Here's an interview with Cronos published on issue 154 of the Greek Metal Hammer(the best Greek Metal/Hard Rock magazine)

The interview with Mantas was done from Nikos "Flesh" Tagalos,the translation is mine...

Question:Well Conrad first of all i would like to ask you what is your first impression of Greece?

Cronos: Awesome!It's like a part of Colombia!!!It's very hot,it has nice women,we can have our drinks here nice and easy.Indeed it's awesome!

Question: Beginning with me,but all Venom fans as well would like you to tell us the story from the beginning.How did it all start?

Cronos: Basically Venom began as a 5 member band!To be be exact when i got to the band we were 5 and i got there as a guitarist.The whole format of the group,but the idea also started from Mantas.You know he worked as a roadie in concerts and at the same time he was into motorcycles where he had the nickname Venom.That's how the beginning was.

Question:I didn't imagine things were like that.Because i've been watching you as a fan almost since the beginning of the band.

Cronos: No.Believe me,that's exactly how it was and also at the same time there were two other bands with the name Venom.I also remember that all the other bands were asking us to change our name.The others were playing glam metal,you know the one with the puffy hair and intersted more in showing their dick rather than playing really loud music.But as you see we survived through the years and they disappeared.
Once i wanted to punch some of these guys but now i realise that i didn't need to.They were rel idiots.In fact our first singer we had that time was painting his face,like some bands do nowadays.Hahaha and i remember he was standing still for the fuckin' make up to dry up.(laughs,laughs,laughs,and more laughs...)

Question:How come in all this situation you became being both the singer and the bass player?

Cronos: Mantas wrote the song "Live Like An Angel,die Like A Devil" and asked me to sing this song so i tried it for the first time and it was successful.For the bass now there was a trully weird situation.Abaddon had arranged a club but unfortunately this wasn't possible because there was none to play bass.So i thought i could play the bass,as it didn't seem very hard to paly the basic notes.I don't remember this taking much time ao we decided to remain like that.

Question:What was the reaction of the world to that raw Venom style at that time?

Cronos: Haha!Fuck it,everyone was saying what's this fuckin'noise?When we got to the studio to first record we began playing the tracks all together so loud that the result was a metal chaos.Seeing each other playing we were getting more and more paaionate and there was a better result.When we were done we go to the sound recorder guy and he says to us :"Ok guys it was good for a test but now we should start recording normally"
.But we were amazed by the result and finished him by saying:"Man,this is fantastic,leave it the way it is!".
And that's how what today we call Venom was born.And you know were very proud of it,because we never tried to do it,it just came out naturally.You remember there were many good bands at that time like Angelwitch,Saxon who were playing loud but in normal borders.Emeis exceeded these and will always be proud for it.

Question:About Venom's thematology.How did this whole matter with Satanism began?Until then only Black sabbath had dared to mantion it,but they were on the christian and lighter side of the matter.

Cronos: Yes,indeed Black Sabbath were a fantastic band.But their lyrics were too light.I'll give it to you as an example of movies.Black Sabbath were Dracula and the ghosts,we wanted to be the zombies,the demons,the true evil.Black Sabbath had these lyrics "Oh God help me" but we prefered to say "Fuck all these,i don't need God...",etc.Black Sabbath were saying "Save us from Satan",while we suggested the opposite because that's how we felt from our music,like Satan is my friend,i drink with him and have fun,i want him besides me.We trully want to make something like a mightmare,something trully evil.

Question:What music did you listen to at the beginning?

Cronos: Basically all of us were listening to the classic groups like Deep Purple,JudasPriest and Led Zeppelin but you can never say that all these bands influenced Venom.Besides no clue of them exists in our music.Venom are basically influenced by Venom only.We always had this diffrence from other bands and of course we will continue to have it.
You know all these bands are based in the standards of blues music.We had escaped from all these,adding new notes in our themes which were soundin weird but at the same time they created a nightmarish melody.For example in "7 Gates Of Hell" the solo theme is trully outworld.This is the basic difference between Venom and other bands.Our music is hard to understand by classic musicians,that's why i believe that a group like deep Purple could never paly a Venom song,not because their technical expertise does not allow but simply because musicians like them cannot understand the feeling of Venom.

Question:Since we're talking about such cases what is your opinion about all these tributes to Venom and and the hundreds of bands performing your songs?

Cronos: I feel complimented but disappointed at the same time.All these bands try to imitate Venom when htey perform one of our songs.For example Paradise Lost sucked as well as many others.I'm happy that Venom have thousands of fans but we don' t want all these guys imitating Venom.As i told you before Venom's music is so unique that noone can do it the same.You can't compare for example Dark Tranquillity or Cradle Of Filth with venom in no way,each one has his own personality.As far as for other bands performing our songs i especially like the one one Massacre done in one of their EP's and i also had some backing vocals.
The track was "Warhead",a very good performace indeed and very heavy.The tributes disappointed me generally.Only a non official one titled "Promote The 3rd World War",in which there are some performances on Venom tracks which aren't even metal and are very good.They had their own opinion about our music.I really like these stuff.

Question:There's been several rumors that you're fighting all the time,that you don't speak to each other and other similar stuff.

Cronos: You want to believe these or not?It's up to you anyway,we are here all this time here me,you and Mantas discussing.Have you seen something like this?Look,we don't care what they say.We're three different personalities which when they're gathered to form what is called Venom,there united as one and do what they do in the best possible way.We've been so may years together anyway so it's normal like all people to have some arguments.

Question:I believe you made yourself clear.Conrad what is your opinion about the situation in Scandinavia with the orgasm of black metal,but also with the burnings of churches or the murders and all these extremities?How do you syy all these people who do in reality what they write in their lyrics?

Cronos: I know!I've heard a lot about all these stuff.Personally i don't have any problems with what anyone does,as long as he's ready to face the consequences.I don't see the reason why these people have to complain why they're in prison having done all these bullshit.We,as Venom began black metal and above all beliefs it's the music.Now if you want to burn churches do it but don't consider yourself a musician but a .On the other hand if you wanna kill for a reason why not be a professional kiiller,you'll eanr much more money.But if they put you in jail then accept the consequences of your choice.

Question:Let's go to the future of Venom.what should we expect from the new Venom album?

Cronos: Smells Venom from a thousand miles away!You can rest assured that it will be a true Venom album.To give you an example,Venom are like a powerful and expensive car.,let's say a BMW.When you go to the dealer to buy such a car you never test drive it cause you already know that it is guranteed and strong.That's what happens with every Venom album.Nothing more,nothing less.