Dillinger + One
The day the singer for Dillinger Escape Plan was replaced by a local fan…

By Josh Drespling

This past weekend the infamous GWAR B-Q was held just outside Richmond Virginia. The event played host to such bands as Lamb of God, August Burns Red, EYEHAEGOD (fronted by Phil Anselmo) among some other amazing acts.  During the afternoon, as the sun beat down on the hordes of fans, Dillinger Escape Plan took the stage.  The band that is typically an explosion of energy and might seemed to be limping along.  After the initial excitement had waned, we came to the realization that Greg Puciato, vocalist for Dillinger Escape Plan was missing.  Was this some type of gag? Was the band keeping with their style on unpredictability and holding off on bringing Greg to the stage?  They chunked along for a another song or two with Brain Tentacles’ saxophonist Bruce Lamont, improvising some of the vocal melodies before announcing that Greg was stuck in L.A. due to flight problems. They said they were gonna play anyway and that everyone should have fun regardless.  They made their way through several more songs of a set that was frankly leaving me disappointed, until everything took and immediate turn and bolstered the energy level. Dylan Lawson, a local fan of the band climbed the barricade and proceeded to take the place of the missing vocalist. He climbed onto the stage and grabbed the mic as friends, fans, and the band cheered him on.

Dylan helped the band plow through the rest of their set and bringing new life to what now will undouble be a legendary show in the history of Dillinger Escape plan.  Empire Extreme caught up with Dylan and got him to give his account of the amazing experience.

Can you tell me a little about yourself?
Absolutely! My name is Dylan Lawson. I’m a 24-year old guy from Richmond, VA, I’ve lived here all my life, and I’m just a regular person who works a warehouse job. Live on my own and music has always been a MAJOR part of my life.

Was this your first year at GWAR B-Q?
Oh no! I’ve been to two others. I was at the second annual GWAR B-Q, even though I had to leave early because of work, and GWAR B-Q 2013, the year Pig Destroyer played and completely tarnished that pavilion that sits out at Hadad’s Lake. You know, funny thing, too, my dad  has been friends with Ron Hadad for about 40 years. He even used to work there and I got to go there all the time as a kid because of that. Growing up, I would have never guessed when looking at that place that I would play a show at a Best Friend’s Day festival there, see a lot of my most favorite metal bands, and have some of the greatest concert experiences of my life. Ron is a great guy and anyone who knows him will tell you the same. It’s amazing how open he seems to be about holding shows there, especially one as massive as GWAR B-Q.

What were your thoughts when you realized that Greg was not there?
I seriously thought D.E.P. were messing with us at first and Greg was going to jump out of nowhere into the crowd without any warning whatsoever. I’m not gonna lie, my friends and I were all just waiting for that to happen. If you know anything about the band and how they, you probably know that they NEVER want the audience to be able to predict what they’re gonna do next. They try to make every show different, memorable, and maybe even a little crazier than the one the night before. It’s one of many things I absolutely adore about them. You never know what you’re going to get with Dillinger, and that’s what makes it so awesome every time, even if “it” is a concussion!

What made you want to jump on stage with D.E.P.?
When I realized Greg [Puciato] really wasn’t there and Ben [Weinman] confirmed it, I can’t say I was too hugely disappointed because Bruce Lamont’s (Brain Tentacles) improv on sax and their don’t-give-a-damn, don’t-need-no-singer attitude made it hard to not still appreciate them. However, I kept having images in my head of that one video from awhile back, where Deftones got a dude named Anthony Botting (his band is https://soundcloud.com/abfw so please go show that dude some love) to come up on stage and do “Passenger” live with Chino. I just remember seeing that and thinking “Holy Shit this guy is killing it despite how nervous he probably is. I can’t imagine doing something like that. No way!” Deftones are another one of my all-time favorite bands. They’re great, almost anyone I talk to who knows them agrees. Just phenomenal people who write some of the greatest and most inspirational music I’ve ever heard. The idea of standing next to Chino and singing his lyrics to him is something I couldn’t fathom the feeling of. I felt the same about this moment, too. Dillinger Escape Plan are a band I’ve loved since high school, after first hearing all of Miss Machine back in 11th grade I fell completely in love with it. I had also been a huge Faith No More, Tomahawk, and Mr. Bungle, so when I discovered their EP with Mike Patton, I absolutely loved that too. Everything about them inspired me. I wanted to do that, what they were doing, this REALLY heavy, but REALLY experimental, crazed music that gets you going and makes you feel completely invincible. There’s a very special, distinct vibe bands like them give off. It’s hard to describe with words but, it’s like an out-of-body experience, especially when you see them live. They do things to the listener, the audience that I can say will forever keep you coming back and respecting them, whether you’re a fan or not. There’s something in there for everyone. Even people who I know aren’t fans of anything remotely “metal” love Dillinger. That’s because they know what they’re doing and they do it perfectly.

I guess, to actually ANSWER this question, I should say that my whole intent of doing it was out of the desire to not only just go crazy, but really to recreate that hype you always see at a Dillinger show, and have one more unexpected thing happen to remind people of what DEP is all about. I wanted people who might have heard negative things about the festival or band to see this and say “Wow, I really want to see this band live” or “Wow, we really need to get our asses to GWAR B-Q next year! This is awesome!”

It wasn’t about me at all. I didn’t care what it meant for me. I was surprised I even had the balls to do it. I kept telling myself “No way, you aren’t gonna do this, you know there’s NO WAY this kind of thing could happen” in my head. Then, I realized I had a blank side of a ticket and a Sharpie. By the power of Dillinger Escape Plan and Party Smashers alike, I just said “Fuck it!” I wrote my little “LET ME DO A SONG PLEASE I KNOW THEM ALL” message on it.

I had been yelling to Kevin [Antreassian] to see if there was any chance of him seeing me and getting my gestures, but I think he just thought I was being a crazed fan yelling encouraging stuff at him when he saw me. The sign did the trick. Next thing I know, Liam [Wilson] is telling me to go up, along with Kevin, and I’m jumping the guard rail with the encouraging screams of two of my best friends, Steven Terry and Dakota Trimm, and two girls behind me. It was intense!

What were the security guards saying to you when you first tried to get up there?
I was stopped almost immediately. I’m pretty sure the guard was watching me and was kind of afraid of me doing something like that, jumping the rail and all. He just put his hand up to me and started ushering me off to the side saying “Go, man.”

I tried explaining to him that they were inviting me up on stage, but he just kept shaking his head and telling me I needed to move off to the side. I felt kind of down about it, but also tried telling him that I understood. I don’t hold any gripe against the guy. He was just doing his job.  Honestly with crowds getting crazy and things like what happened to Randy Blythe back in 2010 and Christina Grimmie in June of this year, on top of all the other crazy stuff you hear about in the news, I totally get why security guards almost anywhere are a little more… tense, if you will. For all he knew, I could have been some drunken asshole trying to jump up on stage and steal something or do something outrageous. They aren’t hired to let stuff like that just fly and not intervene, obviously.

I was walking away saddened, but happy I at least tried, until I heard a bunch of yelling and turned around only to see Liam who apparently was pissed at that security guard (from what my friends told me and what can be seen in the video my buddy Dakota got). He was pointing at me and mouthing like “GET THE FUCK UP HERE, MAN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” So I got really pumped, ran up, jumped up, and in case anyone was wondering, everything was, in fact, cool between me and the security guard. I think he felt kinda bad. Later he explained everything to me and I told him I understood and wasn’t offended. Good guys working at GWAR B-Q.

Did the security guy get his sunglasses back?
Oh yeah, definitely. I put them on my friend Steven because the whole time I was trying to make the most of it and entertain everybody, including the band. I went back up to the guard after everything was done to ask him if he got his shades back. He was already wearing them. He  grinned and gave me a thumbs-up saying “Yeah man, we’re all good!” All of them said I did awesome and one even offered to be my “driver” if I ever got “big and famous” and rode a bus everywhere. They were funny. I’m glad that day got a little more exciting, in a good way, for them too! I can’t imagine working security at shows is anywhere near the easiest job in the world.

Can you describe your feelings about what some would call a chance of a lifetime?

I can only describe them but so much. I guess now I kinda know how Henry Rollins felt when Black Flag asked him to sing for them at that one show, only I’m sure he did waaaay better than I did. You know, everyone, all of my friends, my own manager from work, coworkers, family, band members (Bruce Lamont, Dave Witt, and Liam Wilson) were all talking with me after and told me they thought it was great. I also got to talk to Ben Weinman after. It was my second time meeting him, only this time was different, to say the least! Along with all the random people who actually stopped me and got pictures with me, they all said I did a great job and some said something along the lines that not many people could do what I did. I don’t see it like that, honestly. I think all I did was just give the crowd one more reason to love DEP, if they didn’t have enough already. Like I said before, as cheesy as it may sound, I really don’t want to make this about me at all. I’ve gotten a lot of notifications, friend requests, tags in posts and pictures, videos, recognition, crazy shit. I never thought an average Joe like me would ever get. It’s all really overwhelming and I am really humbled by all of it and can’t tell you how much I appreciate everyone’s kind words and just the band saying “Yeah, okay, you can pretend to be Greg for 10 minutes! Sure!” essentially. But I’m not concerned about what it means for me. Anybody could have done that. I saw a guy comment on one of the articles earlier today saying something like “That should have been me up there.” You know what? I love that. I agree. It should have and could have been him. I feel lucky. I could barely do anything on stage because I was shaking and so nervous and just overwhelmed. I probably fucked up so much. I was off-time, there were some lyrics I started forgetting, and I didn’t know what to do with myself at all. But you know what happened? Everyone in that audience practically were screaming right in my face and stealing the microphone from me screaming any parts they could from both “When I Lost My Bet” and “Sunshine The Werewolf.” The WHOLE crowd was the vocalist for Dillinger that day, fuck it. I didn’t do shit. I just got to be mic-boy and bring it to the true spirit of DEP’s music to join in. That’s what really counts. Everybody got to be a part of it that day. That’s exactly what Ben, Liam, Kevin, Billy, andEspecially Greg want above all things. They want you to know you’re just as much a part of what they do as they are.  I hope Greg saw it and got a chuckle out of me acting like an idiot, but nonetheless I hope he just sees that even in the rare event he can’t make a show for whatever silly stuff he’s having to deal with elsewhere (honestly surprised we didn’t see Greg roll up on a bicycle halfway through like “Sorry I’m late, got a flat in Texas. LET’S DO THIS SHIT, GUYS!!!” as dedicated and wild as he is with his work). The spirit is STILL there in the crowd and there is no shortage of chaotic fun at any Dillinger show. The crowd is always on-point, and the band is always perfect. Everyone has a great time and walks away with something great. That’s what it’s all about. That’s what I can tell Dillinger all live for.

Can you tell us a little about your musical background and your band(s)?
Even if I’ve ever tried to get away from it (and trust me I have once or twice), it’s something I inevitably HAVE to ended up coming back to. It works as therapy for me just as much as I can bet it does for many other people. I’m always listening to something by someone, somewhere. It’s almost like an obsession, except it hasn’t done me wrong in all twenty-four years of my life, so that’s good I guess. I also record my own music with (almost) every project I’m in from home.

My history with RVA bands is pretty long and extensive. I have been involved in quite a few musical projects, all right here from Richmond, VA. I started getting into bands and playing with one called Strange Days, which later became known as In Defense Of Our Good Name, around 2007 to 2009. After we broke up my best friend Zach Neve who was the bassist of that band, joined togetherGarrett Lofland (drums) in this instrumental/metal/proggy/weird/we-wanna-be-rockstars-core band called The Goose.

The Goose lasted for a really long time. We went from having just the three of us, which we played a bunch of shows opening for bands like Psychostick . We went through member changes and ended up splitting up in 2011.  Following that I was involved with a lot of different bands and was in 3 at one point. I was in an alternative rock project that was big around here and trying to make a return with good friends Santiago Prada (guitar/vocals) and Mikel Cruz (drums) and opened for another big and VERY awesome local band known as The J.O.B. (Jim O’Ferrell Band) and played some of the fanciest and highest paying shows ever with them. I’d never actually made much money for playing live before, so even $50 was a huge deal for me. You know how much gas that could get you?

Then there was Love Like Virtue, a local alternative rock/pop band I was in from 2011 up to 2014. It was made up of me and 3 of my best buddies from high school: Brian Lane (vocals), Erika Tamberrino (bass), and Joshua Woolcott (drums). I did guitar. Originally it was just me, Brian, and our buddy Patrick Bell (drums) though. Did my two very first out-of-state shows with them, too! One was in North Carolina where we opened for a lot of metal bands and even played for Jennifer “JennCity” Arroyo. From what I remember she actually really liked us. Then we also played in Brooklyn, New York, at this place called The Trash Bar. It was awesome. Both of those were going on at the same time as Dismantle The Architect, which I am currently doing vocals for. We started up in 2011 with me, Steven Terry (founder and bassist), Justin Bippus (guitarist), and Joey Woodard (drums). We had a second guitarist for about a month or so named Chris McDaniel, but he had to quit almost immediately due to some personal issues going on in his life or something of the sort. So it stayed as just a 4-piece for the entire first two years. We did eventually pick up another insanely talented dude, Ashby Pernell, on second guitar. Right off the bat we knew between him and Justin, we were going to have a great sound. We did a demo, all home-recorded, played some shows, played Kingdom, Canal Club, backyards, house parties, Wonderland Bar, all kinds of crazy places. Our first show was actually in a church, which is hilarious given we’re definitely not what you’d probably consider “church-friendly.” In 2013 we parted ways with Joey and got Josiah Hunt on drums. That’s when everything blew up. Josiah is definitely an exceptional drummer; I’d say everybody I’ve done music with are exceptionally talented at what they do. When we got Josiah we found our fit and knew exactly what we wanted our sound to be. We started playing more in the vein of stuff we loved like Pig Destroyer, The Black Dahlia Murder, The Faceless, Augury, Mastodon, Strapping Young Lad, The Dillinger Escape Plan (huh, go figure!), Fleshgod Apocalypse, Cryptopsy, you name it… we probably liked it!

We did a bunch of shows all over Virginia, and even played in front of representatives for Sumerian Records twice. It was that “Headbang for the Highway” deal where winning bands from all over the country were going up for a spot in that year’s Summer Slaughter Festival. I think the other one we did was for Mayhem Festival. We obviously were more than ready to take our shot at a break like that! But, we lost to two bands we all honestly felt deserved it anyway. One was Yesterday’s Saints and the other was Morta. They both kicked ass, seriously. I’m glad they won. We continued to play shows and gain a lot of notoriety but hit an unforeseen, mutual hiatus over a bunch of personal things, scheduling conflicts, and our drummer Josiah moving away in 2014. Honestly, after all that, none of us really spoke to each other much for an entire year or more. That, however, is an extremely long story I don’t feel the need to put overtop of an already extremely long story. Too personal. But, regardless, it’s all behind us now and as of February of this year, me, Steven, and Ashby all got back up with each other. We were minus Justin unfortunately, but in his place we got Sergio Quintero on guitar to take his place. Sergio, or “Serg” as we call him, is a really great friend of mine who was also in The Goose for a while, and when it comes to precision and technicality in playing guitar? He’s flawless. He’s like to me what Trey Spruance is to Mike Patton in a lot of ways, if you will. So amongst the four of us, we’ve all got great chemistry and despite all the life difficulties we’re going through currently, we’re doing all we can to make it work. We’ve tried out a lot of drummers to no avail, but finally just got a guy who seems like he’ll be a solid fit for us, then we can go back on stage and tear it up again! We recorded a new single, entitled “Puppet,” back in March of this year that can be heard here: www.dismantlethearchitectrva.bandcamp.com/releases We’ll have new stuff on the way as well. It’s gonna be great. Also, I’d like to mention two other projects I’m involved in currently: Gage Asylum, which is comprised of me and my best buddy Zach Neve (ex-Goose, ex-Strange Days, and actually also ex-bassist of local RVA band Inquiry), and we’ve been working on stuff that runs in the vein of music like Alice in Chains, Type-O Negative, Stone Temple Pilots, Lacuna Coil, Korn, Ghost, Deftones, Primus, Deli Creeps, Faith No More, and a slew of other musical collectives we’re obsessed with. Me and Zach have always been in and out of bands together so it’s pretty much seemed like we’re meant to be in a project of our own. Everyone who’s ever seen us play says we have some of the best musical chemistry they’ve ever seen. Either way, though, I’m really stoked about doing music with him again as of 2013 up to now. We released an album on iTunes via TuneCore in 2014, but I don’t know if it can be found there anymore and we’re planning to revamp it soon anyway. So for now we have a bunch of select songs on our bandcamp: www.gageasylum.bandcamp.com Also, I do a solo project that I’ve had going since 2010 known as “Asylum.” To clear up the possible confusion now, there IS another band around here named “Asylum” that is more on the hardcore/grindcore side. I’ve been getting a bit more buzz with my solo stuff lately so I’m doing all I can to keep the confusion from causing any troubles, but, check them out anyway! They’re insanely great! Anyway, “Asylum,” is and has been literally just kind of a dumping ground for all the songs I write/record/perform that don’t have any place in anything else I do. So, it’s kind of a weird mix of all different styles ranging from prog, rock, alternative, ambient, indie, pop, all the way to funk, jazz, metal, hardcore, grindcore, sludge, etc. I guess the best way to put it is that I’m on the experimental/avant-garde spectrum with it. There are no boundaries and I just write new material freely almost every time I get a new song in my head. I have one full album from 2015 out on bandcamp and am working on a second one to be released October 1st of this year. Both can and will be found at www.asylummusic.bandcamp.com Finally, I’d like to add as an honorable mention that I’ve done production work on a slew of tracks for my friend Drew Etheridge’s “BETA.” album, along with guest guitar and vocals! Drew’s a young, extremely talented dude who does hip-hop and works with an ethic of professional quality. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone with as much of a drive, passion, and hard-working mentality at his age (17) as he definitely exhibits with anything he does. So yeah, shoutout to him and PLEASE go listen to his album at www.inhansed.bandcamp.com/album/BETA You will only regret not having done so before.

Anything else you want to add?

I want to greatly thank everyone in Dillinger Escape Plan for everything they do and giving me a golden opportunity I’ll never forget. I also want to thank all of GWAR and GWAR B-Q staff, along with all bands on the bill and everyone who came out for making this whole thing happen and absolutely killing it. I want to thank my friends Dakota Trimm and Steven Terry for being there and encouraging me. I want to thank Evan Milowic for capturing the GoPro video (sorry it fell and got really bad angles, man! I promise if I had been more coherent in the moment I wouldn’t have made that mistake!), I want to thank my manager Sean Brennan and coworkers who were there with him for being awesome and getting pictures of me, also big thanks and major shoutouts to everyone who talked with me, got video, got pictures, and just generally made me feel cool for a day! Much love! Also thanks to all friends and family for everything and sharing this around. And last but not least, I want to thank my dearly beloved pals in the JNFC for encouraging me and Kenny Roberts and Adrianna Alfman for helping me handle all the overwhelming response this brought about. I can’t be anymore grateful than I have been these past few days and I owe it to so many people. This was something I’ll never forget but am sincerely humbled by and glad everyone has gotten to be a part of! I’m still wearing the wrist band from the event and haven’t stopped smiling for three days straight.

About Author

Josh Drespling

Josh is the Publisher and creator of Empire Extreme and it’s sister publication Kingdom Extreme Magazine. He is an accomplished writer, photographer and graphic designer. He is always conjuring up new ideas and has a amazing passion for the music industry and all the things that surround it.

See author's posts