Venom Inc – interview met The Demolition Man
Tony “The Demolition Man” Dolan: “Venom and its extensions are a family. Not always in harmony, but interlaced and part of the whole history…”
Afgelopen november kondigde voormalig drummer Jeramie “War Machine” Kling op sociale media zijn vertrek uit de Britse band Venom Inc. aan. De band kwam net terug uit een Amerikaanse tour, waarbij gitarist Mantas om privéredenen verstek had laten gaan en waarbij eveneens voormalig Venom gitarist Mike Hickey voor hem inviel. De reden die War Machine aandroeg was conflict in schema’s, maar met zijn eigen band tourt hij niet per se veel. Wel is hij nu de geluidsman van Deicide, waar zijn beste vriend Taylor Nordberg tegenwoordig gitaar in speelt. Dat brengt ook de vraag naar boven of Venom Inc. al plannen heeft de drumpositie permanent in te vullen. En hoezee, wereldprimeur, dat hebben ze. En het mag voor de kenners nauwelijks een verrassing zijn wie dat is geworden.
Ramon van Hengel Ι 5 april 2024
Hi Tony, thanks for taking the time to talk to us.
Thank you for asking, always a pleasure and a great honour
The reason I am reaching out to you is that you have parted ways with your previous drummer, War Machine, a few month ago, and we are verry curious about the current status of the band. Is there a new drummer to announce already?
Ah yes, there is indeed.. I’ve just brought back Marc Jackson (JXN). He was with us during the early days of M:Pire of Evil.. touring with us and recorded the ‘Crucified’ album, which was one of my fav albums I ever did ..
Wow, so basically, with the recent stint with former Venom guitarist Mike Hickey filling in for Mantas (who is taking care of his cancer stricken wife), and now the return of your former M:Pire Of Evildrummer JXN, you keep thing in the family, right?
Completely!! Venom and its extensions are a family. Not always in harmony, but interlaced and part of the whole history. So its important, I feel, to keep it as connected as possible, even if some of the links seem to shatter sometimes…. That’s why I carry super glue always
And will JXN be filling in for the next tour(s), or will he actually be the next Venom Inc drummer, officially?
He will sit on that throne for the foreseeable future.
War Machine was American, JXN lives in a somewhat closer proximity to you (Newcastle), was that an argument to go for him too, apart from the fact I know him as one of the most underrated gems in the British drumming scene?
Well that is of course a factor. He isn’t so far away from me in London and so travel for him and myself to rehearse etcetera is easier. Jeff (Mantas) is only a few hours away in Portugal and in the same time zone, so all makes more sense.
Will this in any way affect his position in Acid Reign?
That I don’t know. I haven’t made it an exclusive part of the deal and as he’s such a talent and has been working hard with Acid Reign and Control The Storm, I wouldn’t want to limit him but our scheduling must come as priority
When War Machine let the first gigs of Venom Inc slip by, that was because of touring obligations with his other band, right?
He was doing sound for a band and our dates came in after he’d agreed that job. So it wouldn’t have been right to insist on him to play with us, or not perform. So fortunately, I managed to get the amazing Nick Barker to play Bloodstock & Alcatraz Festivals with us, which was a great joy
Yes, Bloodstock and Alcatraz, in 2022, there is this moment, the audience realised it was him: world famous drummer Nick Barker stepped in. Wasn’t he an obvious choice, since he has more known profile than Marc, maybe?
That’s true as far as Nick’s place in our industry. However, he isn’t able to tour or go too far from the UK, as he needs dialysis for his Kidney, until they find a new one for him, so he isn’t able to commit fully.
I get that, yes. Would you care to share what you thought were when War Machine announced his departure, last November?
Well at the end of the Part 2 USA tour, we were discussing the Mexico Metal Fest show that was to follow later and it became a difficult conversation which ended with him being removed. There was no need for any announcement from Venom Inc, but he chose to make his statement. A little misleading, but nevertheless he was removed. He has his own projects and so it works better for him and much better for us in all ways
Also, I have been checking the comments since his departure, I would have thought the fans would have suggested to take Abaddon back. Did it surprise you that, apart from a handful of people maybe, hardly nobody called for him?
No surprise at all. I wanted him with us originally and Mantas was cautious, but I made a mistake assuming he’d grown and learned from his past. I also (mistakenly as it seems) thought at our age, the proficiency with playing and attitude to business would be simpler and easier. As the mistakes and erroneous dealings that haunted his past would be gone, but I was very wrong.
I still championed him, but in the end, I had to concede I’d failed in my faith in him. No one ever thought he was a great drummer, but a huge character. That was true and when starting and in your twenties that attitude of “who cares let’s just make a noise” is great. But when you are closer to 60’s and are still based in that skill set, with zero progression, it isn’t workable for long.. The demands of the music itself became obviously beyond his reach. Very disappointing, really, but it leaves it so that those shortcomings exposed didn’t have fans screaming he should come back and especially following Warmachine.
Is that what the quality of the last albums did too, you think? Raise the notion it would probably be impossible for him to keep up?
Oh, 100 percent and even HE knows it.
By the way, you never really talked about why Abaddon left, or why he was fired, or anything. From what I understand, he was pissed you filled his spot when he had to cancel a tour and he just started throwing accusations your way and simply never came back. Is that close enough to the truth, nowhere near the truth, or do you chose not to say anything about it?
He paused to have his first child, with his new wife. Not an issue. A stand-in drummer was discussed, to fulfil a contracted and agreed tour. All was good, then he decided HE should be paid from the tour while at home and Jon (Zazula) , our manager at the time, asked us if we could find a way to pay him a retainer but we refused. As we had extra costs already applied by needing to pay another drummer. Once it was clear we would not do that, he began making statements.
He never spoke to me at all, even when he was still in the band and tried signing the band to the Dissonance label , taking meetings and omitting me from the proposed contract. I found out by accident when the labels CEO asked to meet me., thinking I knew what was going on..
During all of that and to this day he never spoke to me about any of it and he just never returned. Still a puzzle really to me, but very telling as this is how they always worked in the past: Be super nice, promise the world, rip you off, threaten you, never pay you, Nothing had changed!
I mentioned the absence (pun intended) of Mantas on the last US tour earlier on. How did the fans react to having former Venom guitarist Mike Hickey,instead of Mantas on stage?
They LOVED it!! A real surprise and treat.. They understood Mantas situation of course, but embraced Mike wholly and lost their shit every night. And we pummelled them with old and new material..
That’s nice. How’s Jeff’s wife doing, by the way?
Doing ok. not totally out of the woods yet, but more positive than initially thought. But taking it cautiously and slowly.
Are you expecting to have him back on the next round of shows?
At the moment he can do festivals and we are looking at the European tour which we haven’t yet done to promote ‘There’s Only Black’ so positively, yes.
So, with Jeff having cancelled a tour last year, having to find a new drummer, plus you having written half of the last album’s music, would you agree it looks more and more like you are now fully responsible for this band?
Hahaha well, I must (as I always did) drive us. I’m here to play and that includes touring, which is also a commitment Venom Inc owes the label. It’s who I am and what I do, so I do not intend retiring any time soon. So I suppose in a way, yes. Right this moment, anyway.
Did you take in consideration that people would be seeing this band as M:Pire again, with Marc on board, or does the music and the name you built up in the years in between testify of an own identity enough, do you think?
I think both are significantly different, so it’s not a consideration no. There will be some seeing that link, but the big wide world is predominantly, blissfully unaware. So considering one corner of a huge space isn’t important enough to worry about.
Was also former M:Pire Of Evil drummer Antton in the picture to take this position, by the way?
No. He focused on his own band so I didn’t feel that needed to be changed. Although I am a fan of Antton as a guitarist as well as drummer, the timing just wasn’t right
Another thing that’s been buzzing around, forgive me for asking it straight up, is that you are considering picking up your first claim to fame Atomkraft again. Is there some truth to that?
There is indeed. I’m asked annually to perform somewhere as Atomkraft and have done it a few times in the past. They want the 3 piece, like the original band, or the ‘Future Warrior’ album style, but as the original band guys no longer play music and the ‘Future Warrior’ line up is impossible to reunite. I normally shy away, but for around 15 years i was writing and re-writing songs and finally have an album worth I like and ala old school original approach, so there are plans for shows around that, so let’s see.
Back to Venom Inc, what are the plans for this year?
Festivals and a Euro tour.. finish some recordings and a double live album and anything else that comes up really
Wow, that’s ambitious, looking forward to that! For those who want to come and see you live, what shows do you have planned, at this moment?
We will play –
May – 2-6th Indonesia Festival
17-19th Belgium Festival
May – 31 – June 16th South American Tour
July 31 – August 2nd Romania Festival
August 14 – 16th France Festival
November 15 – 17th Mexico Festival
June we go to South America with Possessed and Cancer
Will you be in the audience meeting fans as much as you always have again?
ALWAYS! I can’t change who I am. They ARE the reason I or any of us are even there
I thank you for your time and sharing everything with us. It was a pleasure talking to you. Is there anything I forgot to ask about that you would lose sleep over if you would forget to share with us right here and now?
Nothing I can think of, but thank you for the opportunity to comment and I thank the fans for their incredible support for me, us and the whole musical family.
