Venom Interview on Black Metal
Interview with Cronos on Venom's Influence on the Black Metal Scene
May 13, 2008
With new album Hell now due out in June, Venom vocalist and bassist Conrad 'Cronos' Lant looks back on the influences that shaped Venom's early days and the influence they had in turn on the black and extreme metal scenes.
Venom and the NWOBHM
Suite 101: Venom emerged from that whole New Wave Of British Heavy Metal scene but you always seemed somewhat apart from the rest of it...
Cronos: “I grew up listening to a lot of the rock music from the 70s and everyone had their own thing, whether it was Jethro Tull or Kiss or Judas Priest or whoever. Even AC/DC when they came out were very different from everything else around them. Once Venom actually started and got up and running we did feel apart from what was going on around us. I was heads down trying to do something different and that's always, always a difficult thing. It's about being brave and sticking to your guns and believing in yourself. If you can't do something different and shock people – even to be the worst band in the world is better than being like some f*cker else. At least you're something of an extreme.”
Suite 101: How big an influence on you was the punk scene that preceded the NWOBHM?
Cronos: “Punk was good for rock music because rock music's supposed to be the devil's music and a bit edgy and something your parents won't like. It was the new rock 'n' roll basically.”
Venom: Black Metal Pioneers
Suite 101: Were you aware you were doing something groundbreaking at the time or did you arrive at it accidentally?
Cronos: “I would say it was both. When people go on about Venom creating the whole black metal movement or whatever, it's a big burden to carry. It's a difficult one to get big-headed about because I always thought Venom were just a catalyst for what was going to happen anyway. With there being so many bands that were copying everybody, it made so much sense that there was gonna be some sh*t come out that was gonna be different. Because I knew I couldn't be the only person on the planet thinking the way I was. Venom was a catalyst for what was inevitable and that was for rock music to get all dirty again and for people to say 'f*ck this sticking a f*cking sock down your f*cking spandex, let's turn the amps up and get the snot and the spit back into it’.”
“It was difficult for us to find bands when we first started out – trying to find bands like Metallica and Slayer and Exodus. Bands who were like us to go on the road with were so few and far between. But look at it now – it's just f*cking colossal. I do think it was inevitable though and it was a healthy progression of the music.”
Black Metal Murders and Church Burnings
Suite 101: How did it feel watching the church-burnings and killings in Norway in the early 90s, by bands who’d been influenced by Venom?
Cronos: “You can take things into all sorts of other areas but once other events take over from the music you're defeating the point. You've always got to have the music as numero uno and going out and killing people has nothing to do with entertaining people. You end up in jail and then you can't do it. Unfortunately that was a series of events that went tits up, that went totally wrong. It overpowered the music – it became something that people wanted to talk about instead of the music. If you say those bands – the Burzums and the Mayhems, name one of their songs, y'know? Or, apart from the guy who's sitting in jail, name the other band members. You'd be pushed for people to actually know a little bit more about them – they just know about the church burning and the murder.”
Click here for more from Cronos on new Venom guitarist Rage or here on his climbing accident.
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