By Kelley Simms
RETURNING WASTE
Municipal Watse
R
ichmond, Virginia crossover party
animals Municipal Waste return from
a two-year recording hiatus with the
raging four-track EP The Last Rager (released
on Oct. 11 via Nuclear Blast). Featuring
vocalist Tony Foresta, guitarists Ryan Waste
and Nick Poulos, drummer Dave Witte and
bassist LandPhil Hall, the retro-thrash quin-
tet will be returning to Chicago on Oct. 17 at
Metro with openers Napalm Death, Sick of it
All and Take Offense. Foresta spoke to IE
about the new EP, his late buddy Oderus
Urungus of GWAR and one of his fondest
memories of playing in Chicago.
Mosh: Talk about your new EP The Last
Rager
Tony Foresta: We’ve been touring so much
for both bands, so it’s kind of hard to get new
material out there. But we actually made it a
point to get in there and write full-on and
have new songs for the record and to get
[them] out there. We really wanted to make
sure we had some new material out for this
upcoming tour with Napalm Death and Sick
of It All. So, we busted ass about a half-a-
year ago; busted songs out. We’ve been sit-
ting on them for a little while. They probably
could have come out about half a year ago,
but we just wanted to wait for this tour
because we knew it’d be a fun one.
Mosh: What does the title signify?
TF: Everyone thinks that we're breaking up
or something. But we think it's kind of funny.
We're not breaking up or anything. The song
title is something we wrote when we were on
tour with one of our friends from Peru.
34 illinoisentertainer.com september 2019
Everyone stayed up all night raging and the
next morning, (drummer) Witte passed out,
he was one of the last guys to pass out. He
woke up the next morning, and our buddy
was still sitting there drinking while every-
body was out. He looked over at Witte, and
he said, “I am the last rager!” He was the last
person at the party who was still keeping it
going.
Mosh: Is this EP designed to tide fans over
till a new full-length studio album comes
out?
TF: We're writing right now, and we’re
going to take January and February off to
write new stuff. We have a few new songs,
and we just decided that both bands and all
the other side-bands that we've got, we're
going to put that shit on the curb for a couple
of months until we write a new (Waste)
album. Because doing all that other shit
made the last album come out late; it took
five years to do that record (Slime and
Punishment). So, we need to make sure we
put enough time aside and have our shit
ready to drop a new record. We’re a little bit
more focused on getting [new music] out
more often than we used to be, but we also
did six records, so we don’t have to rush it
too much. We're never going to rush any-
thing until it's right.
Mosh: You’re still on Nuclear Blast, how's
that working out for you?
TF: We just love being on Nuclear Blast. I
think we get along really well with them. I
think they really get what we're going for;
actually, one of the Nuclear Blast guys kind
of spearheaded this whole project and even
the video. We’re used to touring so much,
and that's what we love. We love getting out
there and sweating, and we always forget
that there's all this other shit you got to do.
The staff is a very good influence on us as far
as getting other things done that we normal-
ly wouldn't think of.
Mosh: You were good friends with Oderus
of GWAR. (Dave Brockie, better known as
Oderus Urungus, passed away on March
23, 2014). What do you miss the most about
hanging out with him?
TF: I went to [visit] his memorial (in
Richmond, VA) a couple of days ago actual-
ly. We were out of town when they unveiled
the memorial, so me and Ryan went down
there. It was nice. Yeah, I miss him a lot. I
think about him around football season espe-
cially, and around October. I spent a lot of
Octobers with him and a lot of winters and
stuff. We had a lot of good times. I can still
hear his voice; he was just such a memorable
character. He's still around, you know? He
left his mark on Richmond, and I'm still here,
and it keeps me going, and it keeps me influ-
enced to work hard and make sure you're
having a good time while you're doing that.
That was kind of what that guy was all
about.
Mosh: Speaking of football season, is your
team still the Tampa Bay Buccaneers?
TF: My team is Tampa Bay, but I'm just kind
of disenchanted with them lately. Especially
since Tampa Bay sucks so bad, I didn’t even
watch the opening games. I’m kind of still
pissed about (their last couple of bad sea-
sons). Not that I'm a fair-weather fan, but it's
just been a rough few years.
Mosh: What do you think of da Bears?
TF: Oh, I like the Bears! Well, the ’85 Bears
are my favorite team. I've actually worn
Bears shirts in a couple of Waste videos,
which is funny. In the “Sadistic Magician”
video I’m wearing a Bears shirt. I actually
grew up in that era. That was like my all-
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