Municipal Waste at The Regent
Municipal Waste is gonna fuck you up!
They say you only have a couple true loves in your life. I think they might be full of shit, especially if you count non-romantic love. My first love was in high school, she dumped me (twice), and is now a is part-time stripper (Dodged that bullet). My next love was my wife, whom I met 13 years ago in Lodi, Ca, and have been with ever since. (There is more about why I love this women a little later in the article). My next love was my 6 year old daughter, who is the best kid ever. I love her more than anyone in this world. She is truly a challenging, funny lil’ ball of energy and light.
(And since I already lost half of the readers) I also wanna quickly mention that I fell in love with Dani Miller, the lead singer of the band Surfbort while attending a live show last week at Non-Plus Ultra with my lady, (awkward) J/K. If you get a chance to see them, and meet Dani, I’m sure you will develop an infatuation for her live performance and her truly infectious smile. (Check them out surfbort.net and on instagram to find out WTF I’m talking about.)
For all the love above that I’ve been lucky enough to find, I’ve never felt in love with several people in one night… UNTIL FRIDAY NIGHT at The Regent. On this magical night, my wife and I were able to get one of our best friends (shout out to Alizul) to babysit our kid so we could go see the most fun band in the world, Municipal Waste. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen Municipal Waste; or Tony Foresta, or any of the other band members half dozen other bands. Please try and keep up.
I saw “Municipal Waste” w/ “Exodus” at HOBA (House of Blues Anaheim). “Iron Reagan”, which is fronted by Tony Foresta, at Ozz/Knotfest last year. “Cannabis Corpse” at The Whisky which is fronted by Land Phil, (who is the bassist for both MW and IR). And last but not least, I will be seeing “Bat”, with “Midnight” and “Wormwitch” when they stroll into LA at The Union on 5/20, which is fronted by Ryan Waste who is lead guitar in “Municipal Waste”. Super fans, if I missed any connection, (which I’m sure I have) please correct me in the comments below, where I will update my knowledge.
So, to say I’m a fan would be like saying: “Municipal Waste is gonna fuck you up!” You have no idea! I’ll skip all the bullshit about getting there early, because if you don’t you’ll be fucked for shooting pictures. I’ll skip the fact that Savage Master had $15 dollar shirts and that the MW bootlegs outside were amazing. (Don’t fucking judge me!). But I’ll get right into the meat of this delicious steak dinner of a show.
My first love was with “Savage Master” and those amazing $15 dollar shirts I mentioned (why did I not buy 1 of each, STUPID fuckin’, cheapskate, dummy-butt-head-bitch). Next, I fell in love with Stacey Savage who is “The Savage Master!” I had only found out about this band 2 nights before and my soul was captured by Stacey through my computer monitor as I watched her whip her bass playing slave to the song “With Whips and Chains.” As this band of hooded musical monsters obeyed their Mistress on stage, Stacey’s eyes roamed into the pits in search of her next slave and stared through my Sony eyepiece and into my brain. I was hooked; and I think Mistress Savage is a fucking Demon Witch with mystical powers of enchantment.
Besides Stacey’s demon powers, and their stage presence and insanely well priced Merch, the reason why this band is so amazing is that all their songs are so easy to learn the hook and sing along to after the 2nd time around. Municipal Waste has that same song characteristic, and it is amazing to be able to sing along with a band that you are hearing for the first time in a sweaty crowd of strangers. I fucking love that.
Next up was local (Inglewood) band “Despise You,” which I wasn’t aware of other than the handful of under a minute songs that had the impact of a sledgehammer on a watermelon (but unlike Gallagher), this band influenced the “Power Violence” music genre that Scotty Heath of Tank Crimes, (if not another love of the night at least a strong man-crush) is helping document over on instagram and facebook #pvp.
This band doesn’t fuck around, and many times slung their gold mic out to the fans below, allowing the horde to scream the bands lyrics into the beaten up mic before fishing it back onto the stage. At one point a fan made his way onto stage, almost knocking lead singer Chris Elder into the drum kit, before sailing off the stage and into the crowd. He almost smashing into my wife who was in the pit behind me! (Another reason I love my wife)
Check out Razorcake Issue 107 featuring “Despise You.” The cover and photos inside shot by Anthony Mehlhaff.
Oh shit, I forgot about “Trappist” who when I first typed their name in my computer tried to auto-correct to “Rapist”… whoops. I liked this band, they had a good sound, and the singer was joking back and forth with the guitar player Phil Vera, who is also the guitar player for “Despise You.” They didn’t move around that much, and weren’t much of a show beyond the music. I know I sound like an asshole for saying that but…fuck you. I said something nice too. Update 1/24/19 Holy shit is the “Trappist” Album, “Ancient Brewing Tactics” is so fucking good! It’s fast, hard and funny, (like your gym teacher’s dick.). Ha… seriously though… it’s awesome!
So, If you are keeping a tally on this article I fell in love like 5 or six times tonight, but, none had me as sprung as “Municipal Waste.” This fucking band is the most fun band on the planet. Don’t believe me then go fucking see them. The fans are also the craziest and throughout their performance hundreds of fans climb onto the stage to party with these legends.
I wanna take this moment to talk about stage diving etiquette for a quick second.
Rule #1. If you weigh more than 180lbs, man or women, quit jumping on people. I get it, you wanna party too, but, I saw 300 lbs boys and 250 lbs girls tumbling into the crowd and that’s just not right. As a fellow fatty (260 lb BBW) myself, trust me, I wanna jump from the stage too, but, I have more respect for my fellow humans and their spinal cords.
Rule #2. Always refer back to rule # 1. (It’s really the only rule!)
Lastly, on that note if you are a big boy or girl, don’t wonder why the masses part when your Moby Dick sized ass tries to Captain Ahab the crowd below. It’s scary for our wrists! (Moby Dick sized asses!). Ha.
Anyways, Municipal Waste’s mantra could not be more true, “Municipal Waste is gonna fuck you up!” They did that. At the time of writing this article, I’m still sore as fuck, but, I’m not a lil’ bitch, so, I won’t complain about it. Let’s say you had terminal cancer and you had a few weeks to live and you asked me, “Hey Anthony, I’m gonna be dead soon but I wanna see a band that will make my life complete,” I would say, “Go see Municipal Waste and make sure you get your dying ass on stage and in the pit!” Unless you are more than 180 lbs, then refer back to Rules 1 and 2.
Follow all the bands at their instagram except, Despise You and Savage Master because they make it harder to find out where, and what the fuck, they are doing. And, also check out Cannabis Corpse, Iron Reagan and Bat when they come to your shit-hole town.
Trappist (not to be confused with the band “Rapist”). https://trappist213.bandcamp.com
Savage Master. https://savage666master.bandcamp.com/album/creature-of-the-flames-2
Despise You. https://despiseyou.bigcartel.com
Municipal Waste. https://www.municipalwaste.net
Iron Reagan. https://ironreagan.bandcamp.com
Bat. https://bewareofthebat.bandcamp.com/album/cruel-discipline
Cannabis Corpse https://cannabiscorpseofficial.bandcamp.com
Also, check out Scotty Heath’s Tank Crimes Instagram for Cool Shit, Merch, Vinyl splits and pictures of Scotty holding babies and dogs and somehow not breaking them. (On camera.)
Oh fuck. There is a 3rd pit/stage dive etiquette rule and even a 4th.
Rule #3. If someone falls, help them up.
Rule #4. If you try and take a selfie with Tony, he will try and slap your phone out of your hand.
Thanks for reading and follow @fuqtoff on instagram for more photos, articles and other shit.
Update 1/24/19
I broke my own stage dive rules when Haunt, Toxic Holocaust and Municipal Waste finished their “Speed of The Wizard Tour” @ The Observatory last November.
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