When The Dillinger Escape Plan announced their return in 2023, reuniting with original vocalist Dimitri Minakakis for the first time in over two decades, it felt like a band finally coming full circle.
The American mathcore pioneers had walked away in 2017 after a career defined by fearless experimentation, physical endurance, and shows so intense they bordered on self-destruction.
Now, they’re back with the same ferocity — but a different kind of clarity.
Their comeback began with a blistering set at California’s No Values festival in mid-2024, followed by a run of US shows that reignited fan devotion and critical praise alike.
With Minakakis back out front and founding guitarist Ben Weinman leading the charge, The Dillinger Escape Plan have turned their attention to a small run of international dates, including a long-awaited Australian tour this August to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their landmark debut, Calculating Infinity.
Ahead of their return to the southern hemisphere, Rolling Stone AU/NZ caught up with Weinman and Minakakis to talk unfinished business, favourite Aussie memories, and what this reunion really means — for them, and for the chaos they’ve always conjured.
Rolling Stone AU/NZ: Given the reaction to the reformation for this tour in Australia and abroad, does the band still think that calling it a day in 2017 was the right call? Why?
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Ben Weinman: I do feel it was. It was 20 years with very little compromise. We achieved so much more than I ever thought we could, and I feel we all needed to prove to ourselves that life could exist without Dillinger. At one point, I remember vividly, after playing a show in Mexico City, looking at my contacts in my phone, I had a tough time finding any that didn’t just know me as Ben from Dillinger. It was sort of frightening. Like, if there wasn’t Dillinger, would I even exist? It was then that it hit me. We needed to sort of walk off into the sunset while we still had life left in us. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been doing it for the right reasons.
Announcing the end of the band without any of us having any idea what we would do next either creatively or even just to pay our bills and survive, was the closest thing I could do to stay the same person I was when we all quit our jobs, some of us quit school, and broke up with our girlfriends in 1999 and hit the road pretty much full time without any idea if we could survive. And then after closing that door almost immediately, I found out I was going to have a kid, Kimbra asked me if I would be her manager, and all kinds of interesting opportunities started popping up. I have no doubt it was the right call. Not just for me but for all of us. All the guys have been doing lots of inspiring cool shit.
What can you recall about stepping back on the stage in Brooklyn with Dimitri for that first comeback show last year and Dimitri how was the feeling before and during this show?
BW: I felt a lot of love, honestly. I didn’t know if we would deliver what people wanted or expected, but I did know we were doing it for the right reasons, and it felt rad.
Dimitri Minakakis: I’m just overwhelmed with positive emotion. Playing songs I’ve helped create and seeing the excitement from everyone who is a supporter of our band. Also just being able to play in this band again, which it’s not about me returning but a collective of fine human beings playing music again. We have no plans for the future as DEP but we are enjoying every step along the way, we are living the moment. I just can’t say enough about this group of people and especially Ben, being best friends since high school and now in 2025 still doing it, I would have never believed that would happen again. I’m grateful for everything.
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RS: What does it mean to do this world tour with Dimitri back in the lineup?
BW: We haven’t quite done a world tour, but whatever we are doing feels pretty good. It feels good to push myself as a guitar player again. It feels good to hang out with my friends. It feels good to play songs that Dimitri, I, and a small group of friends made together when we were kids. I don’t know what it means other than that.
RS: What does Calculating Infinity mean to this band. How has your feelings about the album changed over the years and how important it is to fans?
BW: In some ways, it gave me purpose and continued to give me purpose as the band evolved, all the way until I had children. Then it became a child I had in a previous marriage, who is much older and left home a long time ago. I will always love it, but it really was a labour of love that was created and existed in a time when I was probably too young to have the responsibility of having a child as complex and misunderstood as Calculating. Now I can hang out with it as a more evolved human and ask it to forgive me for fucking up so much hahah. I have no idea how important it is for the fans. I guess you would have to ask them.
RS: Favourite or standout Australian tour memories?
BW: The first tour we did with Dimitri was wild just because it was insane that people that far away cared about this band and knew our music at a time when the internet was not really a thing when it came to music. But other than that, literally every trip to Australia was so enjoyable. From going on stage with NIN at Soundwave to meeting so many cool people I still keep in contact with to this day. It really does feel like a home away from home in some ways.
RS: Is this really the end for DEP at the end of this tour?
BW: I don’t know. I guess. I certainly have no DEP plans.
RS: What’s next for each band member?
BW: I’ve been writing some screenplays and working on music for other movie projects. I’ll also be back in Australia opening for Metallica, playing with Suicidal Tendencies in November. I’ve been playing with ST since 2018, so that keeps me pretty busy. Liam plays in In Flames, who have a pretty busy schedule playing lots of big festival slots and shows and are always doing creative projects. Billy plays drums in Ho99o9, who are opening our tour here in August and he also has a few other projects, including Atomic Life, which is awesome. Check that out for sure.
The Dillinger Escape Plan 2025 Australian Tour
Tickets available via ThePhoenix.au
Sunday, August 10th
Metropolis Fremantle, Perth WA
Tuesday, August 12th
The Gov, Adelaide SA
Wednesday, August 13th
Northcote Theatre, Melbourne VIC
Saturday, August 16th
The Enmore, Sydney NSW
Sunday, August 17th
The Tivoli, Brisbane QLD
