Ben Weinman: I don’t know that anybody has ever broken their foot shooting a video. Somehow I slammed my guitar down really hard and the strap broke and it speared right into my foot. There’s a metal pin in the strap that went straight down into a bone that broke. That was at the very beginning of two videos we were shooting in two days. The rest of the videos were very difficult. A lot of the videos I’m not really in as much as I would have been.
You’ve also had several other injuries the past few years.
I’ve had broken ribs, I tore my rotator cuff and had to have surgery on that, I’ve got two cracked discs in my neck, I’ve had stitches in my face, seven staples in my head. I could go on.
You’re finally going on the road beginning in December. Are you anxious to get out there and play new material for the fans?
Absolutely. In a way this time off with my broken foot has been great because it’s allowed me to do a lot of press and really try to set up the record as much as possible. And we’ve been able to practice a lot more to be able to come out full force. We have December and January in the U.S. then February and March are Europe. Then we’ll probably go to Australia or Japan or somewhere like that. It’s not exactly set yet. In the summer we’ll do festivals here, in Europe, or both.
Does it get more difficult to put together a set list for each tour because you keep having more and more material?
This is the first time. We haven’t really recorded a lot of music in the time we’ve been together compared to other bands. When we first started we only had a few songs and had to fill a show. Then it got to the point where there were songs that were obvious to play because they were favorites and songs we liked to play. Now we are at the point where we can’t fit in some of those songs. This is the first time we are battling that.
Dillinger Escape Plan is known for playing some cool cover songs. Can we expect anything new on this tour?
We’re working on a new one, and we’ll see. It’s pretty rock and roll.
What have been the high and low points of your ten years in the band?
With this band it’s been very gradual, steady progress for us. There hasn’t been any one thing that’s propelled us to the next level. It’s been very small steps that have gotten us to where we are now. One of my highlights was when we performed with Mike Patton and did a Faith No More song together. That was an amazing experience because I never thought he’d play those songs again. That was a highlight. Probably our drummer leaving was one of the toughest things to deal with during this ten years. He was the only other original member. That was difficult.
