Ex-VENOM Guitarist JEFF 'MANTAS' DUNN Explains How His Latest Reunion With ANTONY 'ABADDON' BRAY Came About

In a new interview with Drew Stone of The New York Hardcore Chronicles Live!, founding VENOM guitarist Jeff "Mantas" Dunn spoke about his upcoming reunion with ex-VENOM drummer Antony "Abaddon" Bray for a special concert on November 30 at Shinjuku Antiknock, a legendary music venue in Tokyo, Japan. Asked how the gig came about, Mantas said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):  "What happened with that was in 2023, I got invited to Japan to do a couple of shows, and one of them was just a VENOM night. The other one was a different thing altogether. But the VENOM night was with Japanese black metal musicians, and they all played the VENOM songs with me on stage. And it was great. I thoroughly enjoyed it. And it was a tiny little club, but it was packed — absolutely packed — and it went down really well. And I stayed on in Japan for a few days after the show. And I went out with the organizers for a meal, and they said, 'Oh, we'd really like to do what we would call VENOM JAPAN, this lineup, and do maybe a tour.' I mean, a tour of Japan is probably gonna be two [shows] in Tokyo, one [show] in Osaka and Nagoya, something like that. So you're not gonna be out there for months on end. So I was, like, 'Yeah, yeah, I'd love to.' So it was planned for 2024, and then, obviously, I had the second heart attack in 2024. So that sort of put the block on fucking everything. And then what happened was they got back in touch this year via a friend of mine who I've known for a long time in Japan. And it was, like, 'Well, they really wanna do it. So how are you feeling? Are you up to the traveling and doing this?' I was, like, 'Well, I still need to be getting checked out and stuff like that, but let's have a think about it.' So I had a think about it. I had all the checks done and stuff. And then I had a meeting with them."

Apparently referencing an ongoing court case involving VENOM frontman Conrad "Cronos" Lant, who sued Bray and Plastic Head Music Distribution Ltd. in June 2024, accusing the distributor of selling merchandise with Lant's copyrighted VENOM designs and Bray of approving the infringement through a licensing agreement, Mantas continued: "In the meantime, I got a phone call from a mutual friend of mine and Abaddon's. 'Can you speak to Abaddon? There's something going on.' I was, like, 'What the fuck? And then he said there was this thing, which was probably gonna go legal and stuff. Now, I hadn't spoke to Abaddon since 2017. So I was, like, 'Well, I don't really wanna get involved in this.' And I kind of knew what it was gonna be about, because I had seen something, and I looked at it. I cannot really say too much about it, but I had seen something. And I looked at this thing and I went, 'That's gonna kick off. There's gonna be fucking problems there.' But it didn't involve me. It didn't involve me at all. So I was thinking, 'Hey, get on with it, boys. Go and kick each other's fucking shins in the playground.' So anyway, this mutual friend was, like, 'Look, can you talk to him?' I said, 'Yeah. Okay.' So [Abaddon and I] talked, and basically I was asked to be a witness in the court. Then I spoke to the lawyer who was handling the case. Then it went to barristers. And this wasn't some little small claims court or anything like that. This was Royal High Court in London. There's a few people, there's a few individuals that will be going, 'Ah, this was all planned,' and stuff like that. No, it fucking wasn't. None of this has been planned at all. Everything's just dropped in, and I went, 'What?' But like I say, I spoke to the lawyer. And it was when I heard the other side's claims that I was just, like, 'What?' It was outrageous. It was outrageous. So I was asked to make a statement, so I made a first statement. Then a statement came back from the other side. I read that. I was, like, 'Wow.' So I was asked to make a second statement, and [they told me], 'Look, if it goes that far, you will have to appear in court.' So I was, like, 'Brilliant. Excellent.' But, like I say, I was just gonna be a witness. And all I was doing was going in there and telling the truth as I know it as the founder member of the band. And that was it. That was my job. Just to go in there and just say, 'Right. No, that didn't happen. This happened,' blah, blah, blah. I had to raise the hand with the card and the whole nine yards. So I agreed to do it. So they flew me in. I wasn't even in London for 24 hours. They flew me in. I spent the night in an Airbnb with everybody. We talked about the case the following morning. We went and did the case. I left straight after the case. That was it. I was back [at my home] in Portugal at, like, 11 o'clock the following night. Now in between all that, then another friend had called: 'What are you doing?' I was, like, 'Nothing.' 'What you doing musically?' I was, like, 'Well, not a great deal. I'm just releasing some music and recording and stuff like that.' 'Okay. I've got a crazy idea.'"

According to Mantas, his friend suggested a possible reunion of VENOM's classic lineup. "Now, before we went to the court, the actual lawyers had been talking about this," Mantas explained. "It was put out there. And basically, all I said was, 'Look, I am willing to talk, but that's it. That's as far as it goes. I'll talk about it. And if it's at all possible, then maybe. It's still not a 'definitely'.' Long story short, there was a refusal, not worth the time… So, then speaking to the Japanese, and I agreed to do the show, which is gonna be in November. And I thought, because there is something now, right now in the stages of getting planned for next year, which I cannot say fuck all about… But speaking of the Japanese, I said to them, 'How would you feel if Abaddon was to come?' And boom, it was, like, 'Yeah, yeah. Oh, that would be great. Could you get him? Could you get him?' It was, like, 'Well, yeah.' And so he's gonna come over to Japan. I'm doing the main set with the Japanese musicians, and then he's gonna come on for three songs in the encore. And that's it. And obviously, with the court case and all this kind of stuff, then we've had a few conversations and it is just, like, 'Yeah, come on.' Everybody else just does what the fuck they want with the VENOM name. I'm the fucking founder member. I've never done anything with it. And this band has missed every anniversary opportunity that it's had, and it deserves to be celebrated at some point. So that's basically what I'm planning."

Elaborating on his reasons for wanting to go out and play VENOM music again, Mantas said: "There's something strange about being a musician and being in the music industry. If by some bloody miracle the original lineup of VENOM had come back together, you would have a lot of people going, 'Yeah, fucking brilliant.' You would also get a lot of people going, 'No, yeah. They're only doing it for the money' and all this. Obviously people are gonna jump straight on that.

"Here's a point I'd just like to put out there," he continued. "It's 45-years anniversary for the band next year. Now, in the United Kingdom, if you buy a house, you take — well, at least when I was living there — you used to take a 25-year mortgage on that house. So let's say we've had that house for 45 years. It's an investment. It's a commodity. So after 25 years, you're mortgage free. So after 45 years, you might think, 'You know what it is. I'm nearly retiring age. Why don't I just sell this house, downsize, put all the money in the bank and live nice and comfortable?' Everybody who knows you would go, 'Hey, well done. Well done. What an investment. Great.' That is what VENOM is to me. It's my commodity, it's my investment, it's the time that I put in that I didn't get any reward for."

Mantas went on to clarify that there is no chance of the classic VENOM lineup coming back together. "It's not gonna be the original lineup," he said. "And I've seen loads of things since [the Japanese show was announced, where], it's, like, 'Oh, get Cronos, get Cronos, get Cronos.' I've got to say this. It's, like, think of the most toxic relationship you've ever had and just invite it back into your life. Honestly, guys, it's not that easy. And what I've seen a couple of weeks ago, I just went, 'Oh, I can't do that again. No.' I mean, fucking hell, I'm 64 years old, I've had two fucking heart attacks. The first one killed me for five minutes. It's, like, I don't need that stress in my life anymore."

According to Law360.com, Lant recently testified in court that he joined VENOM in late 1979 and came up with the Satanic-themed designs used in the band's logo and album covers, which included goat heads, pentagrams and inverted crosses.

Bray filed a counterclaim for infringement against Lant and Lant's distributor, Razmataz.com Ltd., arguing that Bray was the real author of the works.

Japanese rock music promoter UPP-tone Music announced earlier in the month that Dunn and Bray will perform "VENOM classics" at Shinjuku Antiknock alongside some of Japan's finest black metal players: Masaki "Gezol" Tachi (SABBAT) on bass and vocals, Mirai Kawashima (SIGH) on vocals, Shinji "Samm" Tachi (METALUCIFER) on drums, and Noboru "Jero" Sakuma (ABIGAIL) on guitar. Support at the gig will come from SURVIVE and HELL FREEZES OVER.

Nearly a decade ago, Dunn formed VENOM INC. with Bray and another former VENOM member, bassist/vocalist Tony "Demolition Man" Dolan.

Last December, approximately eight months after suffering his second attack, Dunn announced that he was leaving VENOM INC., explaining in a statement that his "health and wellbeing are of paramount importance to myself and my family," but adding that "there are also more personal issues which have influenced my decision."

Dunn suffered his first heart attack in May 2018 and underwent a double bypass surgery.

Mantas sat out VENOM INC.'s fall 2023 U.S. tour after revealing that his wife had been diagnosed with cancer. He was replaced on the trek by Mike Hickey, known for his work with VENOM, CARCASS, CATHEDRAL and CRONOS.

VENOM INC. is not to be confused with the Lant-fronted version of VENOM, which is continuing to tour and make albums under the VENOM moniker. Joining Cronos in that group are Rage (a.k.a. Stuart Dixon) on guitar and Danté (a.k.a. Danny Needham) on drums.

VENOM's classic lineup trio of Dunn, Lant and Bray recorded four studio LPs, "Welcome To Hell" (1981),"Black Metal" (1982),"At War With Satan" (1984) and "Possessed" (1985),and live album, "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" (1986). Often cited by bands such as METALLICA, BEHEMOTH, CELTIC FROST and MAYHEM as major influences, they are one of the most revered bands of their generation. VENOM is still fronted by Cronos and headlines festivals all over the globe and continues to release new music while Dunn and Dolan had joined forces in the similarly named VENOM INC.

Abaddon was part of VENOM's classic lineup from 1978 to 1992. He then returned to the band in 1995 and stayed with them for four years before joining VENOM INC. alongside Dunn and Dolan. VENOM INC. released its debut album, "Avé", in August 2017. A year later, VENOM INC. revealed that it was recruiting Jeramie Kling of the Tampa-based melodic death metal band THE ABSENCE to fill in for Bray on a European tour while Abaddon stayed home to spend time with his newborn daughter.
Dunn, Bray and Dolan released three albums as VENOM between 1989 and 1992 — "Prime Evil" (1989),"Temples Of Ice" (1991) and "The Waste Lands" (1992).

In September 2022, Bray revealed that he had been diagnosed with lymphoma.