Gig Review: Municipal Waste + The Neptune Power Federation + The Vee Bees at Liberty Hall, Sydney

Live review: Municipal Waste, The Neptune Power Federation and The Vee Bees at Liberty Hall, Sydney on Saturday, July 6 2024

By PAUL SOUTHWELL

IT was apt for Australian punks The Vee Bees to be the opening support for Municipal Waste’s return tour to Australia – after a good decade of absence by the latter from our shores. Given the American band’s penchant for songs about the overindulgence of imbibed stimulants, Australia’s own grog culture-celebrating punk rockers got the jovial mood flowing. Their ocker vernacular-rich, feedback-filled odes to alcohol-related activities are hardly poetry but the overall comical delivery, aided by props such as an inflatable schooner-shaped Lilo, gave a fairly direct two finger salute to wine connoisseurs, excepting château cardboard enthusiasts. 

On entering the venue, “Park Bog” from Yeah Nah, Yeah Nah was in full swing followed by use of the Lilo prop, with frontman Norro describing it as ‘the Magic Pudding of beers,’ as he lumbered about the stage in a shirt adorned with ‘I’m dumber than I look.’ Clipped vowels and brashness continued with “I Can’t Get Enough Rock’n’roll” from Outta Ammo. Backing vocals generally consisted of barking the song title, as heard on the atonal “Whaddya Reckon About Me Ute?” which had some brief, climbing guitar work and an admission from Norro that ‘I don’t think anybody owns a ute anymore in this band.’ 

“Drinkin’ Problem” from Crack Us Anotha used Dad-joke quality humour followed by Norro tying up his t-shirt to reveal his belly, to launch into a cover of Verbal Abuse’s “V.A. Rocks Your Liver”, reappraised to “VB’s Rock Ya Liver”. To finish their unique set, “Drive Thru Bottlo” – the opening track from Crack Us Anotha – was delivered with Davo stomping left to right whilst playing riffs and Norro mimicking driving before jumping the barrier into the audience for some free form Lilo bashing. Davo’s solo had a brief element of surf rock via a descending glissando but other than that, it was largely meat and two veg punk rock, figuratively washed down with copious amounts of domestic lagers.

The surprise of the evening was The Neptune Power Federation, who melded stoner rock with psychedelic metal and some old school heavy metal stylings and mixed it with some theatrics to create something both musical and entertaining. Fronted by the seemingly ethereal Screaming Loz Sutch wife of bassist Jaytanic Ritual aka Jason Whalley and backed by the experienced twin guitar work of Troy Scerri and Mike Foxall – with drummer Dean Bakota holding down the groove – they were an unexpected musical revelation. 

Engaging a small but fervent fanbase to start proceedings, Sutch drip-fed a punter a mysterious liquid from the stage barrier. Her elaborate dress-based costume with partially illuminated headdress was immediately striking, all other band members dressed in all black, smart casual. The initial track was the atmospheric “Mind Voyager” that allowed the band to improvise as they saw fit. As Sutch then waltzed on stage, the fast rolling “Let Us Begin” set the tone with feedback howls, briefly delay effected vocals, and some solid guitar riffs. “Way of the Wizard” had delay galore, and excellent harmony guitar lines, lifting the driving riffs, with additional vocal shrieks so high in pitch, they would alert any nearby canines. Segueing into “Edmunde”, drumming rolls and half-time riffs allowed for some expressive soloing from Scerri. The band were tight and this continued with the unison bends and driving guitar rhythms of “Thirst for Blood” and allowed the simpler AC/DC-styled “Betrothed to the Serpent” to kick off some low string vibratos against high pitched vocals. Adding some incantations or narratives, “Lock & Key” ebbed and flowed into “Neath a Shin Ei Sun”, which had a distinctive heavy rock and stoner vibe reminiscent of Kyuss, which was completed with wah pedal filled soloing, and fast, descending trills against plentiful cymbal hits. 

Some form of punk rock melodicism and vocal projection was present in the amusing “We’re Gonna Die”, quickly followed by the much heavier “My Precious One” which Dio era Sabbath fans might well enjoy as it was dark sounding, but with harmony lines. The brooding “Rat Queen” saw some vocal gymnastics, a rhythmic interlude and some drumming that wouldn’t be far from a ZZ Top song. At one point, Sutch threw a rubber snake into the audience, for some great comedy value. To complete their victorious set, regardless of whether thrash metal attendees got it or not, a cover of the Motörhead classic “Killed by Death” let Sutch play with a wind up horn to add sounds to her vocal parts, with solid backing vocals from the rhythm section – and others – and a faster outro, leading to a crescendo end. Excellent work.

Municipal Waste fans were primed for a circle pit and once the changeover was done, and lights dimmed, it took barely a double kick drum wallop to send the disciples of crossover thrash metal into a combined charging beast. It was full on and something that future promoters should contemplate in their insurances clauses. Anything that wasn’t bolted down had the potential to become a projectile, including plastic bins, cans, shoes, clothing and bodies.

A lot of their music is short, sharp and fast, so their set list often combined tracks into one big blur of thrash metal hammering. The only way to decipher a change in songs, for the most part, was either when the title was yelled out, or following a brief moment of respite during which more physical violence of the mosh variety was encouraged.

Kicking off with combined tracks of “The Executioner” and “Sweet Attack” from their debut Waste ‘Em All, the sliding fifth chords from the twin guitar onslaught of Ryan Waste and lead guitarist Nick Poulos was kept in check by from Dave Witte’s fast, double time, snare and cymbals walloping drumming and reinforced by roaming bassist Philip Hall, with ringmaster and front man Tony Foresta looking on gleefully between vocal bursts. The stage diving commenced during the presumably alcohol excusing bad behaviour track “Mind Eraser” from Hazardous Mutation and increased exponentially once “Breathe Grease” from Slime and Punishment was unleashed, shortly after Foresta said “Sydney, what’s up? There is no security up here, you can totally stage dive right now”. The photographers were not quite as enthused. Despite the brief power chorus twin guitar part, it was utmost intense thrash and being anywhere in line with stage divers at this point was not advisable.  

The blur of verbiage and riffs continued with the bolting “You’re Cut Off” from The Fatal Feast, as Slayer-influenced “The Thrashin’ of the Christ” had the circle pits going during which backup security appeared at the barrier. Foresta yelling ‘Mosh for Satan!’ preceded the fast powering “Poison the Preacher” from Slime and Punishment, which ironically had a Tourniquet feel to it in the half time sections, followed by double kick galore and slicing guitar chords. 

Electrified Brain track “Grave Dive” saw Waste and Poulos back-to-back during the brief guitar harmony parts and as Foresta took his jacket off, revealing a Bolthrower t-shirt, a barrage of riff-based percussion with quick vocals between riffs, bookended by shouted backing vocals set the tone. Guitar soloing had a distinctive Anthrax vibe by mixing melodicism with riffs before delving into the rhythm figure with the chorus. 

The audience pit carnage did not let up for “Beer Pressure”. The belligerent blast of musical defiance was clear with “Thrashing’s My Business… And Business Is Good”, continuing into their classic “Headbanger Face Rip” whom they dedicated to local band, Dropsaw. Of course, Electrified Brain track combinations with “Blood Vessel” and “High Speed Steel” combined muted speed guitar runs, harmony guitars, relentless riffing, drum fills, feedback squeals and a swift end. 

“Waste ‘Em All” and “Toxic Revolution” followed suit, executed well considering they hadn’t dusted those songs off for live performance in 20 odd years. Hardcore punk and Suicidal Tendencies fans got a bonus with the short whipping in “Substitute Creature”, whilst “Wave of Death” from The Last Rager EP gave Foresta a chance to encourage female stage divers to do so safely and included a very Testament sounding solo from Poulos.

“Sadistic Magician” from The Art of Partying saw the pit move more so, the performance showed the band’s tightness, jumping between time signatures and rhythm figures. The title track from Slime and Punishment was old school thrash metal influenced, after which Foresta gave a shout out to Frenzal Rhomb, Hard-Ons and, believe it or not, Donny Benet. 

“Crank The Heat” from Electrified Brain took mid paced metal that morphed quickly into blasting fast punk, with descending chords and fluid guitar soloing. Offering to perform a shoey if 40 shoes landed on stage, Foresta used an upturned bin, which had been doing the rounds as a violent projectile, to tally up shoes tossed on the stage. It took a while to get there, during which “Terror Shark” offered up punk sensibilities with dual harmony guitar lines, after which the instrumental of “Under the Waste Command” provided thrash and harmonies combined. 

The Vee Bees front man appeared with a thong for Foresta to perform a shoey, which was then achieved, much to Foresta’s disgust. Foresta announced ‘tonight’s show was ‘not only the best show of this tour so far but one of my favourite shows this year’, only  to then rapidly launch into the fast, atonal, title track from The Art of Partying – which is also surprisingly lyrically inclusive of hard-edge non-drinkers. All three guitarists lined up at the front of stage, for the more musical section of “Born To Party” which soon became a post chorus chant of ‘Municipal Waste is going to fuck you up!’, with Waste shouting the backing vocal line. 

Fast, furious and with elements of repetition, the main set was concluded and with the encore, the audience copped the initially deceptively heavy metal sounding “Demoralizer” from Electrified Brain, which swiftly took dual harmony guitars into fast thrash metal territory, with plenty of whammy guitar work and barked vocals. It was almost a high-speed waltz as the thrash elements were reprised, concluding the show in a welter of sonic onslaught. As the band thanked their fans, and strolled off, ZZ Top’s “Under Pressure” played over the PA, offering a strange contrast to the last hour or so of unrelenting carnage. Municipal Waste were impressive, ferocious, uncompromising and vaguely amusing, but the wisest way to take in their live show is to stand back and let Darwinian natural selection take effect.