Venomin alkuperäinen kitaristi Jeffrey ”Mantas” Dunn selventää kommenttejaan ”Black Metal” -albumista: Haluaisi, että yhtye soittaisi yhden keikan, jossa lavalla nähtäisiin kaikki bändin jäsenet yhtyeen perintöä kunnioittamassa

Metallimusiikin legendoihin lukeutuvan Venomin klassikkoalbumi ”Black Metal” täyttää marraskuun 2. päivä 40 vuotta. Yhtyeen klassiseen kokoonpanoon lukeutunut kitaristi Jeffrey ”Mantas” Dunn kertoi maaliskuussa toivovansa bändin jäsenten saavan riitansa sovittua, jotta he voisivat yhdessä juhlistaa albumia. Mantas jätti Conrad ”Cronos” Lantin luotsaaman Venomin vuonna 2002 erimielisyyksien seurauksena ja ”Black Metal” -albumilla soittanut rumpali Anthony ”Abaddon” Bray puolestaan vuonna 1999.

Mantas piti maaliskuussa Facebookissa oman liven, jossa hän kertoi hieman epäselvästi haluavansa keikkailla Venomin klassisen kokoonpanon kanssa ”Black Metalin” tiimoilta. Monet saivat Mantasin puheista sellaisen kuvan, että kitaristi haluaisi soittaa kokonaisen kiertueen klassikkoalbumin tiimoilta. Mantas on kuitenkin tuoreessa Artists On Record Starring ADIKA Live!:n videohaastattelussa hieman korjaillut sanomisiaan kertoen, että ”olisi kiva soittaa ’Black Metalin’ tiimoilta edes yksi sellainen juhlakeikka, johon kaikki bändin jäsenet osallistuisivat”. Mantas kertoi omista ajatuksistaan ”Black Metal” -albumin juhlistamisen suhteen seuraavasti:

”If you think that of impact and the influence that this band has had and our place, our place in musical history is secure. When people talk about heavy metal and influential bands in heavy metal, VENOM’s always gonna be up there somewhere. We might not be top of the list, but we’re gonna be there somewhere. And to have had that much impact and to have that much reverence from your peers; everybody knows the name ’VENOM.’ And every anniversary of this band has gone past and it has never been celebrated. And that is one of the reasons that we, as VENOM INC. now, we’re doing the 40th anniversary; we’re doing the ’Black Metal’ shows.

Artikkeli jatkuu mainoksen jälkeenMainos päättyy

”There was one point… I do this Facebook Live thing twice a week — Monday and Friday. It’s become a bit of a fun thing to do and just interact with people. That’s all it is; it’s nothing major. And people are asking about the 40th anniversary of ’Black Metal’ and just the anniversaries of the band in general; that was just one of those things. And it actually did cause a bit of conflict within the VENOM INC. ranks as well, because there was things taken out of context. And the one big thing that was taken out of context was when Blabbermouth decided to just put one headline up. I was, like, ’Oh, come on, man.’ And the headline was, ’Mantas wants the original VENOM to get back together.’ [Editor’s note: The actual headline was ’Original VENOM Guitarist MANTAS Wants Band’s Classic Lineup To Reunite For ’Black Metal’ 40th-Anniversary Celebration’.] And I was, like, ’That’s not what I said, for fuck’s sake. Watch the video to see what I said.’ What I actually said was — and myself and Tony from VENOM INC., we had had a conversation about this the day before, saying it’s sad that all of the members who’ve ever been part of this shit-show circus can’t get together — not just the originals, but everybody; everybody’s period of that band — and do a celebration festival just devoted to VENOM and bring on guest players or whatever. But every era of the band is represented. So what Cronos is doing now; he plays a few hit songs with his band. What VENOM INC. is doing; we play a few songs. Then you have the ’Prime Evil’ era, when it was myself and Tony and Abaddon, and then Al Barnes [rhythm guitar] was involved as well. And then you could have the ’Calm Before The Storm’ era where Mike Hickey and Jim Clare were involved as the guitarists. And it would culminate, obviously, with the original lineup coming on stage and playing some of the classic songs. And that was an idea that was just thrown out there. But I actually did say, ’If anybody’s watching this, then get in touch. You’re not gonna get any apologies from me because what I’ve said is true.'”

”I’ve heard so much bullshit on the Internet and in interviews [with other VENOM members] and stuff, and I was, like, ’What planet did this happen on? What dimension were you in when this was happening?'”

Voit katsoa videohaastattelun tästä:

Venom Inc. juhlistaa Venomin ”Black Metal” -albumia soittamalla 40-vuotisjuhlakeikan SteelChaos-festivaalissa, joka järjestetään Hyvinkään Willatehtaalla 21.-22.10. Voit ostaa liput festivaaliin täältä.