Live-Metal.Net - Interviews: Municipal Waste

Guitarist Ryan Waste takes a break from partying to talk about their upcoming album

There’s old school, new school, crossover, hardcore-punk, the Big Four shows, the potential “new big four” and the list goes on. Long story short—thrash metal is back. But the thing is, I saw Municipal Waste doing this live back in 2006, when no one else was. They were the first band I heard playing this style of old-school thrash in years. Four albums later, the band has gained a loyal following and been credited with sparking the resurgence. During the recording of its upcoming album for new label Nuclear Blast (tentative release date in early 2012), guitarist Ryan Waste checked in with Live-Metal.net’s Jeff Maki to talk about life in the studio, the Big Four and more. But wait—was Ryan really in the studio? Surely he wasn’t partying it up, was he? We’re not entirely sure, so we’ll let you decide. One thing is certain: Municipal Waste once again will be looking to “fuck you up” in 2012.

Live-Metal.net: So being that you guys are in the studio right now, do we have any song titles for the upcoming 2012 album? I saw that your interview with Guitar World is already online where you name some, but can you give us any others?

Ryan Waste: Well, (vocalist) Tony (Foresta) is doing interviews, too, and they said we could each give out three new songs. I don’t know which ones he’s been giving out, but I can give you the same ones that I gave for Guitar World; “Residential Disaster,” “Fatal Feast” and “Unholy Abductor.”

I’m not even actually in the studio right now. I’ll tell you what we’re doing today; we’re having a barbecue because Toxic Holocaust is coming to town. So we’re actually just having a barbecue today. (laughs) So the fuckin’ dream continues—the vacation continues. I just got back from the liquor store and got a bunch of food, and they have the day off, so they’re just coming to town and staying with me.

So actually, I’m not even in the studio—the CD doesn’t start until next week. Guitars haven’t started, but the drums and bass are completed. And we were super prepared. All year, we wrote this record—we took the time off to write it. So I’m going ahead with no worries, and I’m recording right here in my neighborhood, so that’s going to be a super cool situation for me. And I think that is most important because the studio isn’t really a fun place. There’s a lot of pressure when that red light goes on, and even sometimes if you’re only at practice, you just screw it up. I just want to be as comfortable as possible, go lay my tracks down, and that’s the setting I’ve created for myself being in the neighborhood.

OK, so even though you’re not technically in the studio, take us through a day in the studio, morning, afternoon and night. Judging from what you said, it doesn’t really sound like the most fun part of being in the band?

Generally, we begin around noon. Engineers are as lazy as musicians, and they don’t want to wake up early and do anything either. But if it was up to me, I’d start at 3 p.m. because I can’t even talk to anyone until then. That’s why I start all my interviews at 3. I stay up all night, and then I sleep as much as possible. So I try to get my head together. Back in the day, I’d probably be drinking beer in the studio, but I learned that kind of slows me down a little bit, so I don’t drink beer until we’re listening back to the tracks. So I try to keep it sober during the day for sure.

We basically will lay trash tracks down, so I’ve already played all guitar and all the parts. So just to get them a little bit tighter, I lay (new parts) over top. And for me, we play really fast music, so it’s important to be able to remember and know the tempo that we were at. We don’t play to a click track, we just play to feel and play to our own sense of rhythm. A lot of bands like to cut and paste and do it generic, but we’re a live band, so I play everything with drums and bass already recorded. But I just go back over stuff and make it super tight—like all the little picking and everything. And I’ll write out two rhythm tracks of that, and I just get all the way down to each of them and dig because I’m kind of a perfectionist with it now. So it’s basically just going over my own stuff and making it super tight.

After all that rhythm stuff is done, I go back and do a third guitar and splice some stuff in there. I wanted to have a few more leads on this record, so I’ll be (recording) a little longer on guitar this time around.

Now are we talking about just working on specific parts of songs each day, or a song a day or what?

Yeah, I try to bang out as many as I can. I like to try and get six or seven songs done in a day, at least. But we’ll see how fast I’m going. It’s really like a “go until you’re tired of staring at the screen thing,” and when you start getting burned out, you just got to stop. But sometimes I can work with the engineer, too, if he’s really on his game. Staring at that computer screen can get old, and when you get into that evening time, unless you’re on a roll, you usually kind of call it a night. And this guy is like two blocks away from me, so it makes it real simple. I can just walk down the street, and I’ve recorded with him before. He’s just doing the tracking because it’s someone I’m comfortable with, but we’ll send it back up to New Jersey for the mix.

For people that have heard Municipal Waste or heard your guys’ songs, from the outside it might seem that one of your songs wouldn’t be that hard to write. But would they be wrong for thinking that?

I think so, and especially this new stuff. We’re a fast band and there are fast changes happening all the time. I can’t stand technical music, like super-wankery music, so it’s never going to be like that. I’m about the riffs and making the riffs catchy enough so that they stick in your head. So I think that’s actually a harder thing to do than to write something that is super complicated that you can’t figure out. I think it’s harder to make memorable songs and that’s what’s important. And with us, we pack so much into a small amount of time that there’s a lot more work than people think is there. I think throughout the records, working with (drummer) Dave (Witte) and (bassist) Land (Philip "Landphil" Hall), they’ve really brought a lot to the table and I’ve latched off of that, and I’m still learning stuff. And you’re always growing and always learning along with the other people (in the band). I think there is a lot more to it and a lot more work that people would imagine.

You mentioned the pressure of going into the recording studio. I was thinking earlier that when a band goes into the studio, they’re basically trying to set themselves up for the next few years of their lives with the album and touring. So is the studio more of the business side for you being in a band?

No, I don’t really look at it like it’s a business. It really is just like a “pressure thing.” You know you’re going to get it done, but you just got to kind of dive into it and drop into a groove. It’s really getting started and getting over that hump of “Hey, I’m in the studio, I have to get to the studio by (this time) and I have to get through that.” For a guitarist, it’s a lot of work because you have to double and triple everything, and you basically have to do everything two or three times. It’s tedious is what it is. Its fun writing the songs with the guys, but it’s tedious getting all the songs perfect. But once you’re done and you’re sitting back listening to them and drinking a beer, its like, “Hey, we made this!” And that makes it all worth the while. It’s just getting through it is a long process.

It definitely beats that. And I don’t take anything for granted. I’m doing what I love. It has turned into work, I will say. Being in a full-time band is a job. With live stuff, you’re not going to feel 100 percent every day getting up onstage, but you have to act like you are.

I’ve kind of changed gears here from live to the studio, but when you’re on tour, you’re not going to feel like getting up there every night and doing it. But the people paid to see that, and you have to deliver that every night. And sometimes you don’t feel like doing it because it’s like work, but you got to get up there and punch the clock and do a show. And fuck, doing that every day, it starts to get hard. And it’s the same thing in the studio. It’s all definitely a labor of love, and I feel privileged to be able to do that.

Starting for this album, the band signed to a new label with Nuclear Blast. For me, it seems like especially with a band’s first album for Nuclear Blast, they seem to single out the strengths of the band. They have them release albums that not only fans will like but that are reliant on these strengths. So were you guys given any specific direction or instructions for this album of what the label wanted from you?

No, no. With us, it’s the exact opposite. I feel like I explain that to kids sometimes because they think that the label really shapes the band, but with us, it’s the exact opposite. What they’re going to do with us is just let us breath and let us create. We would not sign with them if they were to tell us to go in any type of direction. With (our former label) Earache, we didn’t let them do that either. We’re just about being ourselves. Creatively, I never ever want anyone telling me what to do. I’ll never be a part of a label that will do that. And Nuclear Blast is not one of those labels, at least in my experience with them. They believe that we can run with what we’re doing, they trust our ideas and they’re just going to help back us and stuff. That’s really all they’re there for.

The reason I ask is because it seems like a band’s first album for Nuclear Blast after coming from another label is always an awesome, killer album.

That’s great. That’s good to hear. Honestly, I haven’t listened to anything on the label. I listen to all old stuff, so I’m kind of out of the loop. (laughs). But that’s good to know. It doesn’t mean we’re magically going to have a super album. I think, really, with something new it always gives you something to prove. When we first signed to Earache and did Hazardous Mutation, we had something to prove because a lot of our fans were (freaking out) because we were on a bigger label. And we wanted to prove to them that we were the same band, but that we were just going to take it to the next level and push ourselves and not change direction. Within the band, we found a formula from what we created and made it work. We created our own sound, and we’re going to stick with it and only just expand on it. Like I said, it’s something to prove. Not only for the label, but to prove to the fans that we’re the same fucking band but just a little bit stronger.

The Big Four shows are the biggest thing in metal right now, and Municipal Waste often gets mentioned as part of the “new big four.”

Who’s in the “new big four?” Is there really a new one?

Yeah, I’ve seen this all over the Internet. Municipal Waste is always mentioned, along with Evile, Toxic Holocaust and Bonded by Blood. Skeletonwitch or Warbringer are sometimes in there, too. There have been a few different variations of it.

OK, that’s what I was wondering. I try not to read up on (that stuff). I don’t like to read what people say usually, but that’s nice. That’s a big compliment.

No disrespect to you guys, and I don’t know what you think, but I just don’t think that any of these bands mentioned are ever going to reach the heights of Metallica, Megadeth or Slayer.

The thing is, is that wasn’t our goal. Everyone thinks that we want to bring thrash back, but that was never our goal. There was no one doing the style when we started doing it, at least not in our town and our scene. And that’s why we started it, because we were fiending for that kind of music. Throughout the ‘90s and late ‘90s, the state of metal was horrible. We come from hardcore punk; we come from heavy metal and speed metal. Seriously, the first band I ever played guitar in, we were just playing what we were feeling at the time and it was just something fun. It’s just something that you’re not really trying to make a difference at, and that’s where some of the best stuff comes from. It’s a more natural progression. I mean, look where we are right now. Who would have ever thought that this would happen? And that’s incredible.

But no, I never thought that Municipal Waste would be anywhere near where Metallica or Slayer is. That wasn’t even the objective. I can say that, but that’s insane—sure. (laughs) I’m with you on that, man—you know? We’re doing it because we love it.

Metallica put out a lot of shitty records. I think Slayer did, too. And that’s one thing we’re not going to do. We’re not going to be as popular as them because we’re not going to compromise like they did. They compromised at the time and to sell records maybe—that’s what I think. It’s about putting out quality albums. At least, that’s what it is for me. And if you want to talk about the test of time, then yeah, if Metallica consistently put out as good of an album as Ride the Lightning, then I could say they stayed true to it and they walked the walk. But I feel like they put some garbage out, man. (laughs)

And I don’t get on the Internet and say this kind of shit. And I don’t like to read it about them or myself. I’ll talk to my friends about it, but I think it’s a real weak form of shit talk. I think a punch in the face is way better than bad-mouthing someone on the Internet. It’s definitely more effective.

OK, that’s what I got Ryan, and we’ll look out for the new Municipal Waste in early 2012, right? Is there anything else you want to say?

I really appreciate you talking with me, man. I think this was my last interview of the day, so I’m ready to start barbecuing and hang with my buddies from Toxic. But I appreciate it man, and the new record is gonna kick your ass, so get ready for it.