|
|
Dillinger Escape Plan with Killswitch Engage and Every Time I Die
Saturday • Bogart’s
It’s become a common topic with Dillinger Escape Plan, discussing how much adversity the band has encountered and why the band has persevered. Bassist Liam Wilson agrees that one secret to survival is the familiar notion that “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” But to assume that DEP has stayed together because the band members share a strong personal bond might be surprised to hear Wilson say that friendship isn’t a big part of the equation.
Instead, Wilson says the main reason DEP continues to exist comes down to something else perhaps even more fundamental — an undeniable thirst for musical expression. “We really need this,” he says. “We don’t want this band because it’s cool to be in the band. We genuinely need this in our lives. It really doesn´t get any simpler than that. We’re not a bunch of friends from high school. We’re not like ‘Hey, buddy, buddy.’
It just needs to happen.”
The group has faced more turmoil than any band deserves since forming in 1996 in New Jersey. Just weeks after the band’s first North American tour, bassist Adam Doll was involved in an auto accident that left him paralyzed from the chest down. The group pushed ahead and made its 1999 debut CD, Calculating Infinity, a record that immediately put DEP on the Hardcore music map.
Then original guitarist John Fulton quit, replaced by Brian Benoit, while Doll was replaced for a time by Jeff Wood (before Wood bailed and Wilson stepped in to fill the bassist slot). Then came the departure of singer Dimitri Minikakis. Undeterred, the group teamed up for a one-off collaboration with former Faith No More singer Mike Patton (an admirer of the band) on the 2002 EP, Irony Is a Dead Scene. The involvement of Patton gave DEP a significant boost in visibility just as Greg Puciato was stepping in as the new full-time singer.
With the group once again whole, it made Miss Machine in 2004, taking the music in a more complex and chaotic direction, drawing mixed reactions from fans. A few months later, DEP’s physical, full-contact live shows claimed Benoit, who suffered nerve damage to his arm and hand and left the group, leaving Ben Weiman as the band’s lone guitarist.
Just before DEP was to make its third CD, Ire Works, drummer Chris Pennie jumped ship to join Coheed & Cambria. Once again DEP didn’t let adversity derail the music. Drummer Gil Sharone was recruited, and the group entered the studio.
Wilson is excited to introduce fans to Ire Works on tour and to play some of the band’s older material. He feels this is DEP opportunity to establish the band once again.
“We kind of feel it’s important on this tour to show that, although there is a new face in the band and we’re not to completely shedding our skin, we do want to let people know that it’s still Dillinger and that old songs will still sound good,” he says. (Buy tickets, check out performance times and find nearby bars and restaurants here.) — Alan Sculley
Maura O’Connell
Saturday • Seton Performance Hall, Seton High School
Maura O’Connell possesses the rare ability to inhabit the soul of a song with the passion of its songwriter even though she’s not a songwriter herself. The Irish chanteuse, a Nashville resident for nearly 20 years, has become a masterful song stylist in her 25-year solo career, not merely in the distinctive way she interprets the material but in the intuitive manner that she mixes Celtic tradition with contemporary Folk/Roots verve to create a compelling hybrid.
O’Connell sang at an early age, the third of four daughters born to an Irish mother who appreciated singing as a pure art form. In 1980, she fronted DeDanann, a traditional Irish Folk group, but was never comfortable with the outfit’s history-bound set list. Captivated by the experimental sound and viewpoint of New Grass Revival, O’Connell embarked on her solo path in 1983, recording her self-titled debut in Nashville, where she quickly made a lot of connections and found an amazingly diverse pool of songwriting talent to utilize.
In turn, songwriters found a skillful and sympathetic translator in O’Connell, who’s covered John Hiatt, Jim Lauderdale, Ron Sexsmith, Patty Griffin, Tom Waits and Mary Chapin Carpenter (among many others) over the course of her 10 sparkling albums. Grammy-nominated for 1989’s Helpless Heart, O’Connell has frequently guested on other artists’ albums (including Dolly Parton and Van Morrison) and even portrayed an Irish immigrant street singer in Martin Scorcese’s Gangs of New York.
It’s been nearly four years since O’Connell’s last album, Don’t I Know (produced by longtime musical collaborator and renowned dobro-ist Jerry Douglas), which was a departure in both material choice and a more forceful guitar presence. Considering her recent recording pattern, it’s nearly time for her to select another batch of heartfelt songs, which she might preview on her current tour. (Buy tickets, check out performance times and find nearby bars and restaurants here.) — Brian Baker
This article appears in Jan 9-15, 2008.
