Municipal Waste
Interview with Tony Foresta
Words: Michael Spadoni

Appearing:
March 18, 2008
Sluggo’s, Pensacola

March 19, 2008
State Theatre, St. Petersburg

March 20, 2008
Common Grounds, Gainesville

When I was seven years old, my music collection consisted of Debbie Gibson and my father’s Yes tapes.  It was around that time I heard Anthrax’s Among The Living and it changed me.  Thrash music was like nothing I had ever heard before.  I had no idea that music could ever sound like that and I was hooked.  I had the same feeling the first time I listened to Municipal Waste almost twenty years later.  I had forgotten what it was like to listen to a band that glorified the finest simplicities of life – friends, beer, partying, and zombies.

REAX:  The first time I ever heard of you guys was from a friend who proudly owned a Municipal Waste skate deck.  What is your relationship with skateboarding and the culture that surrounds it?  And, if you're into skateboarding, does that mean you have to be into hip hop?
Tony Foresta:  Haha! That rules. I haven't seen one of those decks in years!  The Waste doesn't skate, but a lot of our friends are older skateboarders and we have a lot of the same views about the direction skating has headed.  We all have the same question. Why the hell has hip hop culture has completely taken over skateboarding?!?! I understand that wearing baggy pant helps you move your legs around and perform tricks better but why does every skate video have to be filled to the brim with flavor of the month Camron/ Lil Jon/ bling bling/ blah blah crap? Whatever happened to skate videos that played old Bad Religion and Slayer songs? That is the music that would get me pumped up to go out and injure myself! If I was skating to a hip hop song I would probably be worried that I skuff up my 400 dollar clean white Nike's or something. I love skateboarding, I just think we should keep it violent and dirty and the music should be that way too!

REAX:  Lately, there has definitely been an uprising in the thrash scene, a complete departure from the nineties when it was buried underneath suburban pop-punk.  What would you attribute this to, the bands, or the times we're living in?
TF:  I really think that it has a lot to do with the state that metal has been in lately. I think that band's have tried to do different things with aggressive music so much that they kind made people lose interest. I know we did and that's the thing that inspired this band the most, to write good songs and bring fun back into music. None of that artsy-fartsy metal coming from the Waste!

REAX:  How do you feel about introducing an entire new generation to thrash and the bands that inspired you?
TF:  I'm really honored to be in this position. It is so cool to be an influence to younger people playing music as well as meeting people in bands that you have loved since you were a kid. When I heard that bands like Anthrax and Propaghandi were big fans of ours I nearly crapped myself!

REAX:  When you played The Fest in Gainesville last October you had a line around the block and absolutely killed it that night.  As far as highlights of The Fest went, did anything top that for you?
TF:  That was a really fun night for us. Once a year we pick one gig to be our "Halloween" show and we go all out. That was the night for us.  We worked our asses off and made the stupidest/offensive costumes to play our set in. It was a lot of fun for us. We also had a Wizard who was so drunk he stayed on stage not only for our set, but for the remaining bands that played that night. That was a great time.

REAX:  Who designed the cover for The Art Of Partying what was the inspiration behind it?
TF:  Our good friend Andre painted it. He has done a lot of work for sweet bands like Phobia, Deadfall, Born/Dead to name a few. The inspiration came from the lyrics from a song on that record called "Chemically Altered.”  The lyrics tell the story. It will shock you.

REAX:  Your video for "Head banger Face Rip" is the best music video I've seen in a long time.  How did you get hooked up with Troma and do you have any plans on working with them again in the future?
TF:  Thanks! It was an honor to work with them! Hopefully the next time we work with Troma it will be for the Municipal Waste full-length movie (which is in the works) and it will feature tons of gore slime and unnecessary nudity!

REAX:  Is another E.P.  honoring Kurt Russell in the works? Or, would you be able to expand it into a whole concept album?
TF:  No, we are working on a Patrick Swayze acoustic EP. You might laugh...You might cry...YOU WILL MOSH!

REAX:  Do you have any pre-concert rituals that the band partakes in before each show?
TF:  We usually argue over what songs we feel like playing that night and we also make fun of whatever band is playing before us at that moment. Sometimes we throw things at them...it's all for fun.

REAX:  What's more important, a circle pit or beer?
TF:  Definitely a circle pit...everyone can slam!

facethewaste.com