intervtonydolan

 

TONY "DEMOLITION MAN" DOLAN

FORMERLY OF VENOM & ATOMKRAFT

I have talked with Tony "Demolition Man" Dolan who sung and played bass in the NWOBHM-band Atomkraft. One of the fastest and most aggressive bands from that era. In 1989 Tony got the opportunity to replace Cronos in the pioneering black metal band Venom. It's a great honour indeed to do an interview the Demolition Man himself.

How was it to replace such a legend as Cronos in Venom?, An incredibly honour I would guess?

It was indeed a great honour to replace Cronos! My association with the band goes way back. I featured on bass for the first Mantas solo project. I appear,somewhat disguised in the Deciever video for Mantas! I had been a fan since 'In leauge With Satan' was released so i was very pleased to join. As a fan I felt that they had lost direction (as many fans had!) and so to be able to write a new Venom album and try to recapture the old Venom feeling was fantastic. I feel Prime Evil came close myself! Of course I got to play and re-record older classics too which was a blast for me.

Did the fans accept you?

I think some fans were never going to accept me no matter what. Metal fans are a dedicated bunch and I'm not the first new lead singer to get that reaction, Dio with the Sabs for one and Coverdale with Purple for two and many, many others. I did think I'd proved myself by the time we did "Tear Your Soul Apart" and certainley the reaction I got on the road from fans was fantastic. Everyone seemed to be turning on to the new Venom!

How did you feel about the comparision to Venom when you where still in Atomkraft?

There was no comparison in my view! ATOMKRAFT were a very different prospect.When we first began,maybe the two bands were similar in their ultra Heavy approaches but ATOMKRAFT were always tighter and faster than Venom and of course not Satanic!! By the time we signed our deal a very different band and poor production meant that the ultra heavy band was no more. So we were even less like Venom by Future Warriors.

Atomkraft - Future Warriors

Of all your released albums which one are your favourite?

First Favorite is ATOMKRAFT's,'Conductors of Noize', the final production is very bad but the demo's were killer and it was great to play live too! The next favorite is VENOM's,'Prime Evil',great production and killer tracks live too!

Name your biggest influences!

Lemmy (Motorhead), Geddy Lee (Rush), Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath), John Gallagher (Raven).

Name five albums that meant a lot to you!

The Incredible Shrinking Dickies (The Dickies)

Motorhead (Motorhead)

Welcome to Hell (Venom)

Kill 'em All (Metallica)

Hell Awaits (Slayer).

What's the highlight of your career?

Spodek Stadium, Poland, 1988.Approx 25,000 people. No records out in Poland and when we hit the stage,union jacks flying everywhere! Amazing.We also played the show of our lives too,next to London's Dingwalls with Nuclear Assault,that show was Crazed! Both these shows were with ATOMKRAFT!

Were Venom as satanic as people seems to think that they are?

NO!!

How does it feel when most people only seems to care about the first couple of albums? Why do you think that Venom's popularity faded?

They got too big too quick and didn't realise what was happening! They wanted to explore music too early in their success and never realised who they were.They tried to capitalise on their success but it only served to undo all the great early stuff. Some fans like all different Venom material but wanted darker and un-polished music! Ultimately they were their own executioners. The band became volatile too as they became lampoons of the image they had created and as such just imploded!

Venom - Prime Evil

What are you doing today?

I am an actor and a musician.I am currently working on the new ATOMKRAFT album and also several other projects from my studio which I own with my 2 brother-in-laws in London. Ihave a new movie coming out in November 2003 called 'Master and Commander'. I spent 5 months in Baja,Mexico shooting the film for 20th Century Fox.

Tell me more about your solo project!

The solo project will be the new ATOMKRAFT album. As yet untitled it will be completed and out sometime early 2004.It's still ATOMKRAFT and still Thrash, I can say no more than that really! Except that this time the production will be good and more people will be able to see and hear it!!

Tell me more about your time in Venom!

Venom was great but in the end it went all wrong and I lost interest. I was being ripped off and couldn't be bothered any more! Prime Evil was a great album to do but by the time we were doing the Wastelands things were going wrong. I'm not one of the original Venomites really so I just didn't have the patience the other three had, had to stick together! I would have killed someone! It

all bacame Bullshit and I can't stand Bullshit!! We had some great show's and some good times(mailnly me and Mantas) but we also has some really shit times and some really shit shows. The management booked us opening for Sacred Reich, that was a bad tour,we lost a lot of fans and face on that tour. Don't forget that Abaddon was one part of the management team so we knew who to blame! I was denied all the big Pyro shows so they could steal money and we spent very little. This is a dissapointment for me.The biggest show we did was with King Diamond in Bonn at a festival, where we kicked true Venom ass. If we'd had the big

show I think fans would have forgotten I was the replacement for Cronos and forgiven me but it wasn't like that! Still I was kicking ass so no regrets for me!

Have you got any plans to reunite with Atomkraft or Venom?

Yes! Next year with both I believe. 25th Anniversary for Venom and ATOMKRAFT have a DVD and an Anthology record coming out as well as the new album so we will be playing some shows.

I've heard that you are playing bass in the Mantas-band, correct?

Yeah I've just recorded all the bass parts for the new MANTAS album. The band is called MANTAS too! It's a wild album. I think it's gonna do well! The first single and video will be out around November/December 2003.

You have carved a quite impressive acting career too, You played against Sylvester Stallone in "Judge Dredd" and lately you've got a role in the new Russel Crowe movie, tell me more about it!

Yeah the new movie is great! Five months in Mexico shooting. It's based on the sea around 1800 and we are the british Navy. I play the ships master carpenter, Mr.Lamb. It stars Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany(Beautiful Mind,A knights tale etc.) The whole cast were great we had a fantastic time. We shot on the same water tank they used for Titanic. Peter Wier directed it (Truman Show,Witness,Gallipoli etc,) he is an amazing director. The movie is out in November, different dates around the world but should do well. It's a great story an the effects are amazing and the battle sequences are bloodthirsty and very real too! It Rocks!!

Cronos once said: "Harder than Ever", and those friends I watched it with droned, just like the chorus of the song went, ‘You ain’t Cronos, you ain’t Cronos,’ I swear it’s true. Here was this guy trying to be Cronos. A skinhead trying to be Cronos. The thing is, I knew Tony as Tony Dolan from Atomkraft. I could never see him as the new singer in Venom. If he had been just an unknown Tony it might have been different, but now I just always thought, well, it’s Tony from Atomkraft." Any comment to that?

It's all Bollocks!!!!!!!!!Jeff (Mantas) wrote that song and I wrote thing liked Blackened are the Priests, Carniverous, Parasite, Insane. No-one ever sang that to the chorus at any concert. I could tell stories of kids coming up to me saying man you are great Cronos was shit, you out play him and are a better singer too. It doesn't matter what people say it's what you do. I don't really care if anyone thought I did a great job with Venom or not.

I worked hard and did the best I was able to. Never compromised myself and always tried to stay true to the theme! If Cronos felt at the time I was doing a good job then of course he would be negative about me! Venom had been his and he didn't want anyone taking it away from him! In reality though it was all shit! I did take it away and when he returned to Venom after I had left,he copied my performance (also a mistake in my opinion!) this isn't something I thought but many,many people wrote and said this to me. So I listened to Cast In Rock or whatever it was called? He was doing a good impression of me! That's what hurt them I think! He wasn't himself! I may be a better bass player and a better singer but Venom was Cronos and I'm proud of what I did but glad to be out of it!!!!

How did you get your nickname "Demolition man"?

My original guitarist in ATOMKRAFT, Steve White dubbed me 'The Demolition Man' after I thrashed the stage, yeah the whole stage, out of anger, at one of our gigs.

Have you got any last words for our readers?

Don't take offence at anything I say. A question must be truthfully and from the heart answered! I love Thrash and Love Metal and always will long may it live! Keep thrashing all of you and I'll see you out there I hope?

By/ Ruthless

(24-09/2003)