We caught up with Tony and Ryan of Municipal Waste after their performance on the second stage at Download festival.
R13:So you played Download earlier today, how was it for you?
T: It was really cool, really wild for 12.30 in the afternoon.
R13:Growing up in Richmond were you are of the legacy of Donington & the Monsters of Rock?
T: No, our friends told us about it, we have some friends in London and they were like “you have no idea the bands that have played, Van Halen, Priest etc”.
R: It’s kind of an honour. I wish they still called it that, it’s like ‘we played Download’, sounds like some kind of internet bullshit!
R13:You’re pretty heavy tourers, how do you think UK audiences measure up to other countries?
R: They’re on the ball man, we’ve got some maniacs over here, they know how to have a good time.
R13:I couldn’t really see from where I was but what was the wall of death like today?
T: Pretty violent!
R: We had the best view of that, it looked cool as shit!
R13:Your most recent album ‘The Art of Partying‘ received some great reviews and much more mainstream attention, did you feel that people were finally taking you seriously?
R: I find it funny that that’s the album people would take most seriously!
T: Yeah that’s like our jokiest album, so it is weird that this is the one people take us most seriously for but yeah it’s all good, we take it seriously and that’s all that matters.
R13:Well I guess you often come over as having fun live and the fact that you’re good musicians often gets overlooked?
T: Yeah.
R13:Over the years there’s been a distinct move to longer songs from an average of under a minute (on Waste em All) to nearer 2 minutes on ‘Hazardous Mutation’ - does this demonstrate a mellowing in old age?
R: Haha Yeah in about five years they’ll be up to five minutes! Nah I think we just got a bit more excited about riffs, wanted to put more in there. We joke about making longer and slower songs but I don’t ever see that happening. Maybe we’ll regress back to a minute next time, keep you on your toes!
R13:So Ryan, you’ve just had a signature guitar made - you must be pretty pleased with that - how did it come about?
R: Yeah man I’m so chuffed, I had to say that cos I’m over here! I’ve not been talking about in interviews much so it’s kind of cool to get it out there. I designed the logo and I’d always thought it would be kinda cool to have a flying V style guitar in the shape of the M and the W and some guy put my money where my mouth was and said “yeah we can do that”.
R13:Did he come to you?
R: Yeah he came to me and not even seriously I said “do that” and he was “yeah alright” and no shit there it is. It’s going to be handmade so pretty pricey but it’s a guitar for life. It’s cool for me cos I’m a left hander and they don’t make cool guitars for left handed people so it’s pretty awesome.
R13:Are you aware (as you become more popular) of a resurgence in the hardcore/crossover scene? Bands like SSS etc.
T: Yeah I like what they’re doing, it’s a lot more punk influenced where we have more thrash and metal influence so I don’t really see many super crossover bands but a lot of thrash metal bands, which could be worse so I don’t complain.
R13:What kind of stuff do you listen to? Do you have a guilty pleasure?
R: Toto! Haha Nah I like a lot of 70s rock, chilled shit. Playing in a band like this every day I like to mellow out after a gig.
T: I listen to a lot of newer punk bands.
R: I like a lot of new wave of British heavy metal as well.
R13:You have a reputation for wild live shows, what’s the craziest thing you’ve seen at a show?
T: Oh it’s got to be when this guy set himself on fire!
R13:Really? No way!
T: Yeah totally on fire, flames and shit
R: He jumped on people and got two other people on fire.
T: They put it out and he only had minor burns, I think it was a dare or something but it was pretty scary. We were up on stage thinking what the hell do we do.
R: Yeah Dave almost stopped playing, Phil was getting into it, he loves shit like that.
T: I think he threw some gas on the guy himself!
Phil smiles & nods
R13:Any other UK dates planned this year & if not when can we expect to see you back?
T: We’re talking about finishing off the year in the UK and coming back around December.
R: Yeah early December
R13:Are you looking at an album to support that?
T: Nah we’re not really pushing that, we’re writing a lot of stuff but there’s no set date for that. It’ll just be us and our bad attitudes!
R13:Who else you looking forward to seeing here?
T: I want to go back in time to see Priest, today is not really a good day for us, Lost Prophets don’t really do it for me.
R13:What do you think of the headliners?
R: Never heard of them and I wish I’d never heard of them after I heard them earlier today!
T: Yeah, like are you kidding me? I missed Priest and got this!