MUNICIPAL WASTE Guitarist Talks New Album, Horror Movies And Illegal Downloading

Anthony Morgan of Metal Forces recently conducted an interview with guitarist Ryan Waste of the Richmond, Virginia crossover act MUNICIPAL WASTE. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On leaving Earache Records for Nuclear Blast Records:

Ryan: "We had finished our contract with Earache, which was for three records. We decided to move on, and Nuclear Blast had been actually talking to us for a long time. We had developed friendships with people at the label, and it was just pretty much a no-brainer for us. They wanted to let the band be more creative and give us control over what we're doing, and give us better distribution. It just seemed like a win-win situation for us."

On writing new album "The Fatal Feast":

Ryan: "We actually took a year off to write this record, which we'd never done before. We had always been on tour, and we were just rushing through the studio. We never really had time to sit down, and focus on writing and recording. We made a point of 'Hey, you know what? This is a transition for the band, and we're switching labels. We have time. Let's just take our time for once.' The year 2011 we dedicated to writing, so we went into the studio really refreshed and actually dedicated the time we wanted towards the record. It made us have our own sanity. It's like a mental thing — it's less stress. When there's a time limit on things you start to stress out, and you end up losing years off of your life thinking about whether you could have done better if you had had the time. I think it's just more of a mental thing, just to have more time. I think it really shows with this record."

On his guitar work on "The Fatal Feast":

Ryan: "I was going for more of an organic, natural tone... not super over-distorted. I wanted it to have clarity on this record, so in terms of the tone I'm really happy that I achieved it. I then did some more lead guitar work which I haven't done very much in the past, so I'm pretty proud that there's some solos on the record. I just try to step it up a little bit more with each album, and add some more lead guitar. We ran it through a few different amps. I can't give away all of my secrets (laughs),but we had a few tricks up our sleeve. Yeah, I'm totally happy with how it's turned out. It's classic wave stuff with a little bit more of a flow."

On his guitar influences:

Ryan: "My favourite band to date — and ever since I was a kid — is JUDAS PRIEST. Without knowing it, Glenn Tipton has always been an influence in the back of my head. Whether or not it shows through in the later stuff I don't know, but it's definitely there. I grew up on SLAYER, of course, so Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman are the foundation for me playing fast, kind of aggressive speed metal, I think. It definitely goes back to SLAYER for me, their early albums mainly. 'Show No Mercy' (December 1983),'Hell Awaits' (September 1985) and stuff. That's how I got started off, and I think it still holds up. I love 'Reign In Blood' (October 1986),but I've heard that album way too much. 'Show No Mercy' is the one that stands the test of time for me. That's the one I can go back and listen to all the time. After 'Seasons In The Abyss' (October 1990),I stopped really being into them. It kinda went downhill for me."

On his favourite horror movies:

Ryan: "I like a lot of the old Dario Argento movies — 'Profondo Rosso' (1975),'Opera' (1987),and 'The Church' (1989). I also like some more campy stuff like 'Blood Sucking Freaks' (1976). Of course, I like John Carpenter's 'They Live' (1988) and 'The Thing' (1982),and sci-fi based stuff like 'Galaxy Of Terror' (1981),more obscure space horror. I like the old stuff, man. I don't like the current state of horror. I think with new movies there's too many pop culture references in them and too much dialogue, where they don't leave some suspense. As far as horror movies, older movies had silence where you could use your imagination to think about what's happening. That's instead of someone talking to you the whole time, listening to their fucking iPod on the screen, and plugging all these companies and stuff. It just seems like so many references to pop cultures have come into play in movies now, whereas in the old days the mood was totally different and you could use your imagination more."

On illegal downloading:

Ryan: "I like to buy vinyl. I usually buy used records, but I'm not against downloading music. Some stuff you can never find on LP, or it's too expensive. It's old, rare stuff. I'll download old music, but I definitely don't buy music from iTunes and stuff like that. I don't think it's necessary, and I don't actually have a problem with people downloading free music. It's never bothered me. I mean, I do it. I don't care if people download my music for free. It's fine with me."

Read the entire interview at Metal Forces.