”
So there you have it, folks. Any discussion of a Dillinger Escape Plan reunion coming from Greg Puciato is not real, according to Weinman. As for the rest of the interview, he definitely offers some more juicy details about the end of the band and why he’s largely remained quiet about the issue, so be sure to head over to Metal Injection to read the full thing.
