Jimmy Kay from Canada The Metal Voice recently spoke to Tony Dolan (The Demolition Man) and Jeff Dunn (Mantas) from VENOM INC. whose new Album “Avé” will be released on Nuclear Blast on Aug 14 2017.
Watch the interview here
In the broadcast Mantas and The Demolition man go through all the tracks off their new album Ave and talk about the lyrical themes and music. Mantas also announces that we will be releasing an autobiography in the near future. As well the two spoke about the Venom past the quick rise to fame and how Tony Dolan joined the band.
When asked about their continuous fascination with Satan and the Dark side of music (5:11)
“We had an interest in the dark side. It was a shock horror thing. We looked at bands like Black Sabbath and others that sang about the devil but it wasn’t stuffed in people faces. So we thought we would just develop a pure shock value. We were going to stuff it in people’s face and if they ran away screaming then great and if they embraced it then great that was the whole premise. It was three young guys who wanted to shock the world. It wasn’t something new we just took it a step further. We also had songs with other topics, Teachers Pet, Poison we had songs about serial killers. It was all about the dark side of things or life.” Mantas
When asked about how the album At War with Satan was inspired by Rush 2112 (17:00)
“I was a huge Rush fan and so was Conrad. It was mainly Conrad’s body of work and I contributed to it. It’s no secret, it’s just a personnel opinion. I spoke to fans about this before. The Albums At war with Satan and Possessed I have never been a big fan of those two albums.” Mantas
When asked Mantas why he lost interest in the band in the early years. (19:53)
“If i have to be brutally honest for me it was after Black Metal album. You have to remember the speed of the success of Venom wasn’t gradual, it was overnight, zero to hero in a matter of a week. It was the right place at the right time. The stars aligned everybody was ready for something different and we came along.There was one weekend we were rehearing in this run down place, the following weekend we were in Belgium playing in front of 3000 people. And I think that contributed to the change in personalities as well. When the success of Venom really hit big the personalities changed in certain members and it was unbelievable and that is what I couldn’t deal with.” Mantas
When asked if the new album Ave of it’s is a continuation of the Dolan era albums (39:35)
Ave is it’s own beast, it’s not a first album, it’s not a follow up album, it’s us, it’s what we do. I think it fits perfectly in the Venom legacy. I think Ave stands more in the Venom legacy than the albums Possessed and Cast in Stone- Mantas
When asked about the theme of album cover artwork on the new album Ave (42:00)
There is Lucifer on the cover of the album clearly walking towards you in a very passive way on a desolate landscape, you can see Adam and Eve eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge. It’s about looking for that inner self. The cover could be, is it Armageddon or is it the beginning? Not only can he fly but he is Lucifer and he can do damage if he wants to but he is quiet passive walking toward you. Is he signaling the end or is he signaling the beginning and your suppose to answer that question. He was an angel banished, what his duty was feed man knowledge and look after him because he questioned the god he was cast down to walk eternity on earth. ” Dolan
When asked about Mantas’ autobiography ( 52:00)
“What I am doing with the book is I am talking it from the day I was born to what we are doing now. Everything I have ever done . Also their will be a lot of photographs that have never been seen before.” Mantas
When asked about the Venom inc Documentary in the works (1:40:00)
What we have been doing is taking snap shots of us traveling up until now and we also did a lot of stuff talking about the new album, the journey of that and continue on this world tour. Then hopefully put it on DVD box set together with some old stuff, unseen stuff, the backstage stuff, the making of the videos and it will be something really interesting.” Dolan
