VENOM INC - TONY DOLAN

TONY DOLAN

💿 Hi, it’s a pleasure for us to have on Hardrockheavymetal TONY DOLAN, voice and bass player of a legend as VENOM INC!!! Hi back and thank you so much. It is a great pleasure for me also and I thankyou for having me here. 💿 Tony, we’re all in waitin’ for the new album “AVE’”, out on August 11th . We’re really going mad for two starters as DEIN FLESH and AVÉ SATANAS! Can you tell us somethin’ about this new full length and its composition process? That is cool and great. Well the album is dedicated to the fans and everyone who has helped us along these last few years and also been there for the band from the start really. That is where the title AVE comes in.It is a salute and a thankyou of acknowledgement to all. It IS the album for thefans because THEY have driven us to do it. They wanted it so, that is why we got to here. None of this was planned it has been all down to the fans. Old and new and for that we thank them.The music was composed by Mantas and then once we were happy with the layouts of the backing tracks, they were sent to Abaddon who went into a studio and recorded all the drums and then sent the files back to Mantas (Abaddon lives in Newcastle England still and Mantas in Portugal) Then I flew to Portugal ( I live in London Engand) and myself and Mantas with an engineer worked on the lyrics and recorded all the bass and then vocals, then we mixed and finally it was mastered. So Mantas produced. We had lots of offers and everyone outside of us had ideas about producers but as Mantas asked to do it, the idea seemed the obvious. After all, who knows how we should sound better than us, right. I think it turned out great and am proud of what he did and we are happy with the result. The album has 2 statements really, the fans, with tracks like Metal we Bleed and Forged In Hell, and the position and observation of humans and our sometimes weak beliefs and sometimes chaotic acts upon ourselves. At the end of the album (as seems ususal for us) there is a track, Black and Roll, which is kind of a tribute to the Metal we love that made us who we all are. 💿 AVĖ will be out via NUCLEAR BLAST. Are you satisfied about this new deal? That’s right. Very! As I said, nothing was planned and certainly not dong an album but the fans wanted it so much and then we were asked by Jon Zazula (our personal manager) to do some demos as he thought it was time because the demand was too high for an album from us…so we agreed and se4nt him some demos…they went to only one label…Nuclear Blast and they returned the message with a , ‘yes, we love these, ok do an album for us!’ So, we did…and in a short space of time. Mantas started to pull his riffs out, I got on with shows and art and design and planning the video shoot and scripting and we were off, I did the art layout and the painting that adorns the cover was done by an amazing Serbian artist, called, Milos Duskic. 💿 You’re a legend in British Heavy Metal history..ATOMKRAFT, M-PIRE OF EVIL and, obviously VENOM/VENOM INC and you’re a son of Newcastle..Why the environment of Newcastle was so suitable to develop the birth of a lot of amazing bands? Oh, thankyou, very humbling to hear such kind words. I just think it was the right place at the right time. It is a poor city (or was) and when the industry (shipbuilding in particular) suffered under the then government, there was little or no jobs and I think as a result of that, young people turned to music for salvation. A thousand band started and it was a rich time. All but about %2 made it through and the rest stopped or broke up ad the years changed but it was a movement like a revolution and it came from poor beginnings where people had to do something and music was something that did not need approval or an employer to tell you that you were good enough. You just did it.. 💿 The real “news” in music industry is the return of vinyl; What’s your relationship with this classic format? It is fantastic and I love it, Cassette too! I told a former head of Roadrunner America around 10yrs ago, when he said M:pire of Evil was too “oldschool” that a revolution was coming and people would go back t “oldschool”N Vinyl…he said it was a nice dream I had but never gonna happen.. years later…Sony went into production on new record players and vinyl was the top selling way of listening to music in Sweden. Now Sony are opening pressing plants and everyone is selling vinyl versions of the releases. There were some labels like, Night of the Vinyl Dead in Italy and Iron Pegasus in Germany (and many more) that I released Vinyl with over the years while the mainstream labels refused and people like that kept the spirit alive and now they cannot make product fast enough. It is great because with Vinyl you are forced t interact with the actual product unlike streaming or Mp3 or even CD’s..and new fans as ell want this experience…as well as the live circuit..They want what we had so long ago because it was tangible for them and in a world of online dreaming, this is part of the real thing in your hands…I love it. 💿 I see a lot of gigs scheduled to promote the new album; you’re a live band..How much is important for you the contact with your fans? %100 everything. Without fans there are no bands!! Some bands or musicians should remember that. It is easy to sit back and count all their money but someone else worked hard for that and decided to spend it on you. That alone garner maximum respect and makes them the most important thing. They should get all they can back as a result. As many shows as possible and as much music, from the legacy of the catalogue as well as new material if they wish. Myself and Mantas have toured the world 6/7 times in 10yrs with M:pire of Evil and I had no intention of not doing the same with venom inc…so we have. The world tour starting in September in North America for the album is 5th trip in s many years…it is important in every way for our fans..the Legions of Venom fans that love what we do. The support for Venom Inc is and has been incredible and we are a band of the fans…without a doubt. What more should you do? Write, record, release and tour…that is it…doing a handful of selected shows a year? An album every now and then? I do not get it…but reissuing an album over and over in one single year…producing the same shirt to sell over and over..?? without live touring for those fans that A: want it so bad and B: have spent all that money invested in you? I think that’s a scam and there is no way WE are into that…it is about the music not the money…just do investment banking if that’s all you care about… 💿 Thanks a lot for your time! See you on Hardrockheavymetal!! Thankyou for an interesting interview and your time too. All hail to everyone and see you out there somewhere, sometime, soon! AVE