VENOM INC. Unleashes Fresh Sounds with New Mini-Album

In a recent sit-down with Laughing Monkey's Shawn Ratches, VENOM INC. bassist and vocalist Tony "Demolition Man" Dolan, alongside guitarist Curran Murphy, unveiled that the band has wrapped up mixing their new mini-album, a follow-up to the critically acclaimed 2022 release, "There's Only Black." Curran revealed, "We finished mixes on the new VENOM INC., the new mini-LP, a couple of weeks ago. We finally got all that locked in. It's getting mastered right now."

The decision to release a mini-LP rather than a full-length album stems from the band's desire to build their catalog gradually. Dolan elaborated, "I think we've still got a way to go by the time we do the full album. This is kind of an introduction, if you like. There's a bunch of tracks on there, so it's kind of a mini-album — six or seven tracks."

With an upcoming BLACK LABEL SOCIETY tour and a European leg on the horizon, Dolan emphasized the importance of releasing new material to keep the fans engaged. "We wanted to have some new stuff out, new stuff ready anyway. I think we kind of lost our window because we didn't wanna rush it, so it took a little bit longer than I'd hoped for. But we wanted to continue, so we could put some fresh stuff in the set," he stated. The mini-album promises a mix of new tracks alongside classic fan favorites that have been long-requested in live settings.

"A couple of the songs are older classic songs that fans wanted to hear that we haven't played live, in one case. And another one, which was a song from 'The Waste Lands' that we put into the set which people loved. It's been re-edited, if you like, and redone our way. We've got a tribute song on there, and we've got some new stuff on there. So it seemed to bridge the gap of our identity," Dolan explained. He stressed the importance of establishing their own identity separate from the original VENOM, led by Conrad "Cronos" Lant, who recently released their own album, "Into Oblivion."

Dolan addressed the criticism from some fans regarding VENOM INC.'s performances of classic VENOM songs, clarifying, "We're playing legacy stuff, but it's legacy stuff I was involved in. If somebody comes to a show and begs us to play a classic song that meant the world to them, I don't see there's a problem with that. They know who we are. They know we're not VENOM." He further added, "When we play live, we have to fill in forms of the songs we play live and who wrote the songs, so the original VENOM members get paid. I don't really give a shit whether they make two bucks off a song we played that's theirs, if the fans are asking for it."

Dolan concluded with a bold statement about their direction: "We could play two hours every night and not touch anything that was recorded before 1989. I'm quite happy with that. I don't live in 1981. I don't wanna still be in that place. We've got something to say, something to do, and we've got new music we wanna create. So, now we can move forward freely. Nobody's dictating what we play. That's up to us and the fans in front of us. There is a VENOM. It's alive. It's just brought a new album out. So, when people say, 'Well, you're not VENOM,' it's like, I know. I never said I was. We're VENOM INCORPORATED — we incorporate every bit of music that we've done."

Current members of VENOM INC. include Dolan, Murphy, and drummer Marc Jackson, with Murphy officially joining the ranks as the replacement for the band's founding guitarist in December 2024.