In Thrash We Trust

"Jump in the pit, punch your friend in the face. Kick him four or five times for Municipal Waste!”

So goes a line in Municipal Waste's 2007 ode to thrash Thrashing's My Business… And Business Is Good, a bonus track from their The Art Of Partying LP of the same year.

There's a certain tongue-in-cheek sense of humour that runs through the Richmond, Virginia thrash band's music that makes this line come across a whole lot more lighthearted than it reads on paper. However, there's also a sincerity that ensure that, when the band hit town this week, there will be best friends punching each other in the face, kicking each other four or five (or probably more) times in honour of this band, of thrash and of having a good time.

“If you don't plan to get jumped on or knocked around stand way in the back of the room,” vocalist Tony Foresta offers to anyone who has yet to witness the force of a Municipal Waste crowd in full effect. “It gets pretty rowdy sometimes. Not in a malicious way, more like in a  'I'm having fun and freaking out' sort of way.

“The topless stage dive is usually my favourite thing to witness,” he later adds. “It's happened a few times.”

What happens in the mosh pit is one of a few key thematic points to Foresta's lyrics. Municipal Waste songs also speak at length about zombies (Blood Hunger), mutants (Hazardous Mutation), drinking (Born To Party, Drunk As Shit, Beer Pressure) and thrash itself (The Thrashin' Of The Christ, Thrash? Don't Mind If I Do).

When asked if Foresta would ever consider starting to write songs about common topics girls or politics, we get our answer pretty quickly.

“Nah, There's a million other bands in the world that sing about topics like that. I don't really feel like yelling about that sort of thing on a nightly basis,” he laughs.

With booze such a strong topic in the band's lyrics and such a big part of the band's general persona, it's interesting to hear a song like 12 Step Program, which appears on their latest LP, last year's The Fatal Feast.

So it bears questioning; could Foresta imagine touring with Municipal Waste as a sober man?

“Yeah, I've done that before,” he reveals. “Last summer I stopped drinking for two months [and] it felt great. It also feels good to get drunk all the time too though,” he laughs. “I did play shows better sober however, so yeah, I can imagine doing this band without drinking.

“Who cares if you drink or not really? As long as you are enjoying what you do, I have a ton of straight edge friends. It's not like I hate people for not drinking or can't function without a drink, we just like to have a good time. To each their own, you know?”

The band go hard when they're on the road; long tours with what seems like as many shows as possible packed into each week. When we speak, the band are on tour with thrash legends Anthrax and Exodus, meaning they're only on stage a short amount of time, but Foresta admits that the headline tours tend to drain the band at times.

“This tour we're on currently is pretty easy, we only play for 30 minutes so I don't get too fatigued,” he tells. “We take one day off a week usually [though] days off really don't help because we usually drink more on those days by accident. The tours where we play for like an hour are the ones that we really get worn out on. Sometimes you just gotta take a couple days off… I mean that doesn't happen very often but we chill sometimes.”

Playing a tour like the one they're currently on gets the band out in front of old school thrash fans, many of who have stopped looking out for new bands to discover, while the recent resurgence of interest in crossover thrash has meant the band are playing to the biggest crowds they have experienced in their 12-year career.

“Yeah the crowds have slowly built for us over the years,” Foresta says. “It's always been on a steady incline since we started; I think it's really cool that more people appreciate it now. When we started there wasn't really any new bands doing this sort of thing and the old guys sort of fell off, now it seems that everyone is back stronger than ever and the kids are digging it too.”

While he admits that other bands might be a little more serious when it comes to their lyrical content, Foresta is quick to say that the majority of the bands he has toured with have been on the same page as his band in a personal sense. A band like Exodus, for example, aren't completely jaded from so many years on the road, because they're truly living the dream.

“I think lyrically most bands are more serious, but as people a lot of them are goofballs,” he says. “Exodus are some of the funnest guys I've toured with in a while; I guess it's hard to be grumpy all the time when you are travelling the world doing what you love. I've toured with a couple bands that were a bummer but for the most part people who play music are usually fun and creative people and good and inspiring to be around.”

It has been many years since Municipal Waste's first and only visit to Australia so far, their August 2006 tour the only chance many have had to see the band in the flesh. There have been more than a few false starts with regards to a return visit, Foresta reveals, so he is very excited to get in front of Australian audiences once again.

“I like the people a lot, folks know how to throw down there,” he says of our countrymen. “Last time we went was so much fun and I met tons of good people that I still keep in touch with today. I also like finding out about new bands down there as well.”

So what does he hope the tour has in store this time around?

“Lots of chipped teeth smiles, spilled alcohol, tasty riffs, swear words and heaps of stage dives,” he says. “Well at least that's what I'm hoping for.”