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Dillinger Escape Plan’s Liam Wilson

By Matt Sanchez | March, 2008

The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Liam Wilson could be forgiven for thinking the band has “a dark cloud following us everywhere.” It has lost members to accident, injury, and career change, had tours cut short by medical mishaps, and recently split with drummer and founding member Chris Pennie. But the group chose to use its lineup changes as a creative spark, heading back into the studio for its latest CD, Ire Works, with a shot of fresh energy from new drummer Gil Sharone of Stolen Babies. On the record and out on the road, Wilson navigates the band’s famously complex metal excursions, playing with a thick, crackling tone that melds jazzy roundness with industrial grind.


What’s your approach to tone in the Dillinger Escape Plan?
Instead of trying to sound like Jaco Pastorius—whose influence is certainly there in my playing—I think things like, I want to sound like the stabbing scene in a movie, or, I want this to sound like a chainsaw ripping through the song.

How do your bass parts develop during the songwriting process?
We all live far from each other, so a lot of songwriting happens by sending files to each other through a file-sharing website like sendspace.com. I become familiar with a song that way, and then I drive up to New Jersey to hang out and play. Sometimes I use my camera to record a video of Ben playing guitar; then I go home again and woodshed. Eventually the whole band gets together to go over material.

For this album, I got to record last, which was awesome. It was like the bricks were all there, and I got to go in and mortar it all together. With everybody expanding the band’s sound—more vocals, a deeper pocket, and newer electronic elements—I didn’t always want to focus on the kick and snare. Sometimes I’d hear a part that wasn’t in the demo, and I’d play off that.
 The band is known for complicated songs and an intense live show.

How do you keep up your chops?
If I have problems nailing a part, I work on it, but I don’t practice for its own sake—I rehearse. Bikram yoga has actually been more important to me. If I had the choice, I would rather do 30 minutes of poses than 30 minutes of warming up. The breathing, the focus, and the feeling of getting myself back into my body is really important. Bikram also has specific poses for carpal tunnel. It’s something that’s taken my playing further than practicing.

CAN BE HEARD ON

The Dillinger Escape Plan, Ire Works [Relapse, 2007]

CURRENTLY SPINNING

Robert Miles & Trilok Gurtu, Miles_Gurtu [Narada, 2004]
Michael Jackson, Off the Wall [Sony, 1979]
“Plus, anything with Anthony Jackson on bass—especially Michel Camilo and Fahir Atakoğlu.”

GEAR

Basses G&L L-2000s (fretted and fretless); Spector 4-string; custom First Act
Rig Ampeg SVT-VR head, Ampeg 4x10 cab
Effects Tech 21 SansAmp Bass Driver DI, Boss DD-6 Digital Delay, Visual Sound Route 66 American Overdrive
Other Ernie Ball Super Slinky strings (.045–.100); Dunlop Jazz III XL and Dunlop Tortex picks (.88mm)
“A lot of the growl on Ire Works came from the Spector bass. Also the SVT-VR, which is killer. We recorded three tracks: one dry, one through the SVT-VR, and one through the SansAmp.”

 

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