Metal Anarchy

Venom Inc. have officially recruited Curran Murphy (ex-Nevermore, ex-Annihilator) as their new guitarist. He will be filling the void left by Jeff “Mantas” Dunn, who recently announced his departure from the band.

The group issued the following statement:

“Venom Inc is proud to announce that Curran ‘Beleth’ Murphy has officially joined the Demolition Man and JXN as the bands new lead guitarist!

Beleth already covered for Jeff ‘Mantas’ Dunn after he suffered his second heart attack. December 1st 2024 Mantas announced he was stepping down permanently because of health and personal reasons.

Fans wil be able to witness Beleths incredibely energetic stage presence during the coming Beyond the Black tour

Venom Inc and Warheads wish Mantas all the best and warmly welcome Beleth!”

Murphy also told Laughingmonkeymusic the following:

“Officially, with Mantas saying that he’s taking a step back or stepping out, [VENOM INC. bassist/vocalist] Tony [‘Demolition Man’ Dolan] has offered me the position to play guitar for VENOM INC. And I have gleefully accepted.

This last year has been awesome, all the shows traveling the world with Tony and [drummer Marc] Jackson, and playing these shows and working my ass off to play the stuff right, to play it as close to the record or, in some instances, to play it as close as how Mantas would play it live, to pay that respect. And Tony has asked me to join the band. So I’m absolutely overwhelmed and thrilled to announce that I am the lead guitar player for VENOM INC. It’s wonderful.”

He then added:

“Some people might say some negative stuff about it, this, that and the other, but I’ll draw a parallel in regards to when Tony asked me to come in and, ‘Can you fill in for Mantas?’ And right off the rip, like even saying that, I got goosebumps, like, ‘fill in for Mantas?’ I mean, here’s a guy and a band and a thing that has inspired my heroes: METALLICA, MEGADETH, ANTHRAX, SLAYER. That’s my school, where I came from, the ‘Big Four’ [of 1980s thrash metal], TESTAMENT and all. You can trace that lineage all the way back to what VENOM started, to what VENOM did, and so for me to come in and help keep gasoline in the engine so the machine can keep running because, like Tony said, ‘Hey, man, there’s obligations. There’s promoters that have booked [shows] and [fans have] paid money for tickets’ and this and that. And it can’t stop, but also Jeff needed to step back to help take care of his wife, like a man. Macho, like, ‘I’m putting every everything about my life on hold to take care of my wife.’ That’s macho as fuck. And then, to be struck with that terrible second heart attack and to take all that pressure off of Mantas and say, ‘Don’t worry about anything. You don’t need to show up. You don’t need to get on a plane. Get right, get healthy, get yourself good.’ And to bring me in — just the fact that Tony even called me.’

I’m sure Tony’s got a list of 20 guys that can do the gig, wanna do the gig, blah, blah, blah, but for Tony to choose me and hand me the opportunity just to fill in, and meeting fans on all these shows we played — South America, Indonesia, all over Europe, Poland, to meet these fans, and thankfully, wonderfully, not one of them has come up said, ‘Well, I wish it would have been Mantas.’ The only Mantas conversations I’ve had with these fans has been, ‘How is Mantas? Is he getting better? Is he going to be okay?’ And my answer has always been, I’m not filling shoes. I’m helping to keep the seat warm. I’m here to pay honor, tribute to that legacy and that legend and to do it as best I can so the fans aren’t disappointed. ‘Cause in my head, I think, ‘Oh, man, they’re gonna be bumming that it’s not Mantas.’ So I can’t go up there and eat shit. [Laughs] I’ve gotta to do my very, very best to learn his solos as note for note as I can, to learn the songs as best I can. And my ego goes to the side, and it’s all about… There’s one song — ‘Welcome To Hell’. When we were in South America, and we haven’t been able to have rehearsals as a band [laughs] at all. So, we’re down there. And there’s a riff, the verse riff, I’m playing it, and the drummer, Jackson, he’s, like, ‘Hey, Curran, you’re doing this one thing. And I know that it’s probably right, but live, I do this accent with the chinas. Can you follow the guitar chords with that?’ And I’m, like, ‘Oh, what?’ And learning to do that stuff right, and I’ve told both Tony and Jackson, like, ‘Man, I have no ego about it. If there’s something that Mantas does or did that’s not on the records, or that you wanna hear, or that it should be heard, man, you’re not hurting my feelings. You’re not pissing me off. Fuck, you tell me.’ Shit’s gotta be right. Shit has to be how these fans expect. That’s the most important thing.”

[via Blabbermouth]