JEFF MANTAS

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General Info

Genre: Metal
Location Please select your region., Un
Profile Views: 50604
Last Login: 12/14/2010
Member Since 2/10/2007
Type of Label Major
Bio
Jeff Mantas, the founder of Black Metal legends Venom and the man responsible for most of the bands classic early material. Born and raised in Newcastle in the North East of England, music was to play a big part in his life from a very early age. 'There was always music in the house, my father was a drummer and he and my mother financed my very first guitar and amp . . . little did they know what they had started!' His first encounter with another musician was at a local Taekwondo club (at which Mantas holds 1st Degree Black Belt and also 1st Degree Black Belt Aikido and 3rd Degree Black Belt Freestyle Karate) in 1977 and this was to be the beginnings of a band which would eventually see him as the founder of Venom. His life was to change when he saw Judas Priest at Newcastle City Hall around 1978 on the Killing Machine Tour and discovered his all time hero and biggest influence, K.K. Downing. 'To me he was and still is the epitome of the Heavy Metal guitarist and was definitely my roll model and the person who determined my path in life . . . . HEAVY METAL!' Best known for his guitar work in Venom, arguably one of the most influential Metal bands of all time, the early part of his career saw him touring worldwide with acts supporting such as Metallica and Slayer. In 1986 due to internal conflicts within the band Mantas left and pursued a solo career recording a melodic rock album 'Winds of Change' . . . a radical departure from the style of Venom. During this time he and his band shot 2 promo videos, made MTV appearances and had the honour of recording a BBC Friday Rock Show session for Tommy Vance who championed the new project. In 1988 he returned to Venom with long time friend Tony Dolan who replaced the original Venom vocalist and recorded 3 albums and toured throughout this period. In 1995 after almost 3 years of talks the original Venom line up reformed and played their first show headlining the Waldrock Festival in Holland with Machine Head as support. This was to be the warm up show for the full blown reunion concert in 1996 at the Dynamo Festival in Eindhovan Holland, headlining in front of 89,000 fans. Other festivals were to follow including With Full Force, Metal Invader at the Olympic Stadium in Athens and the Milwaukee Metal Fest USA wtih Cradle of Filth as support. After the departure of the original drummer in 1999 Mantas recorded one more Venom album in Germany with new drummer Antton. This line up headlined the Wacken Festival in Germany then Mantas departed to record his second solo album 'Zero Tolerance'. The band, called simply 'MANTAS' played a series of shows including Holland, Germany, Earthshaker Festival, and Tokyo Japan. In 2005 Mantas received a phone call from his German mangement team . . . . he was asked to be touring guitarist for Techno stadium giants SCOOTER! This couldnt be any further from the world of METAL, but thats what they wanted . . . a METAL guitarist . . . and thats what they got! Always up for the challenge Mantas agreed and thoughout 2006 to 2007 he completed a very well received world tour which started in Germany and finished in Latvia via Mongolia! Mantas also has a love of Classic Rock and the Blues and this is evident on an as yet unreleased 10 song album recorded in 2007 with long time friend and vocalist from the early days of Venom Gordon Atkinson who incidently was the drum tech for Venom throughout the 80s. The project is called STAGGNATION. In 2008 he was touring guitarist for German Metalcore band Last One Dying. Now currently active with his own band DRYLL and reunited with former Venom band mates Antton and Tony Dolan in the new project PRIMEVIL, Mantas is never one to rest on past glories because as he so rightly states 'without evolution comes extinction'. Quiet and unassuming off stage there is definitely another side to Mantas as is proven by his on stage persona. Even though he has now moved on from Venom he is still the first to say that he is justifiably proud of what he created and the sucess that enjoyed and the impact it had on the world of Heavy Metal and indeed music in general. His place in musical history is secure as is evident by any Rock or Metal encyclopaedia so much so that he was asked to write the preface for the first edition of the Exteme Metal Handbook and was also interviewed for Metallica biography 'Justice For All' and the Cliff Burton biography 'To live is to die'. Mantas can also be seen in the Rockworld TV documentary 'Murder Music' talking about the beginnings and evolution of Black Metal, the music genre that he created with Venom. Venoms first album has now been inducted into Decibel Magazines hall of fame as a grounbreaking album. The March 2004 edition of Guitar World magazine placed Mantas at number 39 in the list of the 100 greatest metal guitarists of all time. He has now been honoured by inclusion into the book '100 Greatest Metal Guitarists' by Joel McIver. Mantas has a firm philosophy on life and that is . . . 'you only get one shot on this planet so live life to the full because at the end of it will you be saying, 'what if', I could have', I should have' . . . or will you be saying 'I did my absolute best and took every opportunity given to me!' Dont let it pass you by . . . . . . IF YOU ARE NOT IN IT, YOU CANT WIN IT! Not bad for a lad from Newcastle eh? . . . and its not over yet!
Members
MANTAS - Guitars ANTTON - Drums DEMOLITION MAN - Bass/Vocals
Influences
METAL, METAL AND MORE METAL!!!
Sounds Like
HEAVY FUCKING METAL!!!