Live-Metal.Net - Interviews: Municipal Waste

Municipal Waste gets 'massive aggressive'

June 24, 2009

In the immortal words of Suicidal Tendencies' Mike Muir, “What the hell is going on around here?” We've gone through some sort of rift in the space-time-continuum and it's 1985 all over again—the rebirth of thrash metal. Thrash and crossover bands are popping up all over the world and the fans have are here, too, both new and old. Who can we largely thank for this revival? Richmond, Virginia's Municipal Waste. In 2005, the band released its debut album on Earache Records, Hazardous Mutation, and they've taken their show to the road ever since. Often met by hardcore metal fans with little expectations, Municipal Waste succeeded in winning over thousands with their throwback sound, onstage charisma and party-till-you-drop lifestyle. Now, four years later, the band can be credited with jumpstarting the thrash metal revival, as they were one of the first to bring back the classic sound. They further built upon their success with 2007's The Art of Partying and now are back with album No. 3, 2009's Massive Aggressive, a more focused effort that's still undeniably Municipal Waste.

Municipal Waste drummer Dave Witte checked in with Live-Metal.net's Jeff Maki months before the album's August release. Witte talks about becoming a stronger band, the new album and thrash metal, both new and old. Most importantly, he answers this question: What makes thrash metal so nuclear, toxic and radioactive?

I first saw you guys on Sounds of the Underground in 2006 ...

Dave Witte: Oh yeah, man, cool. That was an interesting spot to see us ...

Yeah, it was the first time I saw you guys, the first time I ever heard of you guys, in fact. I didn't know what to think, quite honestly. You guys came out with this '80s kinda rock and punk thing going on. But looking back now, I think that you guys were really one of the first bands to come out in this new wave of thrash metal. I would credit you with jumpstarting that whole revival, personally. What are your thoughts on that and the current new wave of thrash metal?

Everything has its circle when it comes and goes. But it's nice to see people playing cool music and young, new and old are gonna learn about the root of all this. Because of this, the people that started it all are going to be paid recognition. And as far as us, we've been going since 2000, and I joined in 2004. And I joined the band because this is the music I've always wanted to play and really enjoy it. And that goes for all of us. And we've been doin' it since before it became cool. And lucky enough, what's cool happened to catch up to us. We really didn't have to alter what we were doin' to fit in or anything like that. We were already doing it, so we're benefiting from all the new people that are discovering it for the second time.

I think that with your band, and there's a few others that have that certain charisma, talent and whole package, while there are several other bands that just seem to be rehashing the original sound. What other bands stick out in your mind to you and where do you see the whole revival heading from this point?

For what's goin' on currently, we've played with so many different bands because we've been on tour for like four years straight. And making records when on breaks, when not on tour. Tried and true, time after time, Toxic Holocaust sticks out to me because you know exactly what you're getting every time. You're not reinventing the wheel by any means, but it's good solid true, metal, thrash, crossover—whatever you wanna call it. It's just awesome to listen to them all the time. So they get my vote for awesome.

What I'm trying to say is if these bands keep rehashing this sound without adding anything new to it ...

It'll burn out and fade away just like any other kind of music.

I think you guys stand out and do add something new, so I think you guys will last a while ...

Like I was telling a bunch of other people today, we made Hazardous Mutation. We made The Art of Partying. There's no need to make that record again. Evolution is only a natural process. I mean we're not gonna go do a King Crimson song or anything like that, but the subtle changes we make as musicians as better songwriters and a band are only gonna further our musical palette, so to speak. We're gonna grow and stay true to what we're doin', but we're gonna grow at the same time. So it keeps it fresh for us and that's the most important thing to keep us satisfied.

That kind of segues into the new album. I've seen the word “different” thrown around in the band's official bio from Earache describing the album. What did you guys try to do differently, or did it just turn out this way?

It's not really so much different. It's not full-blown, drink-beer-till-I-puke, which we're pigeonholed into. I guess what made this record different is that we knew what we didn't want to do this time around. So like I said before, we've become better songwriters and during the breaks on tour we had the luxury of having a recording device in the room. So we would do pre-production and demos and record stuff at different stages and listen to it to see what worked and what didn't work. We came up with the best formula for the new material and to make it the strongest. So that's how it was different this time around.

You mentioned that you're pigeonholed into the whole drink-until-you-puke thing. Lyrically, how does it differ this time around? Is there more of a serious vibe?

[Guitarist] Ryan [Waste] and bassist Phil [“Landphil” Hall] are our main contributers—mainly Phil is the main lyricist/writer. There's some '80s horror influence, like comic books ... personal strife. There's also a song on the record called “Media Skeptic,” that tells how the news is contrived and half bullshit all the time. People get a little riled up about that. You can only write so many songs about zombies and beer drinking each record. So I guess that being said, the two albums—Hazardous Mutation and The Art of Partying—are great documents of time of where we were as a band. And the lyrics this time around are a document of where we are these days and what interests us at this point in time.

You mentioned about the zombies and beer drinking. This isn't a rip on you guys or anything, but just with the whole thrash metal scene, why is everything in thrash metal either toxic, nuclear or radioactive and these kinds of things? Who started it and why has it continued even now?

They just seem to go hand in hand for some reason. I would have a hard time saying who the inventor of all that was ,actually. I'm racking my brain trying to come up with a quick answer and I can't ... maybe Nuclear Assault? Cuz they had the whole mutant, post-apocalyptic thing. I guess that was a good foundation from those guys. And S.O.D. [Stormtroopers of Death] had the "Sargent D" skeleton trooper. I would vouch for those bands.

You talk about the new album and it being where the band is at today. How will this translate to the live show? Are we still gonna see the “shark guy” on stage and all of your other onstage antics?

None of that stuff is really planned out. Usually people would just show up with that shit and go off and have a good time. So if those people feel like showing up with their stuff to have a good time, we're not gonna stop 'em.

That's part of who we are. We have a new record, and it's more focused and the best stuff we've written, but we're still the same dudes writing the same tunes. We haven't started playing Nirvana songs or King Crimson.

Talking about the live show, what are the touring plans for the band? You're heading over to Europe first?

Yeah, we have three trips to Europe, some of our own shows, some big festivals, a lot of exciting times ... new countries. Then we do a U.S. run here in the winter for the new record. And we're all really psyched to play the new songs. We're really proud of them, so we're ready to see what people think

Is there anything else you'd like to say about the new album?

We're all really proud of it. People that have supported us in the past, hopefully they'll dig it this time around. We're not gonna let anyone down by any means. We've pulled together to make our best combined effort for our record and we're psyched to go on tour and play the new songs. Hopefully, people will come out and support us while we're doing it and have the good-ass time we attend to bring. The record comes out the 25th of August, so check it out.

And one final question. Are you guys drinking and/or drunk at this moment in time?

[brief moment of awkward silence]

No, I'm not.

I'm just kidding man ...

No, no, it's all good. Everybody has their thing. I enjoy beer quite bit. I collect beers and let them age. I'm into the Belgium's and the microbrew scene, the Samaritan culture and the Czech Republic. That's my thing. I love drinking, but I'm not gonna sit down and slam a case of PBRs to get drunk. You know what I'm saying?

[laughter]