BraveWords had the privilege of chatting with extreme metal legends Venom Inc. at this year’s Heavy Montréal, which was held from August 7th through 9th) at Parc Jean-Drapeau. Speaking with original members Tony Bray (Abaddon), Jeff Dunn (Mantas) and Tony “Demolition Man” Dolan (former Atomkraft frontman who took over for Cronos in 1988), they explain a bit about the band’s history, the new incarnation of Venom, whether or not we’ll hear new music and they answer the burning (in hell) question, what’s the deal with Cronos’ version and who really owns the name and the band’s iconic logo?!

Trying to clear up the confusion of having two different Venoms on this globe, Abaddon enlightens us with his take: 

“You got Cronos there, more power to him, with a backing band," Abaddon explains. "They are great musicians, that’s fine. But they are not even big versions of themselves. If these guys went out and said ‘fuck Abaddon’, I’d respect them much more. They’re playing the songs, and I guess they’re playing the songs pretty well, but the point of Venom is is that it was about three characters. And when people say it was hard to fill Cronos’ boots - no it wasn’t. He (Demolition Man) didn’t come in to be another Cronos. He didn’t try to be Cronos or do anything like Cronos, he came in to be another great big fucking person. It was natural, it was easy to do. It didn’t have to be another version of that. Those guys should grow a pair, and then they’d be a band that you could fucking care about.”

Not to get into the nitty-gritty bullshit of the music business, but who owns the Venom name?

"Basically the name belongs to two of us," Abaddon adds. "But people know about history, they know who Venom was and what it was about and they know he (Cronos) was invited into the band. The thing that he has got going for him, is that he’s been doing it for a long time and especially recently. But what we are saying, is that we have the right to have the name Venom attached to us. And we have a bigger right to have the logo attached to us. That logo is recognizable, no matter which way that you draw it, that’s our logo. That word written that way belongs to us, and no one’s gonna tell me that I can’t fucking use it.”

Check out the chat with the Devil's Triangle below!





Photo credits: Paul Blonde, Mike Bax, Trevor Lamas