DECIBEL MAGAZINE INTERVIEW
By: Jonathan Horsley
*Original, uncut, & unpublished interview taken from the pages of Decibel Magazine Issue #100 & online @ decibelmagazine.com (Feb 2013)
VON - Bloodied and Unbowed (Pt.1) Uncut
*Pt.1 online interview taken from decibelmagazine.com
A 25-year Blood clot hasn’t stopped Bay Area Black Metal Originals. When Jason “VENIEN” Ventura first put VON together, he was a high school kid. Ronald Reagan was in the White House. It was 1987-The year when Leonard Nimoy’s Three Men and a Baby was the highest-grossing movie, and Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet the highest-selling album. Black Metal was in the shapeless infancy of the first wave. Speed and Thrash shouted loudest in the underground. VON are of this era. "There were a lot of hair bands, a lot of 80’s glam bands," recalls VENIEN. "There were a lot of Metallica knock-offs, a lot of thrash and speed metal going on. I didn’t even know what black metal was. I didn’t really know that we were black metal."
It is now 2012, VENIEN is talking about the imminent release of VON’s debut album, Satanic Blood, an album proper of re-recorded material that was hitherto only available as demos, bootlegs and compilations. It’s a bit weird, like asking a 41-year old what happened at school, but Satanic Blood is as much a product of VENIEN’s youth as it is his adulthood. "The aggression and raw intensity of what we wanted to put into our music was just from everyday life, how we lived our lives aggressively as teenagers," he says. "Living in San Francisco, and unfortunately hustling on the streets and dealing with shady people, living in that world of drug dealing, the aggression was constant. I would always come into band practice with that mentality, and it was reflected in the music."
VON’s history is complicated. They split in ‘92, went into cult-status incubation, wherein people recognized their influence as the first U.S. black metal band, etc., but that’s all. Reforming in 2010, VON cut the Satanic Blood 7” inch vinyl and headlined Armageddon Festival in London at Watain’s behest (Erik Danielsson famously named Watain after the VON track). And presently, well, VON will be releasing the DARK GODS triple album in three parts, six months apart-the first of which, Seven Billion Slaves, drops in Febuary- while VENIEN has a 24 track solo project in the can. Though VON haven’t evolved musically from ‘87, and the proverbial Ark has been raided for Dark Gods, VENIEN’s 2012 headspace is much healthier.
"Satanic Blood, the pentagrams and all these things you see in the album-thats is all part of the fabric of who I am. I believed in GOD. I believed in the DEVIL. But as the years go past, I have ascended into another level as a human being. Where I am spiritually? Well, I am not a slave to any vice or any worship. I am free of all chains that hold other people down in life, from worship to culture and society. I am a free-thinker. I am a free man."
Of all the bands to crawl back from the metal abyss here’s something we never expected. VON is releasing a new album at the end of October and dB got an exclusive stream of “Jesus Stain” from Satanic Blood. The band expects to play a limited run of shows. Take a listen below and then read an interview with mainman Jason “VENIEN” Ventura (conducted via e-mail) where he talks about the new music and why he resurrected VON.
DECIBEL:
Why did you decide to get VON back together after all of these years?
VENIEN:
Long story, but since the time I started to put my little monster back together there have been a few people that have come and gone since, and that includes the other founders. The decision was made awhile back and bottom line its to finish what I started.
DECIBEL:
What was it like getting back together and writing? Did you ever anticipate it?
VENIEN:
I started the process again, and attempted to bring all the original band back for it, but that was short lived. The one that did come back he quit after London reunion show just like he did in the 90’s and the drummer he was no where to be found. I had been writing tons of material for years and most of it was for VON but there was so much, some of it was leaning more towards a solo album, so I really didn’t anticipate anything I just lived it. But for these 4 VON albums, I am the only surviving original creator of VON that survived the cut to record them, the rest moved on and its for the best I can’t work with bullshit anyways
DECIBEL:
Were you at all worried about hurting the band’s mystique by playing again?
VENIEN:
That's the thing right, VON never even got a chance, again that's why I set out to finish what I started so long ago at all costs. I do this for me, I do this for those that want it, not for those that want to judge me personally or my band VON. I don’t give a fuck about mystique, this is the real thing, this is the VON that you never got a chance to witness, feel, embrace, scream with, smash walls to, this is the raw uncut no bullshit fucking VON!!! All the other shit you heard or seen, and this goes for all the traitors surrounding this band, your done, it’s time to witness real fucking rage not false pretenders and weak broke ass bootlegging record labels! Fuck Goat, Fuck Kill, and Fuck NWN! it’s my war now! is that extreme metal enough for you? Blog that muthafuckas!
DECIBEL:
The band’s now legendary demo had a run of about 100 copies. Yet here we are about to premiere your first new track to huge interest. Does that seem strange?
VENIEN:
Not really, people like shit thats raw! Its intense things that drive us over the edge and this stuff tends to do that for a lot of people from what they tell me, so not really, I feel comfortable
DECIBEL:
Did you work with Blake Judd from Nachtmystium on the new album? How did that come about?
VENIEN:
The only thing that dude did was hook me up with his crazy ass drummer Charlie and that was all he did in terms of VON. I ran out to Chicago and hired Carlie to knock out drums for Satanic Blood and Dark Gods: Seven Billion Slaves, that was it. Charlie is fucking intense drummer, but no I never fucked with Nacht or Blake never will
DECIBEL:
Can you tell us about the song we are premiering?
VENIEN:
Stains of Jesus are everywhere and this reflects that so well. This is not a religious thing, this is for those that push it on to others. For me, I dictate my own way. This is an old one from the incubation period of VON and it's called Jesus Stain.
DECIBEL:
Will you play live in conjunction with the new album?
VENIEN:
Ritual of The Black Mass is where I will be presenting the material from this album (Satanic Blood), the Dark Gods Trilogy of albums, and my solo album Black Coming of VENIEN. Myself and Chris at Hate War are putting this thing together over at the Black Castle in South Central LA Nov 9th. Also in talks with a show in NY and any where else that will bleed pure rage!
DECIBEL:
When is the new album coming out? What can people expect?
VENIEN:
Oct 31st. Expect an un-relentless rage and primal pounding from front to back, simple as that Decibel
VON - Blood, Satan and Being Unconsciously Black Metal (Pt.2) Uncut
*Pt.2 online interview taken from decibelmagazine.com
Even though VON have been kicking around since ’87, are pretty much responsible for Watain’s existence (their name, at least), they only managed to get their shit together and release debut LP, Satanic Blood, in October of last year.
There are mitigating circumstances and all, what with the band splitting and going into what appeared to be an indefinite hiatus between 1992 and 2010. But still, 25 years is long time. Before Satanic Blood‘s release, VON’s recorded output was available only on lo-fi demos and bootlegs; enough for the band’s name to grow in legend but more a half-realized vision than something that is fully representative of what VON are/were all about. As Satanic Blood was about to be released, finally, officially, we caught up with the Jason “VENIEN” Ventura, to find out what’s changed behind the scenes in America’s first black metal band.
DECIBEL:
When you approached the release of Satanic Blood, did you want to rearrange it or did you want to keep the songs as they were?
VENIEN:
“All the material that everybody knows of as far as VON is concerned, from 1987 ‘til now, was all recorded as demos or as works-in-progress, cassette tapes and whatnot, and now at this point I re-recorded all the old material that was never recorded properly. All the tones and all the set-up, as far as what the songs sound like, was all from the original material; there were really no new arrangements or anything that changes the material from when VON started. Everything that you heard on the Satanic Blood album is from all the works from the incubation period, the first years of VON, and all the stuff you know of was demo material; those were not proper albums, so now you’ve got proper recordings of all that material as a proper album.”
DECIBEL:
How has VON changed for you as a creative outlet—does the material still have the same emotional pay-off for you as it did when you were a kid?
VENIEN:
“When I started VON in ’87, there was a lot of energy, a lot of life injected into the music, rage, just pure aggression; I’ve never changed, I still have all that. I’m 41 years old. I still have all the original stuff inside me, all the dark aspects of it, feelings and belief, and it’s all reflected in the new album, the final album … It’s all still there; nothing’s really changed as far as I am concerned.”
DECIBEL:
What were you listening to at the time?
VENIEN:
“The majority of the things I had been listening to were in the punk rock realm of music. I listened to all the standards of thrash, speed and death metal as well, and just rock-and-roll, classic ‘60s stuff, from Sabbath to Venom, Led Zeppelin, anything that I felt comfortable with. I listened to a lot of Sodom and Kreator, just a lot of punk rock like Septic Death, D.R.I. and Black Flag. A lot of that got reflected in our music. As far as what we set out to do, it was just an amalgam of things that we were accustomed to that we were influencing us.”
DECIBEL:
How has your attitude to the Satanic aesthetic and ethos changed since ’87?
VENIEN:
“I’ve learned many things since then. But as a child, in the world around me, being raised with all these aspects around you, you tend to focus on that and sometimes towards the negative or dark aspects of that. Still, I respect it, I understand it, but the place I am at this point is on a different plane, a different world. It’s all part of me still to this day, but as far as the Occult or the Satanism of it, that was part of the album, definitely, as the new albums come and you see the stories behind them and the things that drive them, the lyrics to the bigger picture, you’ll understand a clearer picture as to where I’m at and what I believe in and what I feel is important to us as a species, to us as human beings and what it is all about.”
DECIBEL:
Where are you at spiritually?
VENIEN:
“I’m a free thinker … and as far as how people interpret that that’s totally up to them, but I am not a slave to anybody. That’s sorta where I am at spiritually. Physically, as a human being, I respect everybody’s viewpoints: That’s where they are in time and I respect that. As far as I am concerned, personally, I am in a different world. I’m free.”
DECIBEL:
Isn’t that freedom all a part of the Satanic belief system?
VENIEN:
“I could say this—let me say this, I don’t shy away from what that album is about or what I believed in at the time, I respect that, it’s always going to be a part of me, it’s always going to be in us, but as far as my understanding of it at this point goes, I have totally have ascended from that level. I have totally gone to another place. But in its form at the time, it was what it was. Now, I look back at it, I see it in a different light, if that makes any sense.”
DECIBEL:
What do you make of the current black metal scene?
VENIEN:
“I really don’t have the right to comment on what the other bands are doing in the black metal scene. I don’t feel like I have the right to say anything about that. But I do, however, have the bands that I do like. I do have bands that I feel are unnecessary. There are bands in scenes, all kinds of scenes, who are not necessary—that’s my own personal viewpoint and people shouldn’t necessarily take it as gospel, what I think. I think people should think for themselves, and understand what makes them feel good at the time, what they want to listen to, but as far as any scene or categories, genres or whatnot, and the many sub-genres that I am learning from the younger members in my band, it’s just really daunting. It’s just the focus of people who want to categorize music—and that’s fine—but I just recently, in the past 10 or 15 years, learned what black metal was—I didn’t even know what black metal was. I didn’t really know that we were black metal, and I didn’t really know there was a thing called black metal when I was playing in the ‘80s, so this is something that is obviously bigger than myself, VON is something that is bigger than me. It is a monster that has been created by me, but it has grown to a level that has surpassed us as people in the band, the creators of the band, and that is all down to the people out there, the culture out there has taken VON to a new level. I am humbled by it. I appreciate it, and I respect it. I definitely do respect the whole black metal tags that they put on VON.”
DECIBEL:
Some people could argue that the black metal scene lacks a bit of danger and personality these days.
VENIEN:
“As far as the lack of this or the lack of that, with regards to the current performers and bands in the black metal genre, it’s not to sugar-coat it or anything it’s just that I just don’t know. I’ve heard bands, I’ve seen things, but I have been so disconnected with it. And even in the years since I started Von Records in 2006, I’ve just been so focused on my own material. I have about 70 songs that either mixed or mastered, or on their way to being finished. I have quite a lot of material of my own that I am so focused on and trying to stay focused on without being distracted by what’s going on around me—I know that sounds a little arrogant but I am just staying focused on what I am trying to do because there is a lot I can accomplish.”
DECIBEL:
Does it feel like a monkey off your back to finally release the Satanic Blood material on an official release?
VENIEN:
“That is something that I’ve wanted to finish for years, to finish what I started.
DECIBEL:
What about all-new material? What can you tell us about the Dark Gods album?
VENIEN:
“I started loosely going through demos and archiving material and songs through the years since 1987. I’ve had to break the Dark Gods album into three parts. The first Dark Gods album is called Seven Billion Slaves, that’ll be the first album out. That’s already mastered and ready to go. The second Dark Gods album is called Birth of The Architects, that’s being mastered as we speak [late October], and that will be ready for release in July of next year; the last one is called Ancient Blood and that will be out December next year. Between all that, I have a 24-track solo album of just me, tracks that I’ve felt were more personal, more to the persona of who I am in the band—those tracks are more personal, [the] more psychological aspects of my story.”
(Source: Decibal Magazine Issue #100 Feb 2013 & decibelmagazine.com Pt.1 & Pt.2 )