{"id":20931,"date":"2024-12-03T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-03T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/?p=20931"},"modified":"2024-12-19T09:42:15","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T14:42:15","slug":"jeff-mantas-dunn-parts-ways-with-venom-inc-tony-dolan-says-the-door-is-open-for-mantas-to-one-day-come-back-to-venom-inc-hes-my-brother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/?p=20931","title":{"rendered":"Jeff “Mantas” Dunn Parts Ways with VENOM INC. Tony Dolan says, “The Door Is Open For Mantas To One Day Come Back To VENOM INC.: ‘He’s My Brother’"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2015 Venom Inc<\/strong>, which consisted of the Venom<\/strong> line-up from 1989 to 1992: Jeff (Mantas) Dunn<\/strong> as guitarist, Tony (Demolition Man) Dolan<\/strong> as singer and bassist and Anthony (Abaddon) Bray<\/strong> as drummer was born. Venom Inc became a band on April 2015, when the band Mpire of Evil<\/strong> (with former Venom members Jeffrey Dunn and Tony Dolan) played at Keep It True festival in Germany. At the gig, Dunn and Dolan invited drummer Anthony “Abaddon” Bray, another former Venom member, to play a few old Venom songs at the festival, although Dunn and Bray had not spoken to each other for around 20 years. This spontaneous action led to the formation of Venom Inc.\u00a0 Venom Inc released two stellar albums, 2017’s Ave and There’s Only Black in 2022 and toured the world relentlessly putting themselves on the map as being more Venom that Cronos’ Venom is.\u00a0 I know, big words but it’s my blog so whatever and besides, it’s true.<\/p>\n

On December 2nd, 2024, legendary Venom Inc guitarist Jeff “Mantas” Dunn announced via his social media that he would be leaving VENOM INC.\u00a0 Dunn has suffered two heart attacks in recent years, first in 2018 then again earlier this year. He acknowledges these issues in a statement announcing his exit, but also mentions unexplained \u201cpersonal issues\u201d impacting his decision. The guitarist will not perform at any of the band\u2019s previously announced concerts.\u00a0 In an Instagram post, Mantas stated:<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter I suffered the second heart attack the outpouring of love and concern from you guys via a multitude of messages and calls has been overwhelming and a simple thank you seems so insignificant.\u00a0 So my friends it is now time to address the situation. I wish to inform you all that I will not be returning to Venom Inc. Obviously my health and wellbeing are of paramount importance to myself and my family, however, there are also more personal issues which have influenced my decision.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Longtime friend\/bandmate Tony “Demolition Man” Dolan weighed in on Dunn’s announcement that he was not planning to return to the band. In a new interview with Shawn Ratches<\/b> of Laughingmonkeymusic<\/a>, Dolan said:<\/p>\n

“I know that yesterday was quite shocking \u2014 he made this statement, and everybody’s picked up on that \u2014 but it may not be forever. He may feel, in a year’s time, he feels great and wants to do it again. He will produce music in his studio because that’s what he does. And that’s his therapy and that’s great. And his social media he was doing, that was his therapy. So that was all good. When he stopped doing that, I thought maybe that’s not the best thing to do. And as much as, in my heart, I would like him to still be doing the tour and the shows, even through the whole season, we did Indonesia, we did all of South America, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Romania, Poland \u2014 I mean, we did huge shows, half a million people in Poland, 18,000 in Indonesia; I mean, it’s huge shows; every night in South America, I think it was three to six thousand people. So we did these incredible things and I wanted him to be there. But you have to feel good about it. And he didn’t feel good about it. So he had to sit it out and I had to accept that.”<\/strong><\/p>\n