Mark Hensch for Thrashpit: I'd like to open things up by complementing you and your band for truly changing the nature of heavy for me again and again! It is an honor to speak with you today. First things first. You are not an original member of The Dillinger Escape Plan. Would you care to recap in your own words how you came to be a part of the band and how you've gotten to where you are now?

Liam Wilson: After the original bass player, Adam Doll, was paralyzed in a car accident the rest of the band started dragging the waters for replacements. They had this dude Jeff Wood (SHAT) fill-in for a few months and they asked my friend Jim Winters (Turmoil, Conviction, Earth Crisis, Believer, Starkweather) if he was interested in playing bass---he was more of a guitar player, but mentioned to them that he thought he knew someone who could do it. When he gave me Ben's (Ben Weinman, vocalist) number, I was too intimidated to call him, and just waited until they played Philly where I could be introduced in person. They had just mixed Calculating Infinity and let me hear it---my mind was blown. I was just starting my third year of woodworking school, and knew I wanted to at least finish that year clean, so I spent those last two semesters tying up loose ends, digesting the material and figuring out how to play with a pick while they toured for Calculating. I filled in two shows point-blank early 2000 and that eventually led to me becoming full-time that fall. It's been a humbling experience ever since, especially when you come to terms with the fact that everything I've been able to do in this band is because of what happened to Adam.

Thrashpit: Let's talk about your band's newest album, 2007's Ire Works. Ire Works is a radical album full of dark industrial undertones, soaring pop choruses, a plethora of unlikely instruments, and of course, mind-numbingly technical mathcore. How did the writing process for this record make it into what we the listeners can hear now?

Liam: It takes lots of working and reworking of the material. Some of the songs we went into the studio with were very prepared, others in various states of completion, and "Horse Hunter," specifically, was something that we barely had anything more than a really rough demo of. We ended up constructing that one almost entirely in the studio with Gil (Sharone, the band's drummer). It might sound cliché, but we're just writing the record we want to hear. When you're a young music fan growing up, I think there's always this perennial quest to find that record to satisfy all your cravings, some of those young fans start playing instruments themselves and try to take on the responsibility, to make that record, and although you come close, it's the fact that what you want to hear keeps changing, so you'll never really make it, but we try.

Thrashpit: Some fans are worried or angered by the more accessible or poppy aspects of Ire Works. Though I personally find such accusations to be woefully misguided, how does your band deal with criticism like this?

Liam: I have a lot or respect for bands like Slayer or Hatebreed, but that's just not us. I don't want to feel like we're painted into a corner with our sound. I play with really talented musicians and I don't really have the time for serious side-projects, so I just try to get all my ideas to come to fruition with this band, and I know it's the same for the rest of the guys. I've got a singer who can wail, and I want to hear him sing. I listen to as much Blonde Redhead as I do Suffocation, so, I guess I want to express all of that somewhere, as long as it stays authentic to our aesthetic. We like dynamics; we want the record to have songs that allow things to breath, and the same goes for the songs themselves, as there's always going to be those peaks and valleys that contrast. The faster stuff sounds faster, the brutal stuff more brutal when it's coupled with something very much its extreme contradiction stylistically. We're our own worst critics, anything anyone has ever printed in criticism to something we've done probably came out of our mouths first and we still decided it was best to leave it the way it was for one reason or another. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it.

Thrashpit: They say a musician is his own best critic. What is your favorite song off Ire Works and why?

Liam: For the first time ever, I have a really passionate respect for each and every song on the new album. I'm really proud of everything I wrote and played and as a whole I think it's the band's strongest release. For the last album (Miss Machine), "We Are the Storm" is the song that really f*cking smokes, and the track that pushed me to a new level. Off this one, "Lurch" really blindsided me the most as I had no idea where it was going, I couldn't really predict that it would come out as aggressively as it did. I really like "Party Smasher" but I already knew where it was heading musically. As I mentioned, the "Horse Hunter" demo version was so undercooked and poor, and now we've turned it into something so musical---that one is the most organic cut on Ire Works and the first song that we really wrote with our new drummer Gil, so it has some sentimentality, and also gives us hope that when we start writing material for the next record, that's where we left off.

Thrashpit: The artwork on the cover of Ire Works is soothing, post-modern, and yet strangely dark. What kind of concept is behind it?

Liam: Initially we had this artificial intelligence springboard, but we eventually thought it a little corny. When we started talking to artist Shelby Cinca about our initial ideas, things started moving really fast and we had a cover within a few days. The rest of it just fell into place right behind it. We wanted something ominous, antiseptic and foreboding. We didn't want hidden meanings with this cover, we wanted people to simply react to color and shape and the images are otherwise devoid of concept. The coded text on the inside was just something we thought would tie things together without tying it down. We used various quotes from eclectic sources including John Dillinger (our namesake) and Richard Feynman (the grandfather of nano-technology and the atomic bomb). I also wanted something to force the viewer to interact with the artwork instead of simply looking at it, and hopefully uncover and unlock another level of the artwork…similar to the music; it might not be what you thought it was at first listen.

Thrashpit: You convinced Mastodon's Brent Hinds to appear on the album, not to mention previous Dillinger vocalist Dmitri Minakakis. How did this come about?

Liam: With Brent it was just a lingering offer that he should do some backups on our record. When we were in the studio he called and said he'd be flying to LA and wanted to know if he could drop by. He did when we were working on "Horse Hunter" and the pieces just came together. We've never lost touch with Dimitri (the band's original vocalist); we all came home from California to go to a friend's wedding and he was there. We mentioned him coming out to California with Adam who already had his ticket. He couldn't make it out, but when Ben came home he had Dimitri over and just did the tracks in his bedroom and sent them out to the rest of us who were still in LA putting the finishing touches on the songs. Both sessions were really easy but added so much, and just enforce the communal-family vibe of this band.

Thrashpit: Let's talk more about Dillinger as a band. What would you say is the most important or vital goal that your band has (if any)?

Liam: I don't believe that we have a constitution, nothing that we systematically use to get from one place to another. Our only 'goal' per se may be simply to make sure that we don't repeat ourselves and that we give the listener, or viewer – depending on the context – a feeling of suspense. I would hope people would walk away with a feeling of "I didn't see that coming" or "that wasn't what I was expecting." We want to maintain some sense of diversity and strive for fusion at any cost, to never be easily 'pigeon-holed' or predictable. I think as long as we keep writing songs that keep us from being painted into a corner, we're on the right track.

Thrashpit: A huge musician swapping recently occurred between Dillinger and rock band Coheed & Cambria. Do you care to comment on any of that?

Liam: There's not much to say that hasn't been said, and I think that some things need to remain sacred or at least polite in forums like this. What I will say is that at the time when Chris started working with them we decided as a band that we didn't want to be anyone's side-project. We needed to take some time off to write, and I guess Chris didn't feel like we were prolific enough or that we just didn't function the way that he thought a band should function creatively, inter-personally or from a business perspective and so he decided to defect to Coheed. Without getting into details, I don't think he handled things respectfully considering what we'd all been through together, good or bad, and I don't think I ever will.

Thrashpit: Let's talk about you personally. How do you approach playing bass in a band like this one and how did you get to such a technical skill level?

Liam: As a lot of bass players playing more aggressive music will note, we don't get a lot of non-bass player recognition and there aren't too many legends to look up to. All things considered, this is all relatively new and much before players like Geezer Butler in the 1970s, no one was coloring outside of the lines in heavy rock music. For me then, I try to practice as much as I can and just bring as much of myself and these contemporary influences together with the Jazz and Fusion players like Jaco Pastorius into our music as I can. Dillinger songs typically fly by so there isn't time to get TOO clever with things, which is probably a good thing, but really my craft is to be humble, remember that most of the time "less is more" and be the figurative lineman who blocks for touchdowns. When I get my chance to step up, I can do that, but I'd rather be a team player for the band than a lead bass player. I just want to bring groove to the music even if it's thrashing at 250 BPMs, and I wanted to get the bass in the mix to keep things rocking too. Albums like …And Justice For All are killer, and just about every truly classic Slayer record are pretty bass-less, and they still rule, but personally, I'd rather have a tone like a chainsaw with some bass cutting through the mix to keep things from being too 'metal' sounding. I want to see people nodding their heads more than banging them.

Thrashpit: What are some of the bands or artists that influenced you growing up?

Liam: Metallica, Death, Cynic, Radiohead, King Diamond, Carcass, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Michael Jackson. I'm so voracious on music that an 80-gig I-Pod just isn't enough---that's just the cream of the crop for me.

Thrashpit: How about nowadays? What (if any) bands out there do you think need to be heard?

Liam: I think one of the most creative contemporary bands in our scene is Behold…The Arctopus, I can't say enough amazing things about their newest record Skullgrid. I'm also a big fan of the latest Radiohead In Rainbows record. Other bands putting out stuff that's turning my head include Municipal Waste, Blonde Redhead, Miasma and the Carousel of Headless Horses, and the Rachels…this list could go on forever.

Thrashpit: You've also played in the band Starkweather. How did they differ from Dillinger?

Liam: Starkweather was, and still is one of my favorite bands, and specifically frontman Rennie Resmini is probably my pick for the best, most intense lyricists/screamer in heavy music. Dudes like Brian Fair and Jake Bannon wouldn't be who or where they are today if Rennie hadn't paved the way. For me they provided the cerebral, emotional, or lyrical satisfaction that I think is somewhat downplayed in Dillinger. Whereas Dillinger's material (at least when I joined) was very fast, technical, brief, snotty and incising, Starkweather was more plodding, like a bulldozer pushing a glacier. The songs were epic, at times hypnotic, emotionally abysmal, and blunt. Every one of those guys was at least 12 years older than me at the time, so I was just coming from a different time and place. I was still trying to break new ground with Dillinger whereas they seemed more comfortable just maintaining the legacy they had already carved out for themselves. Eventually Dillinger's schedule eclipsed Starkweather's and it was a mutual decision to faze me out after the Croatoan record.

Thrashpit: Dillinger is currently touring with Killswitch Engage, Every Time I Die, and Parkway Drive. How have the shows been so far?

Liam: The shows with Killswitch and ETID went really well, I thought it was a well-balanced bill. I think we have a tendency to seem drastically more serious than we are when aligned with both those bands. They have a sense of humor that they wear on their sleeves and put first and foremost in their performances. I think for some of their fans we were a little too abrasive, but I think the contrast is good for everyone. Either way, like us or not, we've got the stage for 40 minutes, and we've got the microphones, like us or hate us, you've gotta deal with us and hopefully you walk away entertained on some level whether it be the music or the performance or both.

Thrashpit: Last question! Where do you see the Dillinger Escape Plan heading in the future?

Liam: I'm assuming it will be a lot more of the same. More records every few years, more live performances to destroy ourselves at in front of an audience. I would love to see the next few years put a little more money into the band account. I don't care if I don't ever buy a Bentley, but I would love to be able to spend more money making what we do bigger and better and quit my day job (yes, I have two). I would love to put more into the peripherals: more time to write, better production quality on our recordings, more cutting-edge videos, more dynamic packaging, better budgets for more diverse tours to more exotic places. This band is a vehicle for a lot of different things to a lot of different people. I would like to think that with every album, we've got another stepping stone in the right direction and that it continues without things getting stale, dated-sounding or our welcome worn too thin in the process.

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