Carl Begai

By Carl Begai

It’s fair to say that former Venom bandmates Tony “Demolition Man” Dolan (vocals/bass) and Jeff “Mantas” Dunn (guitars) do their best work as a unit. There are folks that labelled Dolan a pretender to original / current Venom singer Cronos’ pincushion throne when he stomped in for three albums from 1989 – 1992 (Prime Evil, Temples Of Ice, The Waste Lands), but Dolan is still recognized as an integral part of the band’s history. The fans were reminded of this in 2004 when Dolan joined Dunn’s new albeit short-lived project, Mantas. It was a venture that died before its time, largely regarded as a nice try and not much else. When the buzz of another reunion project started up in 2010, however – this time with ex-Venom drummer Antton Lant in the mix – people were all ears, particularly since the trio had chosen to work under the banner Prime Evil as a tip of the hat to their collective past. One name change and Lant’s unfortunate but amicable departure later, Dolan and Dunn are in arguably better form than ever with Mpire Of Evil.

“We had a long discussion before anything got off the ground,” Dolan admits. “Every time we’ve tried to get back together it’s been because we wanted to, and every time we stopped it was because of some other fucker, never because of us. The Mantas thing for example; we did the album (Zero Tolerance), we shot a video, we did the Earthshaker Festival in Germany, but when we got back it became apparent to me rather quickly that the record company (Demolition Records) might not be spending the money promoting the album they way they should have been. I told them that if they didn’t invest in it, thing were going to go the same way they always have. We had a big discussion with management and the record company, and I wouldn’t let it go. I kept bringing it up and they got so pissed off at me in the end, thinking that I’d become a bit of a problem saying they should do this and that. The label eventually told Jeff that he either dropped me or they were going to drop the band.” (continue reading…)

By Carl Begai

At the tail end of 2003 I caught up with vocalist / bassist / actor Tony Dolan, best known in metal circles as the man that replaced original Venom vocalist Cronos for the Prime Evil album in 1989 for a total of three records. An unexpected opportunity presented by a mutual friend affectionately known as The Mad Dutchman, based on the fact that Dolan had snagged a part in the Russell Crowe film Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World. The interview was published in January 2004 on the BW&BK website but it didn’t receive the attention it should have (in my always humble opinion ). During a recent hunt through my archives for some information on another band I stumbled across the Dolan story and figured the world could do with a reminder of who the man is and his career. Particularly since he’ll be making a return in 2010. Following is an excerpt from the original story recapping the events leading to Dolan getting the part of Mr. Lamb in Master And Commander and working with Crowe:

Dolan’s move from the metal stage to the silver screen was more or less accidental. Days were spent working in theatre, the nights devoted to Venom until he decided to leave the band, at which point he signed on for a 15 month world tour with the Royal Shakespeare Company for A Comedy Of Errors. That experience led to working on the Queen tribute theatre production We Will Rock You in London, giving Dolan the best of both worlds. Then, an off-the-cuff audition for a “big Hollywood production” led to further auditions, meetings, and a huge first step into a new line of work (discounting a bit part in Judge Dredd that got hacked to pieces).
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