February 20, 2024
Something changes in the air whenever Municipal Waste come to town. I can’t fully explain it, but its as if every low-life scumbag in the city – my people – come out to play. Metal heads and punks alike, all congregate for what we all know is going to be a near riot every single fucking time. Why would tonight be any different?
Tickets for tonight were sold out almost immediately and several people could be found trying to source a way in at the bar downstairs. Lots of us are skint now, thanks to the bullshit politics of one Justin fucking Trudeau. I’ll try not to rant too much about that clown here though. No promises. I might.
See Also: G.B.H at Beanfield Theatre, Montreal
The doors opened a little earlier than advertised and the room was already starting to fill up close to an hour before Dead Heat were set to open the nights entertainment. Of the four bands set to play, this is the one I was unfamiliar with – but now that I have seen them, I plan to rectify that error of mine. That’s a long-winded way to say that they were great, playing an older thrash metal style that fits in with what Municipal Waste fans would surely dig.
Necrot
Proving just how solid of a bill this was, I would say that the final three bands come have probably filled the room on their own (hell, maybe Dead Heat too – that’s how little I know about them). The style of death metal that Necrot play is right up my alley and on this night I was really in the mood for it. My cravings were fulfilled, with grimey and nasty old school death metal riffs, that occasionally dipped into that beautiful old Swedish melodic sound. The traditional three-piece, all of it perfect.
Luca Indrio singer and bassist of Necrot might have been having a bad day, as he urged audience members to “punch somebody in the fucking face”. Luckily, and maybe this is the only good time that we might have a tiny wee bit of a language barrier here, nobody did. It could also be that the Foufounes Electriques has a decades long reputation for fuck around and find out ethics. Maybe not so much now, but ask any of the old crew about it and I guarantee you everybody you ask knows somebody that got roughed up real good by the security guys at the Fouf! I’ve seen it happen – but to be honesty, it was always deserved. Now, nobody tempts that fate. Meaning that Necrot’s request was denied.
Ghoul
Before Ghoul took to the stage for good, they made their way up to do a quick sound check – but that was when I realized, they had fucked up! See, the show was already two bands in and now filled tighter than a can full of sardines, and there were Ghoul, the not-so-secret supergroup of musicians from bands such as Phobia, Dystopia, Exhumed, Impaled and Wolves In The Throne Room plucking away at their instruments without their masks on. “We can see you” I yelled, to no avail. On this date in history, the secret identities of Ghoul were reveled.
Vanishing only to reappear cloven in their trademark potato sack masks as if nobody in the room had noticed them up there a few minutes prior was quite amusing. As was their entire set that features a whole collection of characters that come up and fuck shit up – something I imagine was either influenced by their multiple tours with GWAR – and if not, perhaps those tours help redefine their onstage antics. All of it, brilliant. Especially the Swamp Witch.
More than just a band with a cool gimmick, Ghoul have been churning out quality thrash metal with a healthy death metal tinge for some time now, and have finally released some new material after a seven year long hiatus. Check out Noxious Concoctions if you haven’t got around to it yet. You won’t be sorry.
I really like Ghoul in this slot, amping up the crowd for what was still left to come. Although, if gauged by the crowd response, there were as many people amped up to see Ghoul tonight as there were for Municipal Waste. Given the love this city has for Municipal Waste – that’s saying a lot. Towards the end of their set, a creature emerged with a bucket of bloody guts that he threw out to the crowd, making a bloody mess all over. I knew there was something of this ilk to come when I saw stage hands taping plastic sheets over the stage monitors. (And because I’ve seen them before… and because I saw Exhumed back in the days where Ross Sewage would purposely vomit on stage. Not that I’m saying Sewage is in this secret band or anything! Or was that Bud? Fuck it, I’m not going to research it. It’s late. )
Anyway, yeah, Ghoul ruled.
Municipal Waste
Now, I’ve been a fan of this band for many years – and I’ve seen them more times than my fried up old brain probably remembers – but I was still stoked to be hearing a whole lot of their old shit live again. I’ll be honest – I thought they were going to be playing Waste ‘Em All in its entirety but that wasn’t the case. I might have dreamed that part up on my own. They did jam six of the tunes off that record though – and six more off of The Art Of Partying. Something from every record was played which is pretty rad. How has it been twenty-one years since Waste ‘Em All though? Madness.
Look, I really don’t need to say much here, do I? Anybody that has ever seen Municipal Waste live knows how it goes. What goes down. How crazy it can get and how much it is. I’ve been going to shows for more that three decades now, getting into this very venue as an under-aged punk dickhead, and I have seen a lot of great bands. But there’s nothing that matches the crowd interaction that happens every time Municipal Waste play here. I can’t explain it. Slayer in the 90’s was wild – this is at least on par with that, maybe even more nuts. Nnnuuttts. Shit, it’s as much fun to watch the people dive off the stage as it is to see the band.
“They offered us to play a bigger venue” said singer Tony Foresta, “but we want to play the Fouf. We fucking love playing here, man.” And if you’ve ever been to any of the many shows the band has played in this venue over the years, you would know why. It gets all kinds of crazy up in the Fouf when Municipal Waste are on stage. Tonight added to that legacy, with a not stop flurry of stage divers from the opening note to last. Pool toys bounced around by the dozens, a plastic skeleton was ripped to pieces and toilet paper was sent careening through the room – and all this was in the first few minutes of the show. Pure decadence.
Why the hell Municipal Waste have yet to film a show here for a DVD or whatever I don’t know – I’d buy that without second thought.
Read More:
>> Agent Orange at Le Ritz, Montreal
>> Black Veil Brides at MTelus, Montreal
>> Beast In Black at Club Soda, Montreal
Foresta had a request for the audience before playing the last few tunes. Drugs. He wanted drugs. Marijuana, to be precise and seeing as this is Montreal there were several members of the audience to rush to the stage and hand over pre-rolled joints. You can tell Foresta really does loving playing here. He says it all the time, but I’ll let you in on a little secret – all bands tell you your city is there favorite place to play. They only mean it when they say it in Montreal, though. Facts. So anyway, there’s Tony, lighting up all these joints, puffing on them and passing them to his band mates and audience members. There’s a really good fucking reason they call Municipal Waste the ultimate party metal band.
Something tells me Municipal Waste shows will be this intense until they stop touring – which is a day I don’t want to think about, and an idea I shouldn’t be putting into the universe. Fuck that! Let’s party!
