THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN guitarist Ben Weinman spoke with Spiritech from Pyromusic.net recently about a number of topics. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Spiritech: Ire Works has been out for more than a year now - has this been DEP's most successful album to date?

Ben Weinman: "All of our records have had different kinds of success which attribute to what we are as a whole. I think Ire Works is the perfect representation of how we have evolved throughout the years. It really represents what we are and where we want to be so in that way it was very successful. Ire Works has also been probably our most well-received album as far as press is concerned so I guess someone digs it.

Spiritech: Indeed. Have you begun writing material for the next album yet, and if so, how is it shaping up?

Ben Weinman: "Yes I have a lot of music in the works. Most of it is pretty aggressive but who knows how it will end up."

Spiritech: Good to hear. The band also recently enlisted a new drummer in the form of Billy Rymer. Can you tell us a little more about him and how he came to join the band?

Ben Weinman: "He is great. We tried out a lot of guys and then this dude probably about an average of six years younger then anyone else we played with and with much less experience comes in and kills it. He is ridiculously precise but has this kind of Dave Grohl energy. We can't wait to record."

Spiritech: Just to clear any doubts up, why did Gil Sharone decide to leave the band?

Ben Weinman: "It's very simple. He didn't want to tour as much as we did so we decided to find someone who could commit more time before recording another record."

Read more here.