LH: I saw you just last summer when you came over and played over in Bradford, and that gig sold out, so the last tour you did in the UK must have been a success.

RW: Yes it was.

LH: How is this tour going so far?

RW: This tour, we’re with a band called Toxic Holocaust and they’re close friends of ours and it just makes it that much more fun because we’re travelling around in the same van together and partying every night and it’s just been a good experience. The shows have been incredible and I think we’ve brought a band that really is on the same page as us so it helps the atmosphere of the show.

LH: How do the crowds here compare to those in other places that you play? You seem to be over here a lot so we must be doing something right!

RW: Yea the response has gotten better and better each time as far as like…we feed off the crowd and so if the crowd is going crazy, stage diving and circle pitting, you know, it gives us more energy…and we’ve seen that energy the last few times so we just keep coming back for more and it only gets better. So yes, definitely the crowd is important for us.

LH: So you already mentioned that you’ve brought Toxic Holocaust over with you on this tour. They seem like a good choice of support band and it’s really good to see more of the American thrash bands coming over here.

RW: That’s exactly what I was getting at. I guess I already answered that question but yea we definitely brought some US metal with us!

LH: So you play with them a lot over in the States then?

RW: We did a tour with them last fall and we just all got along really well and we figured the styles go really well together. You know, if a group of people are going to like them then they’ll like us, and vice versa. So we thought they would go down really well in the UK.

LH: And I notice you’ve got quite a few decent thrash bands surfacing over in the US. You’ve got Fueled By Fire, Bonded By Blood have just joined you on Earache as well. So are you getting to play with a lot of these new bands?

RW: The thing about the Waste is that we always play with all different types of music, that’s one thing we kind of hold true, that we don’t just play with thrash bands. We’ll play with the hardcore bands, we’ll play with the heavy metal bands, punk bands, you name it. You know, we don’t like to spread ourselves too thin by only playing with the thrash genre. A lot of those bands are just starting to tour for the first time. We’ve been touring D.I.Y. hardcore for the last seven years and that’s like one of the reasons why we have a foothold in more than one genre. We don’t want to just pigeonhole ourselves in just thrash, so we like to mix it up.

LH: Of course, because you toured with The Haunted, and also GWAR…

RW: Yea and Destruction, Annihilation Time, Caustic Christ, hardcore, rock bands and stuff so we like to mix it up. But we figured if we’re going to bring a thrash band we’re going to bring our brothers Toxic Holocaust

LH: And I guess you’re in a really good position to help these bands as they can kind of feed off your crowds where you go.

RW: Exactly

LH: So you’ve obviously seen the sudden surge of thrash bands to sign to big labels, and Earache seem to be leading the way. Of course, they signed Evile, and they’ve released the thrash compilation. Do you think it’s good that the labels, and also the press, are taking such an interest in this style of metal or are you afraid they will eventually lost interest and move onto the next trend?

RW: Well it’s never been a trend for us, and I really don’t pay attention to what other bands are doing as far as the newer bands, because I know what I like and I know where we come from and I feel like we come from a different place, coming from a background that is more punk and hardcore and just touring on our own has given us like our…you know. I don’t like MySpace bands. Bands that just get on the internet and all of a sudden they’re signed. They haven’t put any work into it. I’m not naming any names but you know who I’m talking about.

LH: Yea, definitely.

RW: So the more I look at that the more I get mad. You know, I think it’s great if these bands can tour and carry their weight then more power to them. I love seeing more thrash bands as opposed to metalcore and nu-metal crap, you know. So it’s definitely a positive thing all in all.

LH: And a lot of those people that were listening to metalcore and that kind of stuff are paying attention to bands like yourselves.

RW: Yea the more we kill nu-metal the better!

LH: Definitely! So you’re very much into the whole touring thing and the live experience - that seems to be a key thing with you. But what’s your attitude when it comes to recording in the studio? Is it a case of “let’s get this over and done with so we can go play more gigs”?

RW: I kinda hate recording, it’s so stressful and I’d rather just be out there having a beer and playing for a bunch of ragin maniacs than sitting in a studio being drained of all my energies just trying to get the song right. So, we just try to bring that live feel in there. We record everything live and, like, as a band, and then we just go back and do another guitar track, but we keep it pretty raw and record it just to keep that kind of element going on. But the studio can be hell.

LH: Your last album (The Art Of Partying) was produced by Zeuss. So how did you really get in contact with him?

RW: He actually was turned onto us by Jamey Jasta from Hatebreed. He was a fan of our band and he had worked with Zeuss for a long time. When he played the Waste for Zeuss he just said “I have to record this band”. He’s an old school thrash maniac from back in the days…he’s more well known for recording hardcore bands and other types of music but he really is passionate about thrash metal and like old school hardcore so he knew exactly what we were going for. So he kind of like demanded that we record with him, and we went out of town and just stayed at his studio and knocked out “The Art of Partying” in like two weeks. It was just a great experience working with him because he really understood what we were going for with that, so I think it worked out very well with Zeuss. It was cool.

LH: It must make it easier for you guys to be able to work with someone who is on the same wavelength as you as well.

RW: Yea

LH: So I was wondering if you could tell me the story behind the song Beer Pressure…it was written after you guys convinced Zeuss to go out and party with you, is that right?

RW: We wanted to do a situational comedy skit in a song and it was pretty much me and Tony, we came up with this concept that we were going to pressure this dorky guy, who happens to be Zeuss, into coming out and partying with us. We kind of made it up on the spot, got down there and had some drinks and just threw out there. Dave Witte put on a great performance as one of the pressurers and I played the other one, and then Zeuss was the one figured out that probably he should party with us and it’s the right thing to do and in the end he enjoyed himself so…

LH: So that was actually Zeuss speaking on the track.

RW: It’s Zeuss, me and Dave. Yea.

LH: And is he really suck a dorky guy?

RW: No! It’s totally out of character so that’s why we made him be a dork, ‘cause we thought it’d be funny!

LH: And as for some of the other tracks, a lot of them have some really cool stories and themes behind them. I know you get a lot of inspiration from the B grade horror movies, and or course beer and weed.

*mischievous laughter from across the table can be heard at this point*

LH: How important are the lyrical concepts to you, I mean do you write the lyrics first or does the music come first…

RW: Usually we come up with a concept first. The concepts are very important I would say, and we’ll sit on a song title for years and just wait to use it until the right music comes up so it’s pretty much…we like to work with concepts ahead of time and then once the time comes to actually put it all together, the song and the lyrics just come together.

LH: Cool. So would you ever consider writing a concept album or is that just too much?

RW: Yes!

LH: Really? (I’m absolutely shocked at this point, as I was only half joking!)

RW: We, a long time ago, wanted to write a space album called “The Waste in Space” and we started writing all space orientated songs, but the idea kind of fell out. So you may see “The Waste In Space” one day. I hope someone doesn’t steal that idea from us, so I’m just going to go ahead and say for the record that we are going to do it one of these days. So there might be a full space concept record. Very futuristic. Watch out!

LH: So what’s next for the Waste then – any serious plans for a new album in the foreseeable future?

RW: Well we’ve been listening a lot to this band called Black Ice from LA. We have a song called Black Ice…but anyway we want to do a covers album of this band, they are an LA heavy metal band and…they have a song called “Animal Rock” we might be playing that on this tour, and possibly a song called “US Metal” as well.

LH: Cool. So I want to ask about your video for “Headbanger Face Rip”. It was produced by Tromaville Productions.

RW: Yes.

LH: How did you come into contact with them?

RW: We’ve always wanted to work with Troma, just because we’re big fans of the movies, of course. So we actually bugged our label enough to get a hold of them and finally it worked out and we did the video in a really short amount of time in New York, and erm…well, what you see is what you get.

LH: Did Troma have much creative input when you made the video. Did you have any particular vision for how you wanted it to turn out?

RW: I don’t think anyone went in there with an idea. We just thought it would be stupid and ridiculous no matter what happened…and I think that was the outcome (laughs)

LH: And I believe they turned out to be fans of yours in the end, so I guess the project was of mutual benefit?

RW: Yea. We got a bunch of free movies and stuff so it worked out, and I think we might have a long relationship with them from now on.

LH: One thing I was also looking at was that you had Ed Repka doing the cover for “Hazardous Mutation”, and then for “The Art of Partying” you had a guy called Andrei Bouzikov who did the artwork.

RW: That’s correct.

LH: Of course its cool to get a cover done by Repka…cause he’s an amazing artist and obviously has done covers for some classic albums. But it’s also great when bands are able to give talented but less experienced up and coming artists that bit of exposure.

RW: Andre is a good friend of ours and he’d actually been doing more artwork for punk and hardcore bands and stuff, so I guess the metal community hadn’t really seen any of his art, but we knew his potential as a painter because he was such a close friend of ours and it turned out to be my favourite record cover to date. Tony came up with the concept and we just let him roll with it and he did like four paintings of that. We like to bring real mediums as opposed to computer generated images so we always go with people who can actually paint, because I think that’s what makes an album classic, you know, when you hold an LP and you’re like “This is gonna be good” you know, you see the art and it kind of grabs you first.

LH: The artwork becomes part of what makes an album special, I think.

RW: And working with Repka. I got to work with him pretty much back and forth through e-mail on that concept and he dug so deep into that concept, asking me “Are the mutants taking over the truck?” or “Are there just too many that they’re falling out and they’re being brought into town?” and he just dug so deep into the concept that it was just like “Wow, this guy really cares about his art”. It was a great experience working with both artists.

LH: So would you maybe work with Repka again in the future then?

RW: I would work with Repka again for sure. And Andre for that fact.

LH: The title of the album “The Art Of Partying” says quite a lot about you as a band, that you know how to have a laugh and have fun.

RW: Exactly. I mean, that’s what its all about!

LH: But with this you seem to have been pushed into almost what is your own little sub-genre of “Party thrash”.

RH: Yea. You know, we don’t want to be known as just that because we do take it seriously, as much as people may think that we’re just up there goofing around. We like to be known for being a ripping thrash band as opposed to a band who can drink more beer than you.

LH: Sure, because I guess this kind of limits you in the way that if you ever decide that you want to stop talking about beer and partying and move away from all of that…

RW: You hit the nail on the head were so sick of it. Seriously.

LH: Gets kind of old?

RW: Yea, ‘cause we do this shit for a living and it’s really easy to disappoint people by not hanging out with them. You can imagine how many people are coming up and trying to give us drugs and beer every night and it’s just, you know, there’s a limit to that. So we’re definitely trying to move away from that. We did a concept record about partying so the next album is going to be something different. We’re still just a thrash band.

LH: Maybe just prove some people wrong with the next record then.

RW: I think you’ll be seeing that soon.

LH: Well that’s all the questions I’ve got for you, so thanks a lot for your time. I hope the rest of the tour goes well.

RW: I appreciate it.

Visit the band at www.facethewaste.com
Read a live review of Municipal Waste at www.metalteamuk.net/review-municipalwaste2.htm

If you enjoyed this interview you might also like the following:
Interview with Destruction
Interview with Fueled By Fire

Interviewed by Luci Herbert

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