VENOM Frontman On METALLICA: 'They Put In The Hard Work, And They Eventually Developed Their Own Style'

January 17, 2017

EMP Live TV recently conducted an interview with British black metal pioneers VENOM. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On bands like METALLICA, SLAYER and EXODUS being influenced by VENOM in the early days:

Conrad "Cronos" Lant (bass, vocals): "They put in the hard work, and they did eventually develop their own style. People say that first METALLICA album sounds like the first VENOM album. That's where they started to get their ideas from. Then they developed their own style and went out, put a lot of hard work in, and fucking the rest is history. So it's great that they started off wearing 'Welcome To Hell' shirts. We used to find it really difficult finding bands to tour with, because there wasn't a lot of bands like us. So when the METALLICAs and the SLAYERs and the EXODUSes, when they came along, it was great, because then we could put a package together that we knew the crowd would be into. Because it was pointless, us going on the road with some lame rock band from the '80s. I mean, we did it — we took some bands out in the early '80s, and the crowd spat on them. So it was great when these other bands came out."

On VENOM constantly moving forward and refusing to live on its past glories:

Cronos: "We're not just sort of playing the first couple of albums in some dingy little club, because that's a tribute band. That's not a band that's writing albums for tomorrow and getting out there and coming up with new ideas. VENOM have always been controversial, VENOM have always done something new, surprised people, so I don't see the point in just playing those first couple of albums. Apart from the fact that the majority of the people who like those albums are our age and don't probably even go to gigs anyway. The fans who come to our shows are all shouting for the new album, so we're still doing what VENOM have always done."

VENOM is not to be confused with VENOM INC., the new band featuring original VENOM members Jeff "Mantas" Dunn (guitar) and Anthony "Abaddon" Bray (drums) alongside ex-VENOM bassist/vocalist Tony "Demolition Man" Dolan.

VENOM's latest album, "From The Very Depths", was released in January 2015 via Spinefarm.

Find more on Venom
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).