Metal As Fuck recently caught up with MPIRE OF EVIL frontman Tony Dolan (ex-VENOM) to discuss his music collection. An excerpt from the interview is available below:

Q: What was the first record you can remember hearing at home? Did it have any effect on where you are today?

Dolan: "First record at home? Wow...probably DANNY AND THE JUNIORS' 'At The Hop'. That’s my honest but perhaps non-metal answer. If I bullshit like most would, then 'Born To Be Wild' by STEPENWOLF. It did have an effect, I began to love the sound of harmonies."

Q: What album from your collection should be in every other home in the land, apart from one of your own?

Dolan: (Laughs) It must be something like Rock Until You Drop by RAVEN. Raw and real, alive with humour and energy, this record displays the perfect vibe and would get the point across to anyone looking to understand dexterity in the music, and the rough and the smooth while embracing the fun side too. It’s pure entertainment. But they would also need some SEPULTIRA, SLIPKNOT, MACHINE HEAD and the rest."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Following is an excerpt from BW&BK; 's recent interview with Dolan:

Mpire Of Evil's debut album, Hell To The Holy, shines due to the fact that Dolan and Dunn weren’t trying to recapture or outdo their Venom past. It's a different beast, rooted in traditional metal with thrash-like tendencies rather than trying to cash in on the classic Venom’s satanic MOTÖRHEAD vibe.

“We were interested in seeing how people responded,” says Dolan. “Because it's the three of us, we knew everyone was thinking it’s going to be another Venom record. In some corners people were screaming for that. We had some great album reviews at the very start, which was wonderful, but I remember reading a review from one black metal journalist that just ripped the shit out of it. He said the album was a piece of shit, it sucked, it was fucking pedestrian, it’s boring, and I came away from it saying ‘Thank fuck for that.’ Yes, we’re not black metal, and if we or the record company had tried to put us in that box we would have been sunk. This is more traditional metal, yes, but we just took a different approach to it.”

With over 30 years in the trenches, Dolan has paid his dues and is well aware of how quickly and completely the music industry can rip artists to shreds depending on the cards being played. He freely admits to being apprehensive about getting back in the game yet again, but when asked if Mpire Of Evil has fulfilled his expectations, he can only laugh.

“Funnily enough, yes. I'm really loving this more than I thought I would. When I was younger and doing this, ATOMKRAFT had limited success. We had shit distribution, so if people can’t hear you they don’t know you’re around, and when you turn up in town opening for a band everyone knows they want you to get it over with really quick. That causes a problem, but Atomkraft enjoyed that aspect of it because we had to turn it over every single time. It was never easy for us, we always had to work really hard and we never took it lightly. The thing is, when that’s all going on you don’t realize how much fun you’re having, so when you look back there’ll be holes in it. You think ‘Fuck, why didn’t I take my time?’ It’s like eating the best steak you’ve ever had at a restaurant and just wolfing it down. It’s just a memory after that, and you always want to go back there to have another one and eat it really slowly. When you do get back it’s different; they put the steak in front of you and it’s just not the same. I’ve found the restaurant and it’s going to be the same steak, only this time the chef’s a little bit better than he was (laughs). This steak’s going to be so much juicier and I’m going to eat it really, really slow (laughs).”

Go to this location for the complete interview.