(Our friend Ben Manzella caught the March 5 Los Angeles stop of the recently concluded Brainsqueeze Tour 2024, featuring performances by Municipal Waste, Ghoul, Necrot, and Dead Heat, and brought us the following report and his own photos of the event.)
While I can’t claim I’ve been to every venue in Los Angeles, it is still rare I get to attend a show at a venue that has recently opened for business. After the ticket demand proved beyond the capacity of the original venue, The Tankcrimes Records Brainsqueeze tour headlined by Municipal Waste managed to find a more fitting space in the Bellwether.
Along with being the Brainsqueeze tour, this tour is also a celebration of 20 years since the release of Municipal Waste’s record Waste Em’ All. Along with Municipal Waste on the tour are Ghoul, Necrot, and Dead Heat. While every band is heavy in their own right, each band is as similar as they are different; whether that was considered or not, this lineup sold out the Bellwether, which is just over double the capacity of the originally scheduled venue on a Tuesday night.
DEAD HEAT
Starting the night for the excited fans were the locals on the lineup in Dead Heat. From just outside of Los Angeles, I’d be surprised if some reading this haven’t heard of Dead Heat in the last few years. They are likely mostly associated with the hardcore scene, but I could easily see them touring with DRI or another older thrash band that tends to blur the genre restrictions some like to cling to a little too tightly. While the room wasn’t as packed as it would get later in the evening, that didn’t prevent the start of the first of many mosh pits.
Dead Heat’s most recent release was Endless Torment in July of 2023 through Tankcrimes. If you are a fan of Power Trip and similar music that blurs the lines of thrash and hardcore, I think Dead Heat is for you.
NECROT
While I was glad to see Municipal Waste for the first time in a while, I have to admit I was most excited to see Necrot. I had seen them twice before the other night, but it had been since 2019 when they took part in the Decibel tour that I last saw them.
With the announcement of their upcoming record Lifeless Birth clear in my mind, the deadly trio from Oakland instantly took over the crowd. As promised to their singer/bassist Luca, I want to make a note that Necrot had the best hair that night. In all seriousness, I’m grateful to have quickly met him and drummer Chad before heading home that night. As deadly and grim as their ripping set of songs was, they also wanted to make sure everyone had a great time when they played.
Metal might revolve around existential demise and overall destruction quite a bit, but it doesn’t mean a show is just a gathering of dower brutes ready to punch each other… at least not for everyone. I guess my point is while Necrot is a death metal band, and one of the better ones in the last decade in my opinion, they don’t take themselves too seriously and also want people to ultimately come out and enjoy themselves at the show.
Be on the lookout for Lifeless Birth through Tankcrimes records on April 12th of 2024 and for more touring from Necrot later this year. On a quick side note, Necrot’s drummer Chad also runs Carbonized Records along with playing in a few other bands. If you aren’t familiar with Carbonized and are ready for some new music, I’d recommend you look their way.
GHOUL
Now onto the part of the night that honestly was a big challenge for me. Ghoul’s set was up next. Ghoul, to me, is GWAR for people who prefer thrash/death metal as opposed to more traditional heavy metal. There is humor involved and a general “shtick” of sorts revolving around inebriation and death. I can’t say it appeals to me much, but they definitely provided as much laughter as they did motivation to mosh and had a lot of people loving every second of their set. (I had injured my knee the day before the show and still can’t walk correctly almost a week later. After making the photos I did of Ghoul, I took a breather upstairs and watched their set on a television in a patio area at the venue.)
MUNICIPAL WASTE
I knew my knee was almost done, but I couldn’t leave before Municipal Waste. Even before Ghoul, the audience was very much ready for Municipal Waste. Every so often a chant of “MUNICIPAL WASTE IS GONNA FUCK YOU UP” would be heard repeating throughout the audience. After the first or second song, hard to remember, even Municipal Waste’s singer Tony Forresta laughed and told the crowd to hang tight for the part of the show when they would start that chant during the song “Born to Party.”
While I wasn’t able to stay for their entire set, I can honestly say Municipal Waste is an even tighter live band than I remember, but I’m not surprised. The clear chemistry of their guitar duo in Ryan Waste and Nick Poulos (who also play together in Bat) is a thrash fan’s dream, and I’d personally be content just watching Dave Witte the whole night as he will always be a favorite drummer of mine no matter the genre of music. The heft filling out the riffs in every song is provided as always by Phil “Landphil” Hall who is also known for Cannabis Corpse and more recently Morbikon.
Tony Forresta seems to hit this interesting balance between someone who is clearly influenced by hardcore and metal while also having a personality that makes me think of a comedian like Sam Kinison. Intensity mixed with humor and fully in-your-face from start to finish.
Their most recent record, Electrified Brain, came out in 2022 on Nuclear Blast Records and they just released the digital reissue of their Tango and Thrash EP on March 7th.
