Tony, it seems that you and Jeff already know each other for quite a long time now, so when did you actually get together for the very first time? Was it when ATOMKRAFT supported VENOM back in 1985 or even before that already?
"Well his girlfriend (pre – "Welcome To Hell"’s release) lived over the road from my mothers house, so I saw him a lot and was aware (because of her brother, who was a friend) that Jeff was in a band. I also used to see him at his uncle’s garage (where he worked), which was close to where I lived. But it wasn’t until I joined Neat that we became friends really, before the first ATOMKRAFT album on Neat."

How did you manage to keep in touch over the years? Do you both live pretty close to each other, did you just exchange phone numbers or something like that?
"We always had details of each other as we kind of became like brothers really. Sometimes we did our own thing and years past but always once we met or spoke it was like the day after we last saw each other. We just needed to catch up. There was only one period we lost touch but Jeff was busy with VENOM and I was making movies and doing tv and theatre so it was to be expected."

Have you been Jeff’s number one choice when VENOM was in need of a new bassplayer / vocalist or have there been any other options for him as well at the time?
"Well, it was actually Abaddon and the VENOM manager that approached me post the last ATOMKRAFT tour about the position and at that stage Jeff was not on board. I was told by them that the position was available and there was a deal for a new album and they wanted a new bass player / vocalist and could only think of one person able to do what was needed and also who knew the band and what they were about. But also could respond to the writing, as I was a fan of the original material. They felt they had lost their way and although were trying to re-capture the original intent they had realised after "Calm Before The Storm" that they were unsure of what they were or how to get back to that, which is why Cronos left to do more AOR stuff. So, here was an opportunity to get back to the real feeling again. I said yes, but it was conditional on Mantas returning as I felt the band could not be the band without Mantas and Abaddon there. I mean, I think any 2 of the 3 was possible to be as true as possible, is what I thought. It took me to speak with Jeff before he agreed to come in and he did it because I was there. I guess because we knew we could work together easily."

Was ATOMKRAFT still active when you got the offer to join VENOM? Was it a tough decision for you to leave your own band behind in order to be able to become VENOM’s new frontman?
"Well, we had just completed a very successful tour with EXUMER and NASTY SAVAGE, had a new album demoed and press was favourable… But at the end of that excursion, we fell apart. I still am not sure why… But there it was, we could have continued and as a 3 piece like originally or even replaced the 2 members who left, but I just lost the will to continue with things as they were, as we had worked so hard and were in a great position. To go back to start again just didn’t interest me. So, when the 2 things collided I thought why not. I never thought about it beyond working with Jeff and Tony Bray (Abaddon – Frank) and having a good time and playing great songs. I heard lots of shit over the years about me joining and then leaving and what I was thinking and saying and it’s all absolute bollox, hahaha. I joined without worrying if I could do it and left when I wanted to, because it had ran its natural course for me. It’s as simple as that. I guess as for ATOMKRAFT? It’s kind of who I am, part of me… So, it could never go away. So, no I didn’t worry. When I need it, or want to do it, I reach out and it’s right there."

Have you or Jeff ever regretted the decision to continue the band under the VENOM moniker? I’m just asking this, because in my opinion a lot of people didn’t really give this line-up (and the songs that were written / recorded in that era) a chance, no matter how good the songs might have been really…
"Well, it seems to be generally spoken that this was the case, but in fact it wasn’t truly the case. No, we had Abaddon and Mantas, so it was VENOM, just like all the other line-ups… lol… regardless of what some people may wish to be true or not. The albums bear the name VENOM, the label signed the band VENOM and so it is VENOM! Now, if you like or don’t is up to each and every one, just like with everything in life. But that’s what makes the world such an exciting place: choice! Did we ever regret it? No. I think from Mantas’ point of view, he began a band and that was the same band just with a different front man. As far as Abaddon? He scored the deal and played just as hard as he ever did, so to him it was also still VENOM. They both considered it just a progression. I am sure some people found it difficult as fans… I did when MOTÖRHEAD lost Eddie and MAIDEN parted with Di’anno but hey, that’s life. Music influences us because it gives us markers we measure time by. No one wants that to change, but it does. A member leaves or dies or whatever. Just changes. Does that make it bad? No. Just sometimes, some people don’t want it to happen and this was the case with some. But I never had anything but positive responses to what we were doing. And the first album got great reviews. Maybe some at the time thought it couldn’t work and even a handful of fans refused to purchase the album just because… But, I get comments every week from fans saying they went back and listened and liked the album and even the subsequent releases. I also have had fans tell me they first heard VENOM during my time there and then went back to re discover the back catalouge. So at the end of the day it’s about liking VENOM and realising there is a rich diversity there. And as innovators they also progressed to deliver a wide and pretty dynamic range of material over the years. Politically it has been a way to promote one thing by denouncing another in the press. But that doesn’t change the truth, even if somewhere someone is clicking their heels repeating the words, ‘there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home’ hahaha… You have to be real, you have to be honest and you have to believe in what you are doing, regardless of anything else. I did in that band and with PRIME EVIL, so did both Abaddon and Mantas. Get that? Great. Don’t get that? That’s up to you, so fair enough."

Tell us a bit about the time after you and Jeff had been out of VENOM… You didn’t continue to play together anymore until you formed PRIME EVIL, did you? So, what have you both been up to at the time? I know that you’ve started a career as an actor at some point and even ended up playing small parts in "Judge Dread" and "Master And Commander"… How did you get the opportunity to do that?
"Well, yes… I left and they reformed for 2 albums then split again. Then around 2002 after I did "Master And Commander" Jeff contacted me as he had written the album "Zero Tolerance" under the moniker MANTAS 666. He asked if I would do bass on the album. So, I went to Newcastle, recorded bass, we then shot a video and I did 2 live shows with them: Geiselwind Festival in Germany and the Underworld in London. Then some complications with his label and the release forced me to leave, but on good terms with Jeff it was choice. I went back to acting and working as an Automation engineer and production manager and then 2011 I had a call from Jeff, telling me he had hooked up with Antton (Cronos’ brother) and if I would consider a new band… It was my brother, so of course I said yes. But we have to go all the way and it must be serious, not something that falls apart in 3 or 5 years. And here we are… As far as my acting? I was working as a Theatre carpenter and an opportunity in India came to me, to perform with the Royal Shakespeare company. I did, and the rest was kind of history. I returned to London, got an agent and that was that. Some TV, Theatre and Film followed. I kept doing my Automation / Engineering work and some music too on the side. I am a workaholic, you see. I can’t stop. I did some music for a film and even sound design for some digital games, produced some stuff for the London Olympics and was part of the company doing the lifts etc. for the last RAMMSTEIN tour. I am very lucky. Acting wise I have not done lately because I am 100% focused on me, Jeff and M:PIRE OF EVIL."

When it comes to Jeff, the most weird thing I’ve heard about him probably was his involvement in the German Techno Pop band SCOOTER… how the hell did he end up with those guys?
"Hahaha… well, they are huge Metalheads who just happened to write a techno hit. And that as that. They have a theme normally each tour and that year they wanted a Metal guitarist as a guest, and they wanted to get one of their heroes. So, they asked Jeff. He did a great job and if you look at the foootage it’s an incredible stageshow with thousands of fans… lol. Private Jets, 5 star hotels and treatment and good pay deal… plus playing live to thousands of people as far a field as Mongolia… would you? Naaaaaaa, I’d refuse and play my local pub because THAT is not selling out, hahahaha. Ooooooooooookkkkkkkkkk, see you around then… maybe… NOT! I always tell him, there is a distinction… one guy is ‘in a band’ and the other guy is ‘a musician’. Only YOU know which you are."

What made you join forces again in 2010 and was Antton (drums) on board right from the start as well?
"Yes, in fact it was Antton who got Jeff to call me. It was a great idea. Antton had helped Jeff out with his band DRYLL (post MANTAS and for label contractual reasons) for a show. They did ‘Black Metal’ and people responded and the idea sprang from there."

As previously mentioned, you originally started M:PIRE OF EVIL as PRIME EVIL, I suppose because of the VENOM album of the same name, right? Weren’t you aware of the New York based Thrash Metal band of the same name at the time?
"That’s exactly it. We simply asked some Die Hard fans what they thought we should be called… but when PRIME EVIL was suggested… I was aware of the NYC band. I liked them a lot and tried to steer us away, but the others were not convinced it was important. They said the band was defunct and not happening. But I still made my noises against the decision, so I worked an alternate name just in case. And then the NYC band filed to register the name as their property… and sent letters… to everyone. It was funny. All of a sudden they agreed with me and we changed the name, which I did an anagram of PE as we had artwork etc. So less re-working to do. I just wish the guys in NYC had held on and not spent so much money, which now they must do annually for every territory, in order to prevent anything happening again. I was days away from convincing everyone the change was needed in the name, but there you go."

What made you change the spelling from PRIME EVIL to PRIMEEVIL (or was it PRIMEVIL?) and when and why did you totally change the name to M:PIRE OF EVIL?
"PRIMEVIL. But the logo butterflied the E so it was a double EE. As for the change, I think I answered above. It was the right thing to do. Some reviewers hated it, still do. I love that. Great, you see… choice… we all have them. I like it and don’t care if they don’t. That doesn’t mean I don’t respect anyone, just that it is MY choice to like it and I do."

Do you have any explanations for all the different spellings that are floating around of your band name (MPIRE OF EVIL, M-PIRE OF EVIL, M:PIRE OF EVIL, EMPIRE OF EVIL…)? Don’t you think that makes it quite difficult for people to find information about the band on the internet, when they use a search engine for example?
"Yes! Yes it does, hahahahaha… It was at first MPIRE OF EVIL but Antton felt there should be a dash between the M. Then Gyula (who created the "Hell To The Holy" cover and worked on Jeff’s original logo to make it what it is now) used the : (2 dots). I liked it, Jeff did too… Antton didn’t. The name then became M:PIRE OF EVIL. The alternates? We didn’t write them all. That’s just laziness by whoever has… Just like an extract from a new review I only just heard about. It says something like "VENOM’s founder and guitar icon Tony (Mantas) Dolan…" and that was in a review of the new VENOM album apparently now… Hahahaha. Laziness… if people want to find us, we are not hidden. But we don’t have a record company buying covers of mags and endless pages of hype in the net, so it will take longer. But fans we get are real and will be with us for life."

Did you already have any songs written / recorded during the PRIME EVIL period? How long was the band active under that name?
"4. We recorded a 4 track demo. Jeff recorded guitars and drums and I did the vocals and we used that to promote. I spent my own money getting cardboard covers made and printing lables onto CDRs and sent them out. Those songs ended up being recorded properly and appeared on "Hell To The Holy"."

The first M:PIRE OF EVIL release was the "Creatures Of The Black" EP, which was released through Italy’s Scarlet Records in 2011. How did you get together with them and do you really think it was a good idea to start a new career with an EP that only included 2 own songs and 4 cover tunes (by JUDAS PRIEST, MOTÖRHEAD, KISS and AC/DC)?
"Well, actually the first was with Iron Pegasus and on vinyl (white, gold, clear, amber and black). Then, when we did the deal for "Hell To The Holy" with Scarlet we offered "Creatures…" as a bonus for CD. The reason we did the covers was to introduce people to who we were. We each chose songs that influenced us to want to play Metal. The bands we chose influenced us and the songs we picked were the ones that made us want to do what we do. Our thoughts were by displaying these songs, people would not be confused about genre’s with us. The songs are by bands that were and still are part of the scene we love and are classic. That is what we are part of. The whole thing. Not just one small slice down a catagorized alley way. And we wrote 2 songs of course, we wanted to display the continuity of who we were about to be. Some people got it, some people got confused. But that’s normal too."

Tell us a little bit more about those 2 own songs, ‘Reptile’ and ‘Creatures Of The Black’ and their origin… Have they been the first songs you wrote together as M:PIRE OF EVIL or did you already have a couple more that you could choose from at the time?
"There were more songs even then, but we felt we should write something specific for the release. ‘Creatures…" (the title) was named by Antton, based on KISS ‘Creatures Of The Night’. ‘Reptile’ was something reminiscent of MOTÖRHEAD to me (‘Love Me Like A Reptile’). The tracks themselves were diverse. ‘Reptile’ fast and ugly and spitting VENOM, while ‘Creatures…’ we felt slow and heavy, but just as meanacing and ugly. But both had a clean and biting approach and with choruses just like the old days. Whenever writing occurs, a live performance is in mind and the audience that will receive it. That influences the mood of the songs. Like ‘Metal Messiah’ for instance. We liked when we went to concerts and sang along and we wanted to create that same feeling again for people at our own shows."

The EP was also released on vinyl via Iron Pegasus Records and re-appeared as a bonus CD in the Japanese CD edition of your debut full length "Hell To The Holy" a year later, so I suppose it was pretty wide spread in the end… How was the response on the material in general? Did magazines and fans like the stuff or were the reactions more of a mixed kind?
"That’s right. Well, review wise, mixed… People didn’t all get why as I said. But fans? They seemed to like it and particular tracks but that depended on, again, their fave sounds… lol… But it showed how we are all connected somehow through the same music. I guess people just wanted a whole album of new material but it kind of happened that we needed to release something before we had a deal and this came to me so I jumped on it. Yes, in the end we managed to attach it to all our "Hell To The Holy" releases."

Did you already play any live shows at that time, in support of the EP or maybe even before? If so, any gigs that stood out and therefore are worth a mention maybe?
"None… We were offered a few right off the bat, but the only performance with Antton was in London where Jeff and myself jumped on stage after Antton’s band had played and performed ‘Hell To The Holy’ and ‘Black Metal’ By the time we had "Hell To The HolY" finished we were set to hit North America."

So, the first "real" M:PIRE OF EVIL record was the already mentioned "Hell To The Holy", which once again was released by Scarlet Records and exclusively featured new / own material. Tell us a bit more about the songs on the album. When did you write them, was it all brandnew at the time or did you also re-work any old ideas? What influenced you during the creative process of "Hell To The Holy" musically and lyrically?
"That is correct. All were written as new. New themes and ideas. Of course the theme of the darker side is evident but that’s just who we are as individuals. However, the title track is about those holier than though people, who think they are right and you are wrong. They can be religious of course, but also just normal pricks in you life. Bring ‘Hell To The Holy’ is a way of saying, make it hard for them by ignoring them and following your own path regardless of their pompus bullshit. ‘Metal Messiah’ was written for my friends at Metal Messiah radio, because they have supported me and us for so many years. ‘Hellspawn’ is what we call out bretherin. ‘8th Gate’ is what Jeff wrote as a follow up to the ‘7 Gates Of Hell’. Moody and doomy… ‘Snakepit’ is a MOTÖRHEAD / VENOM piece of fun, about our younger days clubbing and drinking. ‘Mpire Prelude’ is exactly that… a prelude to us. The rest showing up later, you will see. ‘Wake Up Dead’ is about realizing you are in the game. Don’t wait til it’s too late or you’ll wake up dead. Get in there, get involved. ‘All Hail’ is a groove track, simply dealing with the contradictive text of religion. ‘Devil’ is about the Devil’s music and where it originated… at the crossroads, in the delta, from the first time… Robert sold his soul to the devil. And ‘Shockwave’ is an assault on a fucking arsehole I will meet somewhere sometime. Each song kind of creates its own identity and tells us what it wants to say. So nothing is forced. I have a riff or Jeff has a riff or a song and it builds from there. We don’t get in their with too many tools, looking to fix what is working. We let it breath and it comes out sonically. The material again like the themes and lyrics, just happens… That’s down to the individual style… it sounds like it does, because it does. We do not intend to do album after album changing how it feels or sounds, because we are chasing an identity or a sound we ‘were’ famous for and can’t seem to find it again… lol. That’s insane! We are what we are, we are M:PIRE OF EVIL."

The album was also released on CD via Spiritual Beast in Japan (with the EP as a bonus disc) and Night Of The Vinyl Dead as a limited, red splatter vinyl edition. Tell us a bit about how those two companies got involved and if Scarlet Records had any problems with that…
"Scarlet license in Asia through Spiritual Beast so that was their call. They also work with Night Of The Vinyl Dead (both Italian companies), so it was all kind of part of the same package."

A year later Night Of The Vinyl Dead even released a vinyl only, exclusive M:PIRE OF EVIL EP entitled "Demone" (limited to 333 copies)… What can you tell us about that and why didn’t Scarlet Records release a CD edition of it? Had you parted ways with Scarlet Records at that time already?
"We did ourselves a direct deal with Night Of The Vinyl Dead and they did 2 runs for us. One for world and one exclusively for North America. The 7“ for world was a fold out crucifix and the North American edition had DEMONE rising up from inside as you opened it. Scarlet are still relevant, but we did not wish to do a CD version as we were working on the next album, "Crucified" and intended that to include the 7“."

Both songs off that EP (‘Demone’ and ‘Taking It All’) then re-appeared on your next full length "Crucified", which came out in 2013 on Mausoleum Records. How did you get together with Mausoleum and were those tracks pretty much just bonus tracks on the CD, because the rest of the album exclusively featured re-recorded VENOM songs from the albums that you and Jeff had been involved in together ("Temples Of Ice", "Prime Evil" and "The Waste Lands")?
"We licensed "Crucified" to Mausoleum for world except Asia, where it was licensed to Spiritual Beast and North America where we did a deal with Dead Line Records. We did include the two 7“ songs as part of that album, but not as bonus. The idea with "Crucified" was simply that the older VENOM albums were deleted and we kept getting asked about re-releasing these by fans. As we had no control over that, I attempted to follow it up but the company owning the masters refused to release so we thought, rather than lose good material and to be able to add them to our live set, where people had not seen them performed, we should re-record some. That way we own the masters and can do as we wish, plus add to our live set as they would then become M:PIRE songs. So, we went to our fanbase and asked them to list 10 or so songs they like to hear us do and then crossing the lists and our own choices picked the songs that occurred the most. And that was what became "Crucified"."

Who came up with the idea to release another "cover" album so early on, instead of a record full of new M:PIRE OF EVIL songs?
"As I said, nothing is planned but we want to keep playing. That’s what a band is about: music. So, if we are not touring live we are recording. We will release a new studio album (brand new songs) in 2015 but will also follow up with a "Crucified II". We will go until we have all material redone and in our own vaults. We don’t see that album as covers. We see it as songs we wrote, that got lost over 20 odd years and now we have gave them a rebirth and are now ours!"

The Japanese edition also features two additional VENOM songs (‘Black Metal’ and ‘Witching Hour’)… Were those tracks recorded in the same session as the rest of the album?
"No, they were recorded live in Japan. The Japanese like getting bonus stuff, so we fed them. We got complaints from US fans that they never get anything special from Europe in their editions. That’s why we did the "Demone" 7“ exclusive for the USA. The world one was half black and half metal vinyl, the USA one is blue."

And what about the 2 EP tracks? Did you just use the original recordings from the EP or have you re-recorded them again for "Crucified"?
"They were the same recordings off the vinyl added to the CD version."

Night Of The Vinyl Dead once again took care of the vinyl edition of the album… Anything worth a mention about this one maybe? It seems that you were pretty satisfied with what Night Of The Vinyl Dead were doing since you had continued to work with them, weren’t you?
"They are amazing and always surprise us with little additions. On "Crucified" they added inside a double EE logo stencil. But the general work is amazing: embossed cover and the old Neat thumb on the label. Fantastic. They have just done our "Live" album as a vinyl and we have another planned with them, as well as a Mantas release. They are part of out family."

2014 is a bit blurry for me when it comes to M:PIRE OF EVIL… both releases ("Double Jeopardy", the split with GRAZED, and the live album "Live Forum Fest IV") were released independently… So, does that mean that Mausoleum weren’t really satisfied with the sales of "Crucified" or what lead to this decision?
"No, we did a deal direct with the guy who had us play a festival in France. It happened he was bassist with French band GRAZED, who had 15 years before recorded the drums for ‘Manitou’, but never got around to completing the track. They asked us to participate and I ended up doing the vocals and Jeff produced and engineered it, as well as doing all guitars, including bass. The CD version we split with them, to be fair. And the OMC (which is who the guy worked for, a local government) then paid for the "Live" and "Double Jeopardy" disc to be made."

Tell us a bit more about the split album… I never heard of the other band, GRAZED, so what can you tell us about them and how did this whole project come to live in general?!
"I think I covered that above a bit. They are a really good French Death Metal act who I had had contact with for a few years. The bassist asked us to appear at his festival one year, then invited us back the next and that’s when they spoke of this ‘Manitou’ track… the rest followed."

The latest release of M:PIRE OF EVIL is the live album… what is the story behind that?
"We played in Southern France twice and both times had multiple channel recordings sent to us. We had planned to capture live shows for an album and have tons of filesand have added live songs to our releases, but the last time we played in France the live feed seemed so perfect, we then decided let’s do it. So we did. It isn’t the full set, because we chose to leave off the VENOM songs we performed, but only because it seems there is another VENOM album re-packaged and released every week. It’s like, how many times do you want the same £5 off people… for the same thing. We weren’t concerned with anything but the M:PIRE songs on the Live album."

Most recently you’ve been able to tour Europe together with OBITUARY, DUST BOLT and POSTHUM (respectively ROTTING REPUGNANCY)… Was that the first full-length M:PIRE OF EVIL tour? Tell us a bit more about the tour and its high and lowpoints here…
"Yes. Not, the first no, we have done a North America tour with ONSLAUGHT and Europe also with ONSLAUGHT, MASTER and TANTRA. We toured Brazil as headliners and did Japan on tour. In fact we have done many many shows everywhere up to this point and we go to Russia next month (March). This tour was the best so far. Great bands and people. So much fun. We had almost all as sold out shows and went to Italy, Poland, Spain, Hungry, France, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Belgium and London. The best people, best fans and most fun. Low points? Being tired… lol… High points… every stage every night… it is that simple."

On that tour Francesco "Frullo" La Rosa from Italy joined you on drums… What is the reason that M:PIRE OF EVIL had so many drummer changes over the years? Is M:PIRE OF EVIL just you and Jeff with session drummers?
"Well, we begain with Antton but there were issues before the album release and the first USA tour, so we brought in Jackson to play that tour. In my mind Antton would be there when we returned, but of course that wasn’t going to happen and we ended up keeping Jackson with us. But that was not the intention originally. But man, he’s so good… lol. Anyway, we had a show in France and I needed a drummer to cover, so I called an old mate in NECRODEATH (Italian Metal band), the drummer Peso, but he said he could not do it, but knew a young drummer who could and that was Francesco. I think Jeff and myself just realised that we are the writers and we do everything creatively for the band so perhaps it is easier for everyone if we just bring in a drummer when required and someone like Fran is fantastic because he plays for so many bands and is always busy. So, he is not just waiting for us all the time to do something and if you had a drummer there as another full time member then you have to keep considering that, and that distracts from your focus."

In retrospect, would you agree with me that it probably hurted your career a bit more than it actually helped to establish you as a new band, that you and Jeff constantly get associated with your past time in VENOM? I mean, M:PIRE OF EVIL gets promoted everywhere as the band featuring two former VENOM members, you play VENOM songs live and even release them on your albums and nobody seems to recognize that you have already written some very strong M:PIRE OF EVIL material ever since… So, isn’t it time to get rid of the overmighty VENOM shadow after all these years and establish the name M:PIRE OF EVIL on its own?
"Yes. The thing is, fans ask us to play VENOM songs live, as well as ours. But I agree. We are looking at that right now. Remember also that we did not have so much of our own material out up to a point. So it was something we had to consider early on."

From what I can recall, there was already talk of an upcoming brand new M:PIRE OF EVIL album, so please tell us everything about that… Do you already have a title for it, when will you record it and will it again be released on your own?
""Unleashed" and it is our best work to date and I mean from all we have done as musicians we feel. No label yet. We may license again. So we will have more than one, or we may do a deal. This we must still think about. We are almost finished, but have taken our time as we want it to be the very best we can be. Right now drums are being done and I cannot wait to get it out and play stuff live too."

Ok Tony, I suppose this should be enough for now. Hope I didn’t bore you too much with all the questions. If there’s anything else that you’d like to add to this interview, feel free to do so now. Thanks for taking the time. I wish you and Jeff all the best and hope to meet you guys again sometime in the future.
"It was amazing and great questions, and thank you for being honest with them. These days it seems a lot of pandering to lunatic rants based of promotional rhetoric… which for me shows nothing but contempt for the interviewer and fans alike. So this was a pleasure. To add??? Mmmmmmmmmm, ok it’s M:PIRE OF EVIL… lol… Think as one!!! Because we are!! All hail and I’ll see you out there!! Thank you!"

www.mpireofevil.com, www.facebook.com/mpireofevil

Interview: Frank Stöver
Live pics: Tina Ehmke