I had the chance to catch up with a good friend of mine,
Dave Witte, drummer for the extremely popular thrash band
Municipal Waste. In the early 90s our bands did many shows together and even way back then Dave was very well respected. Dave is having the time of his life playing for Municipal Waste, and I had a killer time at the show talking about all he'd done since I last saw him. Dave rules! Read on...
Club Kingsnake: Of all the bands you have played with which one of them was your favorite? I understand if you name a few bands as you have done so much since Human Remains.... did a clash of personalities or musical tastes have anything to do with you playing in so many bands?
Dave Witte: Human Remains was my first real band so that has a place in my heart that no other band can match. As for playing in so many bands, I guess I had more needs to express myself in multiple ways than others, I wanted to do everything I could so I was always in a few bands at the same time.
Club Kingsnake: Did playing fast get old for you? Do you prefer the older style of say Municipal Waste over the blasting?
Dave Witte: Never. I love the speed aspect of drumming and music in general. Speed has its place in every kind of music.. I just think people lost the creativity of speed and it became more of a contest with the music taking a back seat. I still love blasting and I sure did my share of it, but for me personally...you can only do the same thing for so long.
Club Kingsnake: How much cooler is life since you left that shit hole of a state New Jersey?
Dave Witte: Way cooler. Whenever I go back, I can only take it for a few days and I just wanna leave. I'm so much more relaxed and I enjoy the quality of life as opposed to being high strung and stressed out in the rat race. I can't deny where I am from at the same time, I learned a lot of great things and met some really great people living in NJ and for that I am grateful. Scott Ruth and Jack Monahan had a lot to do with my musical upbringing and if I wasn't in NJ I probably wouldn't have met them. I also wouldn't have met Martin O'Connor, Mot, Donut, Bekov, Wickmen and Nokturnel. :)
Club Kingsnake: Do you have any endorsements, how'd that come about?
Dave Witte: Yes, I proudly play Trick drums, Paiste cymbals and Vic Firth drumsticks. I submitted myself for all these companies time after time and never gave up. It was hard work, but I never gave up. There were some people that really helped me with Paiste 'caue they were super hard to get through too. They get thousands of submissions yearly ya know?. Chris Hornbrooke (Poison The Well), Aaron Harris (Isis), Mike Ambrose (Set Your Goals) and Matt Byrne (Hatebreed) really went to bat for me and I'll never forget that.
Club Kingsnake: I noticed Municipal Waste has an outrageous amount of views/plays on your myspace page. When I spoke to the guys about it they all seemed shocked. Who keeps up on the industry stuff and who handles booking the tours? You guys play everywhere and never seems to stop....is this all planned out far in advance or are you able to pick up and leave at a moment's notice?
Dave Witte: I never really pay attention to the Waste myspace page, or read the interviews or press about us. I know there is a good and bad and fortunately more good than bad. We are lucky to be able to work so hard to get a great response. The music we write is what carries us after all, but the people who come see us show after show is what keeps us going. We are a pretty democratic band and all handle duties within the band. We all work together to plan our schedule around our lives for the year, it's planned pretty far in advance.
We have plans into December '08 at the moment.
Club Kingsnake: Name a few drummers who you think are worthy of praise in the extreme metal scene.
Dave Witte: One of the greatest and most underrated is Brandon Thomas of Ripping Corpse/Dim-Mak. He had the biggest effect on m when I was younger. Roddy, Laureno and Longstreth are in leagues of their own. I'd say Nick Barker is the Neil Peart of extreme metal drumming. Everything beat and fill is so tasteful and thought out, I love listening to him. The drumming on Dimmu Borgir's Death Cult Armageddon is perfect.
Club Kingsnake: Is playing drums for you a full time thing or do you also have a day job?
Dave Witte: I still work 'cause I like to be constantly busy. I work in a kitchen for a catering company. I love it and the people who work there. They are the people who let me come and go over the years as well, so I'll work when they need me.
Club Kingsnake: Do you have any desire to play in the technical metal category any more? Is it more rewarding to play music people have an easier time following?
Dave Witte: Yeah, that part of me is still there. After a while of playing the same songs all year long I need another something ya know? I don't miss the pressure of technical music. When I was younger and I would make mistakes, I would get really down on myself. I've learned to let that go and have a good time, it's a better mental state.
Club Kingsnake: You guys are so god damned lucky to have a spot on the At the Gates tour. Tell me a little about the friendship you have with them and how long have you known those guys?
Dave Witte: We are very lucky and we know it; it's a dream tour for lots of people. I've been a fan since
Gardens of Grief, so it means a great deal for me. Anders and I were pen pals in the early 90s death metal underground before email existed and we traded demos. The Waste also toured with The Haunted last year as well. Needless to say we all very excited when they invited us on the tour.
Club Kingsnake: Hollywood seems to have run out of ideas with tons of remakes hitting the cinema. Do you see the same redundancy is metal?
Dave Witte: Yeah, of course, but I'm a firm believer that the clones are needed to spawn the next thing. Everyone jumps on some band wagon one time or another and in time, "that one band" will realize and change. Take At the Gates, for example; they came out of Sweden in the death metal heyday, evolved into greatness and changed the whole US hardcore scene. I'm still waiting for something to come out of there though, haha Human Remains was a total Ripping Corpse worship clone before we figured it out, but we flew over people's heads, we went way out there.
