VENOM INC.'s TONY DOLAN Doesn't Think High Price Of Visas Should Keep European Musicians Off U.S. Tours

In a new interview with the Disturbing The Priest With Brandon Battick podcast, former VENOM and current VENOM INC. frontman Tony "Demolition Man" Dolan spoke about his insistence on touring America year after year even when so many other European artists have stayed home due to an increase in the cost of obtaining short-term work visas, making touring much more expensive for international musicians. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I spent a lot of time there, and it's very dear to my heart. I love the U.S. so much, and I love the fans so much; they've been very loyal. I hear that a lot [about] the visa thing. Yes, it's very expensive. Yes, it takes a lot out of you and yes, you have to be able to do that, but it's not impossible… They talk about making a living, so they go, 'Well, it's impossible. We can't afford to go.' Of course you can afford to go. Of course you can. It's, do you want to go? If you wanna go and make a million bucks, then it's not affordable to go.

"If I don't make any money but we break even because we came, is there any value in that? Well, to me, there is," he continued. "I want everybody [who is working on the tour] to be paid [for their work] … but if I don't make any personal money to take away, it doesn't bother me, because the value is that somebody comes to the show and wants an album signed, maybe wearing your shirt, wearing patches of you, have bought your albums. That means something to them. Then they bought tickets to come and see you. Maybe they paid for a meet-and-greet or something. It's, like, they're investing in you. I think they deserve to have something given back to say thank you. And if that means I've gotta spend everything that I can to do that, to be there, to meet them, to say thank you and to give them the [best] shows that I can possibly give them, then I think that's my duty after 40-odd years.

"I don't need anything," Dolan explained. "Really, I don't need anything. I need to eat, I need to sleep. I'm a very simple person. I'm not into things. It doesn't bother me. I don't need things. I like people. And so, for me, that's the whole thing. So, yeah, it's expensive. And if you wanna make a lot of money out of it, maybe you won't. But if that's your whole reason for doing music, you shouldn't be doing that anyway, because not everybody can be METALLICA or THE ROLLING STONES. But that shouldn't stop you if it's who you are. And it's what I tell young musicians. When they go, 'Yeah, how do we do it? And I wanna do this and that.' I said, 'Well, first you have to find out if it's who you are.' You have to have a personality. Because you might think you wanna do it, but it might not be who you are, because you might have to sacrifice relationships, you might have to sacrifice work, money, food, sleep. If you can do all the shit stuff and you still wanna do it, then it's who you are. But if none of that sounds good to you, that's not who you are. Play for fun. Go and do your band at a weekend and do all your favorite songs and write with your friends and your buddies, play in the garage and play some local shows. But if you wanna commit to it as a career, it has to be who you are as a person. And if that's it, you'll never stop and you'll never retire, 'cause it's not something we can retire from. You're not working at a car factory. You're not working in a post office. You're not working at a regular job. So it doesn't end. It just stops. But it doesn't end. But knowing that you may not make a million dollars — there's a possibility you may, but you may not — you have to decide it's who you are and you don't care. If you make it, you make it, you make the money, you make the money. If you don't make the money, it doesn't matter. You can't stop doing it. And that's the frame of mind I take when I come to America. So when people go to me, 'Yeah, we had to cancel 'cause of the visa,' I say, 'Well, you didn't apply in time.' I've been coming over there for, fuck knows how long, since the '80s. I've always got my visa. So I've always applied in time. I had the money to pay for it. I've always been able to fly there and do the shows. It's not very complicated. It's just a bit lengthy, a bit boring and a bit costly. But you can do it if you wanna do it. So do it. Just do it."

Founding VENOM INC. guitarist Jeff "Mantas" Dunn recently announced that he is not planning to return to the band.

Dunn formed VENOM INC. nearly a decade ago with two other former VENOM members, Dolan and drummer Antony "Abaddon" Bray.

In his announcement that he was leaving VENOM INC., Dunn said that his "health and wellbeing are of paramount importance to myself and my family," but added that "there are also more personal issues which have influenced my decision."

This past May, Dunn revealed that he had suffered another heart attack on the morning of April 17. Despite this frightening event, the swift response from medical professionals at Abrantes UCIC and later in Lisbon, Portugal ensured he received the necessary care promptly. An angiogram revealed issues with two valves, leading to the immediate placement of two stents.

The 63-year-old British-born musician, who currently resides with his wife in Portugal, previously suffered a heart attack and underwent a double bypass surgery in May 2018.

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.

Earlier this year, VENOM INC. recruited Marc "JXN" Jackson as the band's new drummer. Jackson was previously a member of M:PIRE OF EVIL, the group formed in 2010 by Dunn and Dolan.

VENOM INC. is not to be confused with the Conrad "Cronos" 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 drummer Anthony "Abaddon" 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.

Photo credit: Fernando Serani (courtesy of Nuclear Blast)