Urban Waste (active 1981-84) was a hardcore punk band that was part of the New York renaissance of hardcore punk in the early 1980s. Much more raw, visceral, and overtly confrontational than their New York punk predecessors, they were contemporaries of Reagan Youth (of which bass player Andy Apathy was an early member), the earliest incarnation of the Beastie Boys, and the Bad Brains. They belonged to a group of bands coming out of the borough of Queens that included Kraut, Gilligan's Revenge (later called Token Entry), Murphy's Law, and The Mob. [1] The band, like many others of the era, was short-lived, and after the breakup several members went on to form Major Conflict.
Urban Waste recently re-grouped with three out of four original members - Johnny Waste, Kenny Ahrens, and John Dancy with new bassist Sonny Baron.
Their only recorded material is an eight-song 7", which was released in 1982 on Mob Style Records, the record label of fellow hardcore band The Mob (and later as a 12" on Big City Records). The Urban Waste EP has been released by the New York City label Mad at the World Records in its series of New York hardcore reissues from the early 1980s.[2] The EP was also reissued in digital format by the New York based digital label Anthology Recordings. [3]
Roger Miret, lead vocalist for New York hardcore legends Agnostic Front, reportedly cited Urban Waste as the band that got him into hardcore, and has mentioned the group as being one of his favorites of the early NYHC scene. [4]
The band has been reunited since 2008, with the semi original lineup of Johnny Waste, John Dancy and Kenny Ahrens. They are currently playing shows and recording new material.
Discography: