Before there were blogs there were these things called magazines, and the only metal magazine we still get excited about reading every month is Decibel. Here’s managing editor Andrew Bonazelli…

I’ve only met Dave Witte once, at the editor-in-chief’s palatial Playboy Mansion-esque estate over the Fourth of July (all metal folk remained fully clothed, thank god). He’s a startlingly accomplished whiffle ball pitcher and an otherwise gregarious dude, which in my book is good enough to put his beret-ed mug on the March cover. More notable to you, perhaps, is his long, varied and unfuckwithable extreme music c.v., which branches furthest from the underground in the form of Municipal Waste. The party-thrash institution’s fifth album, The Fatal Feast, isn’t merely an excuse for Dave, Ryan, Phil and Tony to do a gross-out cover/interior spread—it doubles as an interstellar concept album that you really must read about to believe. It’s in the Decibel webstore now, bolstered by the pink-on-white, two-track Torche flexi disc of your dreams.

In other news, as you’re by now well aware, we’ve corralled four bands who are big fans of beer-buzzed suburban backyard whiffle ball games—Behemoth, Watain, the Devil’s Blood and In Solitude—for our inaugural Decibel Magazine Tour, starting in April. Well, dates and ticket info have finally been released, with all sorts of insane deals that are selling out already. Pig out here while there’s still time.

photo by Jordon Josepher

The Inaugural Metal Suckfest is almost here!!!! Twenty bands will DESTROY The Gramercy Theatre on November 4 and 5, PLUS there’s an awesome, five-band pre-party at the venue the night before, making this THE can’t-miss hang of the year.

Tickets are on sale now right here, and you can hit up the fest’s official website for more info on the shows, including the complete line-up. In the meantime, we’re counting down to this weekend of chaos and debauchery by speaking to one member from each band on the bill. We continue today with legendary drummer Dave Witte of Municipal Waste, who are scheduled to release a new album next year via Nuclear Blast Records.

Read our chat after the jump. And don’t forget to check back in the coming days and weeks for interviews with more of the musicians participating in this awesome event!!!

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On Saturday afternoon, ABC No Rio hosted the first-ever NYC show ever by Argonauts, the new band featuring vocalist Dimitri Minakakis (ex-The Dillinger Escape Plan), guitarist John Adubato (Burnt by the Sun), bassist Brett Bamberger (East of the Wall, The Binary Code’s old touring line-up), and drummer Dave Witte (seriously if you don’t know who Dave Witte is stop reading this right now and go do some homework). And for those of us who were lucky/smart enough to be there, the consensus was unanimous: ARGONAUTS. ARE. AWESOME.

If you weren’t lucky/smart enough to be there, though, you don’t have to take my word for it: the always-helpful (((unartig))) was there, and he filmed one of the six songs the group played. This is far superior to the footage of the band’s live debut which we saw last month, and it gives you a much better sense of their sound — although I still don’t think it comes anywhere close to conveying the energy in the room that afternoon, which was postively electric.

Apparently Argonauts’ current live set consists of every completed song they have right now; hopefully they’ll either write s’more and put out a full-length, or otherwise just record an EP, sometime in the very, very near future. I am seriously bummed that I can’t walk around listening to this band on my iPod right now. They fucking RULED. If you’re smart, you’ll keep a very, very close watch on their future activities, ’cause they are the real fucking deal.

-AR

[via The PRP]

It seems like there’s a new supergroup announced every week now, but few such projects get us excited the way news of Argonauts did. The outfit — which features original Dillinger Escape Plan vocalist Dimitri Minakakis, Burnt by the Sun guitarist John Adubato, East of the Wall bassist Brett Bamberger, and legendary drummer Dave Witte from Municipal Waste, Burnt by the Sun, and eighteen bajillion other awesome bands — made their live debut at GWAR’s GWAR-B-Q over the weekend, and now, of course, fan-filmed videos of the quartet have emerged. They’re not the highest quality, but they do kinda-sorta give you a sense of how the band might sound. And, if nothing else, they show why Bamberger is one of the most fun bass players to go see live — not only is he an amazing musician, but he goes totally apeshit on stage.

More clips after the jump!

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In any band, there’s usually one member who’s the driving force behind the group, and carries the other guys: Greg Ginn, Les Claypool, Justin Timberlake… you get the idea. Such is the case with death metal legends Morbid Angel — the whole band essentially stands on the shoulders of one member, but it’s not the one most of you dorks are thinking of. Lettuce be reality, brahs: Pete Sandoval’s drumming is the definition of mediocre (and before you start arguing, remember that trusted, mainstream news outlets such as NPR have recognized me as an authority on metal drumming).

File this under “sacred cow barbecue” if you want, but I’ve finally come to terms with the truth about Morbid Angel: they have their moments, but are held back by Pete Sandoval’s dull, unimaginative playing (and consistently bad drum sounds). I’m not saying Pete is a bad drummer, because he certainly isn’t, but I am saying that his playing is several orders of magnitude behind Trey Azagthoth’s, and that the bad would be approximately 1 zillion times better if they had someone else on drums.

U MAD?? See if you don’t change your mind after the break…

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Hopefully Dave Witte needs no introduction to MS readers, but for those who don’t already know him, he is a hardcore/death metal legend that’s been dropping jaws for nearly twenty years as the drummer for bands that include Municipal Waste, Black Army Jacket, Human Remains, Discordance Axis, Melt Banana, Iabhorher, Burnt By The Sun and probably several others I’m forgetting at the moment. He’s a pioneer of progressive metal, awesome drummer, and as far as I can tell, a very nice, approachable guy. Oh, and I was just trolling with the Assuck thing — I do think Rob Procter was overrated by hardcore kids back in the day, but like Dave says, I’m far too old to care about things like that anymore. I hope Dave doesn’t think I’m a dick :(

Thanks to Dave for taking the time to answer some questions, and be sure to check out the latest Municipal Waste album, Massive Aggressive, courtesy of the one-and-only Earache!

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In my 20+ years of listening to metal/hardcore/etc, there are few records that have made a bigger impact on me than the “Cry Now, Cry Later” compilations. For those who aren’t familiar, this series of four double-7″ compilations collected some of the mid ’90s most brutal and important grindcore/power violence bands, and I still listen to it on the regular (although nowadays that’s usually on my iPod while I’m at the gym).

Before I dig into the tracks themselves, a little background: You may know Pessimiser as the label who put out some great records from bands like 16, Despise You, Excruciating Terror, Grief and Phobia, but it was originally a zine. The brains behind the zine, label and Despise You is Chris Elder, who is not only hilarious, but among the world’s most cynical human beings (as you might be able to tell from the name of his band and label). Chris is born and raised in the sketchy town of Inglewood, which has its fair share of cholos (Mexican gangsters), and the name of the record is a parody of the famous cholo saying “Smile Now, Cry Later.”

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Our bro-dogs at Metal Injection were on-set for the filming of Municipal Waste’s “Wrong Answer” video last month, and have now posted their report – including an interview with vocalist Tony Foresta and bassist Landphil. There’s even a cameo by yours truly. MI’s Frank Godla shot me from a low angle, Michael Bay-style, so I’d look extra handsome.

While Frank and on-camera sexy d00d Rob Pasbani were doing their interview, I was on the other side of the set interviewing guitarist Ryan Waste and drummer Dave Witte. We’ll have the transcript of that interview, and some cool behind-the-scenes pics, for you sometime real soon.

-AR

At this point in time, unless you’ve lived in a cave for the past few years, you know that Municipal Waste’s previous three albums (and an EP) have been steeped in thrash, beer, and partying… in no particular order. In that brief time, Municipal Waste’s impending retro-thrash throwback almost single-handedly inspired a plethora of seventeen year-old kids to buy Reeboks and shamelessly – and unfortunately – unintelligently “borrow” Kreator, Exodus, and D.R.I. riffs coupled with an emphasis on party-centric lyrics and sharp, speedy riffs.

To The Waste’s credit, though, they’re one of the few bands that manages to bring something new to the table on a consistent basis. Over the course of the band’s brief history, Municipal Waste has shown evolution and gradual, albeit slight, updates and innovations to their sound, culminating in Massive Aggressive, which – as cheesy and clichéd as it is dub it this – is probably the band’s most mature offering to date.

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I got to visit the set for Municipal Waste’s new video, “Wrong Answer,” and when I first arrived, I didn’t even recognize guitarist Ryan Waste. In fact, my first thought was “What the hell is the dude from Waking the Cadaver doing here?”

Ryan was just in costume, of course. Directed by David Brodsky, the video, as Waste and drummer Dave Witte explained to me, literalizes the song’s lyrics and portrays a game show where answering a question incorrectly has deadly consequences. That might sound like the description for a Miike movie, but this being The Waste, it’s actually quite funny.

“Wrong Answer” comes off the band’s new album, Massive Aggressive, which Earache released this week. I’ll have my interview with Waste and Witte up soon; in the meantime, enjoy the clip…

-AR