TONY DOLAN Doesn't Have Any Problem With Three Different Bands Using Variations Of VENOM Name: 'I Think It's All Very Positive'

In a new interview with Chile's Rock A La Vena, VENOM INC. bassist/vocalist Tony "Demolition Man" Dolan spoke about the fact that there are now three different bands using variations of the VENOM name for their live shows. In addition to the new collaboration between Jeff "Mantas" Dunn and Anthony "Abaddon" Bray, iconic co-founders of the pioneering black metal band VENOM — who recently announced that they will celebrate the 45th anniversary of VENOM's classic debut album, 1981's "Welcome To Hell", at various festivals in 2026, including Germany's Keep It True — there is the Conrad "Cronos" Lant-fronted version of VENOM, in which Cronos is the sole remaining member from the band's classic era, and there is VENOM INC., which is led by Dolan, who was a member of VENOM between 1989 and 1992, appearing on the albums "Prime Evil" (1989),"Temples Of Ice" (1991) and "The Waste Lands" (1992). Asked if he thinks there is any chance of all the current and former members of VENOM coming together for a special show or tour, like a band like HELLOWEEN did several years ago, Tony said in part (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "DESTRUCTION did a great thing at [Germany's] Wacken [Open Air festival] one year where they had every member on [stage playing with them], and I loved it. They're good friends of mine, of course. And DESTRUCTION go back to the scene of the crime, as I do. And I love DESTRUCTION — always have, and they've always been my friends. And I thought the same thing for VENOM would be great, but the one stumbling block was Cronos, because, I guess he didn't wanna do it with me because he didn't want to legitimize me being in the band when he wasn't in the band. And I totally got that. I could understand that much later. I was a bit naïve at the time. I didn't think about it, 'cause they were just my friends. So I thought, 'Oh, well, Conrad's not doing it.' Then, yeah, when they asked me, I said, 'Yeah, sure,' 'cause they're my friends. But I didn't realize the impact it had on him in particular. And because 'Prime Evil' was such an acclaimed album and was a quite a big album for the band, I guess that made it even worse. And he had to try hard to make sure that that wasn't accepted. And I can understand that. That was his band. I had my band, and I kind of looked like I'd usurped him and took his band, but I hadn't. That's not how I looked at it, but it's how he saw it. And I had to understand that, which I did a long time later. I never felt I was stepping in another man's shoes. I wear my own shoes. I don't need to wear somebody else's. And I did it my way, the way I wanted to do it. And I like that."

Dolan continued: "When you think about it now, after everything everybody's been through, I think they always were hating each other, loving each other, then they'd steal money from each other. And it was always a mess. It was always a mess on a personal level. But I think what came out of it was that Abaddon left and Mantas left and Cronos continued, and I think he's continued rather successfully. And if you think that he's put several albums out with this lineup that's been the longest[-running] lineup VENOM's had. And [he has] two good players [in the current VENOM lineup], two nice guys, and they do the shows that they wanna do. Maybe they don't tour too much, but they do the shows they want to do. So you do get an opportunity to see them at times. And then, of course, we were — myself and Mantas — in MPIRE OF EVIL, which then morphed into this thing with Abaddon and became VENOM INC. And I didn't wanna record any albums. I told Jon Zazula — [founder of] Megaforce [Records and former] METALLICA [manager] — I brought him in to manage us. I'd been begging him for a long time, and then eventually he came out of retirement. I said, 'Well, just be my guide. Just give me some help.' And so he came out of retirement and was very helpful for me, 'cause I was managing everything. And then him and Chuck Billy [TESTAMENT] took over managing, and we were doing really good, great stuff. But then the same VENOM politics reared its head again. And I just thought, 'I'm too old for this shit. I'm too old for this shit. They stole too much money off me, too much time off me, used me too much, and I'm not dealing with it anymore. I just wanna play music for fans.' And so I wouldn't do an album. And then eventually Chuck and Jon said, 'You have to do a record deal.' So I said, 'Okay, well, we'll record some songs. We'll send it to one record company. If they say 'yes', it's a yes. And if they say 'no', that's it. We're just playing live shows.' So we did some demos, myself and Mantas, sent them to Nuclear Blast, and they went, 'Brilliant. Make an album.' I was, like, 'Noooo.' [Laughs] So we did [2017's] 'Avé' [album]. And they loved it, fans loved it. The track itself has got, I think, 1.2 million hits on Spotify. And so it was successful. But then the wheels started to come off the wagon again.

"As much as I tried hard to keep it together, it didn't keep together," Tony went on to say. "Abaddon walked away. And then Jeff had his heart attack, and then he had another heart attack. And then he didn't wanna tour anymore and he didn't wanna do stuff anymore, so he walked away, which I found out from a Blabbermouth post that a fan sent me, that [Mantas] left the band. I was, like, 'Okay, okay. Cool.' But I'm not here to put my guitar under the bed. And when we began to do the journey again, I said to him very early on that if we do this, we do it until we can't do it anymore. We don't give up again. And after two heart attacks, he wasn't feeling it, and he didn't like touring. It was too uncomfortable for him, which I totally understood. And he was having a lot of pains, and [he was] worried, again, of course. He [nearly] died, so it does play with your mind. He didn't wanna die running through an airport. I mean, who wants to do that? Nobody. So I totally understood that. But I can't stop doing what I do because someone else doesn't wanna do it anymore. That's my choice. That was his choice. I let him have his choice, and I continue doing my choice. And now you have — Cronos is still doing his thing [with VENOM]. He's recording a new [VENOM] album at the minute with BMG. That will be out next year. And he's got his shows lined up to do. We [VENOM INC.] are recording our new album at the minute; [we are working on] the demos for it. That will be coming out next year. Plus two live albums. One of the live albums I've got coming out is a 'thank you' to Latin America. It's all the songs that we played in Latin America. So it's a special thank you for Latin America. And it sounds amazing. So we're really excited about it. And I think now Abaddon and Mantas are doing [shows celebrating the 45th] anniversary of the 'Welcome To Hell' album. It's the album that they were on. It was the one that made them who they were. And they're doing some celebrations with special guests at some selected festivals. So, I mean, why not? Why not?"

Dolan added: "For me, I think it's all very positive. I think the negative stuff with the court cases — Conrad suing Abaddon, Abaddon trying to sue Conrad and all of that — is just more mess than VENOM [needs], and I don't want any part of that. It's, like, do what you wanna do. If you wanna play music, and you wanna play for fans, and you wanna sell them product and sell them merchandise or whatever you wanna do, go and do it. Go and do it. The fans are there. If they want to buy it, they'll buy it. But I think that when you're trying to manipulate fans who just wanna hear music and don't wanna know the politics. They don't wanna see people screaming and shouting at each other all the time or hear dirty washing. They just wanna be there for the music. So I have no time for that bullshit. It is bullshit, and I'm not buying in to it. I'm there to play music that I love, whatever it is, for fans that I love, and I want them to like what's happening."

As previously reported, Mantas and Abaddon reunited for a special concert on November 30, 2025 at Shinjuku Antiknock, a legendary music venue in Tokyo, Japan. Dunn and Bray performed three VENOM classics 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 came from SURVIVE and HELL FREEZES OVER.

In June 2024, Cronos filed a lawsuit against Abaddon and Plastic Head Music Distribution Ltd in which he accused the distributor of selling merchandise with Lant's copyrighted VENOM designs and Bray of approving the infringement through a licensing agreement. The dispute revolved around the fact that both parties were licensing and selling official VENOM merchandise featuring the contested designs.

According to Law360.com, Lant testified in court last year 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. Because Lant was able to produce numerous sketches which demonstrated his design process and Bray was unable to do the same, Bray was deemed the owner of the original logo, while Lant was found to be the creator and copyright owner of all but one of the other artistic works in dispute.

More than a decade ago, Dunn formed VENOM INC. with Bray and Dolan. In December 2024, approximately eight months after suffering his second heart 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 the aforementioned three albums as VENOM: "Prime Evil", "Temples Of Ice" and "The Waste Lands".

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