Virginia based thrash/punk kings Municipal Waste have been delivering the goods since 2001. I couldn’t be more pumped to have crossed paths with these guys so when I was offered the chance to interview lead singer Tony Foresta, I jumped at the chance. While taking a brief break from recording the follow up to 2009’s “Massive Aggressive”, I caught Tony at home and he was more than happy to talk about his thoughts on the Black Sabbath reunion rumors, his current TV show with Dave Brockie of GWAR and all else in between. This interview was a ton of fun for me and definitely had many “LOL” moments. Dig on this one y’all. It’s a great one!
Tony, thanks so much for taking the time out to talk to me today.
Man, we appreciate you being interested in what we’re doing so thank you.
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I literally just got turned on to you guys and it was that classic thrash/punk sound that totally drew me in. Are you seeing a lot of older metal fans becoming Municipal Waste fans?
Oh yeah definitely. Especially at the more recent shows. We haven’t played a lot this year, but at the shows that we have been doing we’ve noticed a lot of the older metal heads starting to catch on. I don’t know if it’s because they’re playing us more on Sirius radio or something, but it seems like the more seasoned veterans are starting to catch wind of us as well as the young kids. We’ll take ‘em. We’ll take all of them [laughs].
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You guys currently in the studio recording the follow up to 2009’s “Massive Aggressive” album.
Is the next album going to be a progression in style and sound or do you guys pretty much have a formula that you like to stick to?
“Massive Aggressive” was more of a progression as far as writing more serious songs and we had a more pissed off attitude with that record. The new album sounds more classic and it’s still pissed off sounding. It’s a lot more straight forward like our earlier stuff with a lot more fun thrown in there which was lacking on the last record.
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One of the things I love is that you guys mix in some pretty serious social and political commentary in with your warped humor. Do you think this is more effective than just coming straight out and whining and yelling about things?
Yeah. I definitely want to have songs have some social commentary, but I also don’t want to take myself too seriously. I’m not trying to hand out life lessons or anything. I’m just playing music and having a good time. There are certain things that piss us off and we want to sing about them.
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I thought the video for “Wrong Answer” from the last album was sheer brilliance. It was right on my level: 7th grade humor with adult undertones to it.
[laughs] Thanks a lot man. We really ad-libbed a lot on that video [laughs]. It was really fun!
That video totally reminded me of Gwar’s “Slaughterama” song.
Yeah! We’re really good friends with those guys and I didn’t even put two and two together until after the fact [laughs]. I actually do a TV show with Dave Brockie (Gwar vocalist) that’s a puppet show thing.
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Is it like public access or something?
We’re not sure yet. We’re pitching to a bunch of people. Right now it’s me, Dave Brockie, and Randy Blythe from Lamb of God. It’s just a puppet show that’s kind of like a medieval, gory, disgusting, Monty Python-esque puppet show with us doing the voices. We did a Kickstarter page to raise money for it and people went apeshit and ate it up. We have all this money now and we’re almost done with the first episode and it looks like it’s going to be pretty damn funny. It’s going to be called “The Blood Vomits”.
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So it will be a PBS show right?
[Laughs] Oh yeah, it will definitely be a PBS show.
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Municipal Waste signed with Earache Records in 2005 and have since signed to Nuclear Blast. I’ve heard a lot of bands talk about how signing to a label takes away a lot of your creative freedom and energy. Was this the case with singing with Earache?
Not really. We were able to have the money to do things like the “Wrong Answer” video. I don’t think being on a bigger label really hinders your creative control especially when you’re on an extreme label who puts out bands like Anal Cunt. I mean, how hard are they going to really hold us down creatively when they’re putting out bands like that [laughs]? It’s really cool as far as letting us be creative and doing what we want to do. Like anyone, I wish we had more money to do more crazy stuff. I think that Nuclear Blast can get behind us so it’s exciting to move on to a different label and start over.
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One of the things I was really drawn to was how stellar the production was on the last album. I feel like that is something that lacks in heavy music a lot these days. How important do you feel it is to have a well produced album?
I think it’s important, but I also feel it depends on what you’re going for. Sometimes a dirty album just sounds good. The Accused’s album “The Return of Martha Splatterhead” sounds like shit, but it’s an amazing album. It’s like the band Electric Wizard. Those albums sound like shit too, but it’s terrible in a good way. It really depends on what the band is trying to get across. For us at the time, that’s just how we wanted it to sound.
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How important is it for an album to look good as well?
I think album artwork is just as important as production. I think an album should look and sound good or look and sound the way a band wants it to sound. Both of those things are really important to get the message across.
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I agree. I totally miss those days of killer album art like Iron Maiden. I remember buying a record and just looking at the cover front and back for hours. It’s really cool to see you guys having some killer artwork. Who does your artwork?
Thanks man. We bounce around using different artists, but the guy who did our last two albums name is Andre Bouzikov (http://andreiboo.blogspot.com/). He’s this Russian kid who lives in the Bay Area and he’s been doing album covers for a ton of killer bands lately. I’m hoping that our records that he’s done for us opened a lot of eyes and got him a lot of work. We take the artwork pretty seriously with this band. We always make sure we have killer t-shirts and fun stuff.
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Ok, let’s have some fun here. What is the one interview question you hate getting asked?
Oh man. The one question we get asked all the time because we have songs about drinking and partying, they always go, “So tell us a crazy party story” and/or “Tell us a crazy story from the road.” We get asked that in every interview. I think it’s because we’re known to drink a lot and tour a lot [laughs]. We got to the point where we were answering it so much that we just started making shit up like, “Man, one time we found a dead body!” and we would just try and one up each other for the craziest answer [laughs].
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Man, I just read an interview with you on About.com and I could hear your eyes rolling back into your head with each question.
[Laughs] Yeah, we get misunderstood a bit. People think we’re not as smart as we are and think we’re just brain dead so we get asked some pretty dumb questions. Are you scratching out that question about touring and partying? I can hear you scratching it out [laughs].
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[Laughs] Oh man, I’m busted! Actually, I hate asking those questions. I always get annoyed when the first question of any interview is “So how’s the tour going?” I’d love to once hear a band say, “Horrible. Shit’s breaking down, nobody’s coming to the shows. It’s fucking horrible.”
[Laughs] Yeah, or say shit like “Man, I got a fucking STD in St. Louis. It’s fucking terrible!” [laughs] Nobody ever says that!
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So ya know there’s been a rumor that Ozzy and Black Sabbath are reuniting. What are your thoughts on that one?
Man, I think it’s great. It’s great for the people that never got a chance to see them. The loss of Dio and Heaven & Hell was pretty sad. Just the idea of those guys never playing again was a bummer in itself so it’s cool that Ozzy wants to man up and start playing with his boys again. Ozzy seems like an awesome guy who cares about those guys. They’re all family regardless of all the legal bullshit. I got to catch it once so I’d like to see it again.
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Everyone seems to be making a huge deal about “The Big 4” lately. I always kind of roll my eyes about this, but in your opinion, who do you feel is REALLY “The Big 4”?
I’d have to say that those guys are the true Big 4. Who do you really think can out do those guys? They’ve got the fucking songs that everyone on the planet knows. That’s why they’re The Big 4 because people love those songs. I give them all respect where respect is due. They all earned their place up there. That’s why they’re playing arenas and we’re playing clubs [laughs]. We’ll be up there though. We’ll be in the Big 5! Municipal Waste will be playing stadiums with those dudes. Municipal Waste is comin’ son [laughs].
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If you could bury any band up their necks in sand and take a giant rubber mallet to them, who would it be and why?
Oh man, probably one of those stupid bands with stupid guys with their cute little haircuts that have a keyboard player and shit like that. Bands with stupid names like Further Forever and My Autumn is Crying or whatever the fuck that shit is. Fuck all of them. It sucks, I hate listening to it and I hate looking at it. I don’t even want to smell them [laughs].
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No kidding man. I mean, when did metal bands stop looking like metal bands and look more like they could sell you coffee at Starbucks or working at a clothing store?
Man, it’s because we’re getting old [laughs]. All the young kids are doing their crazy rock music that we just don’t understand and that’s what it is. I’m 35 years old and I guess I’m just old and out of touch not knowing what the kids want. The kids want stupid looking guys with shitty haircuts that suck really bad. It’s a bummer [laughs].
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I feel like I’m seeing a huge resurgence of that classic heavy metal sound with bands like you guys, 3 Inches of Blood, and Holy Grail. Why do you think that more bands are coming out with that sound as opposed to the more modernized metal sound?
I think it’s just because it’s better music. You can only listen to a grown man screaming like a baby for so long. It all comes down to who’s writing better songs. People who write good songs and good music lasts. That shit comes back around and people love it. All the bullshit just goes to the wayside eventually and the kids will figure that out one day.
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KISS had a comic book in the 70’s where they put their own blood in the ink. Have you guys thought of making a Municipal Waste comic book using a bodily fluid or solid in the ink?
Oh yeah dude. We came in the ink that was used on the last record. People don’t realize it, but when people are reading the lyrics, they’re actually touching our cum. It’s really gross but we had to do it.
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Man, that’s crazy. I hope you guys don’t have any STDs or anything.
[laughs] Uh, I don’t know about all that. I mean, I’m not my band mate’s parent or anything, but I know I’m pretty clean. I’m not watching the other guys that closely, but I think they’re alright [laughs].
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If you could sing for any band for just one night, who would it be and what era of the band would it be?
Hmm, that’s a good one. I would say Slayer, but I would just get booed off the fucking stage because you don’t fuck with Slayer fans like that [laughs]. I would also say The Descendents because they are one of my favorite bands. If it came down to it, it would have to be the Descendents.
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So what is next for Municipal Waste?
Well, the plan is to finish this fucking record. We’ve been working on it for about a year now. We’ve done drums and bass tracks and we still need to do vocal and guitar tracks. We’re about half way done and we still have to do the artwork, album layout, thank our mommies and stuff like that [laughs].
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Make some more ink for the liner notes?
[laughs] Yeah. That takes a long time. There’s a lot of cum to get put out there for all the people.
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Tony, I’m really looking forward to hearing the album and meeting you when you swing through Atlanta on tour.
Oh man, we’ve had some good times in Atlanta. All our shows there have been fucking nuts.
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Thanks again for doing this interview man. It was great to talk to you.
Fuck yeah man. Cheers and thanks a lot Don. It was nice talking to you!
For more on Municipal Waste, check out their official website at http://www.facethewaste.com
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