Conrad Lant

Cronos
Cronos performing with Venom in 2013
Background information
Birth name Conrad Thomas Lant
Also known as Cronos
Born (1963-01-15) 15 January 1963 Kensington, London
Origin London, Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Genres
Occupation(s) Musician, bassist, songwriter, guitarist
Instruments
Years active 1979–present
Associated acts
Website http://www.venomslegions.com

Conrad Thomas Lant (born 15 January 1963),[1] also known by the stage name of Cronos, is an English musician and comedian. He is the vocalist and bass player and occasional guitarist of the influential thrash metal and black metal band Venom, from 1979 to 1989 and from 1994 to present.

Biography

Early life

After playing in a couple of high school bands; Dwarfstar and Album Graecum, Conrad Lant took the stage name Cronos and joined Guillotine as a guitarist in 1978, where he met Jeffrey Dunn (with the stage name Mantas). In 1980, the original bass player left one week before a gig. Instead of not playing the venue, Cronos took up the bass and they changed the band name to Venom. He continued to play the bass throughout his career in Venom. In 1981, the band's vocalist, Clive Archer, left, leaving Cronos to take over this role too.

Cronos was working in a recording studio after he left school, and as the members of Venom could not afford the studio time fees, Cronos was able to talk the studio engineer into letting him have some free time in exchange for staying back late after work and carrying out other unpaid work. Cronos sent many copies of the Venom demos to various record labels and also the rock press, where a journalist for the 'Sounds' magazine [Jeff Barton] featured 3 Venom songs in his playlist, which got the attention of the label 'Neat Records', who then agreed to release the first Venom single. 'In League With Satan' c/w Live Like An Angel (Die Like A Devil).

Solo career

Cronos left the band in 1988 to pursue a solo career and occasionally featured in many other bands of a similar genre, including Cronos, Enthroned, Cradle of Filth (Cronos contributed a monologue to the end of the Cradle track "Haunted Shores," from their 1996 album Dusk... and Her Embrace), Warpath, Massacre and Necrodeath. He also produced some of the albums for other bands.

Venom continued without Cronos. Bringing in Tony "Demolition Man" Dolan (former Atomkraft) on bass and vocals, Venom released one of their most critically praised and admired albums, Prime Evil. Two more, well regarded, albums followed, but the band eventually called it a day, with the various members pursuing other interests. Mantas, Abaddon and Cronos reformed the original Venom line-up in 1995 and headlined the Dynamo Festival in 1996 to 90,000 fans. Venom tried to continue with the original line up members but only managed to play one show per year for the next few years. They had signed a 3 album deal with CBH/Steamhammer in Germany, but when they took the option for the second album after 'Cast In Stone', certain members didn't want to continue. Abaddon quit before the recording of the next album (Resurrection) leaving Mantas and Cronos the job of finding a drummer (Antton). After this next release they still only managed 2 shows, [Wacken and Holland]. Venom then dissolved. Cronos enlisted his 'Cronos band' guitarist 'Mykas' and in 2004 set about rebuilding the bands reputation with the album 'Metal Black' in 2006, and a sold out UK tour in the UK and 4 headline shows at major European festivals. In 2007 Cronos replaced the guitarist with 'Rage, releasing the album 'Hell' in 2008 and again touring to sell out shows. By 2009 'Dante' joined the band, and starting with a full South American tour, Venom continue to headline many various festivals each year. 2016 Current line up: Cronos, Rage and Dante, with 2 albums 'Fallen Angels' and 'From The Very Depths'.

Later activity

In 2000, the band went on to headline the Wacken Open Air Festival in Germany and play a one-off show in the Netherlands before they were forced to take a break after Cronos was injured after falling off a ladder in 2002, which left him unable to play bass or sing for nearly 2 years.[2] He took to the computer to pass the time and studied computing and games programming, he learned 3D software skills and worked as the main multimedia engineer for the computer and internet solutions companies K-Class Systems and Globalfibre.tv, where along with company owner Scott Toward, they created the first computer models for streaming media for the internet, as well as programming and building gaming maps and developing internet access via satellites.

Cronos again reformed Venom in around 2003, temporarily recruiting an unknown basic nu-metal drummer and guitarist, as he just needed a couple of average players to help him kick start the band while he looked for professional permanent musicians. Cronos had asked guitarist Mantas to rejoin the band, although he declined his offer releasing a statement on Blabbermouth saying he would never rejoin Venom as he was working in a new direction with his new band 'Zero Tolerance' and was in the process of recording an album. After Cronos spent the next couple of years of planning and intensive rehearsals, Venom released their album Metal Black in early 2006 on the Sanctuary Group label Castle Music, and they embarked on a sold out world tour. Venom played the classic single "Die Hard" along with Phil Anselmo (Pantera, Down) in the Gods of Metal 2006 in Italy, where they headlined. Cronos appeared on Dave Grohl's heavy metal side project Probot in 2004, and guest starred on the track Knights of the 21st Century on HammerFall's 2005 album Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken.[3]

Equipment

Bass guitars

  • Bulldozer Bass (Aria Pro with custom Trem Bar/w\Custom Neck)
  • Aria Pro II SB1000 (Matte Black with Natural Stripe/w\Custom Neck)
  • Aria Pro II SB1000 (Red with Natural Stripe/w\Custom Neck)
  • Ibanez Destroyer Bass (Red Finish - left in USA after 1985 tour)
  • Gibson EB-3 Bass (Originally owned by Andy Fraser of band 'Free')
  • Ibanez Bass (Black Finish/w\Custom Neck - Cronos band USA 1988 to 1992)
  • Fender Jazz Bass (Black Finish/with LED Lights/w\Custom Neck)
  • Fender Jazz Bass (Red Finish - made fully fretless in 2010)
  • Fernandes 4 String Tremor Bass (Black Finish/w\Custom Neck)
  • Fernandes 4 String Tremor Bass (Burgandy Finish/w\Custom Neck) x 2
  • The Behemoth (custom made by 'Bass Professor' with thick piano strings)

Cronos also owns both Aria and Ibanez acoustic basses. He had two other basses which are seen on the DVD which comes with the deluxe version of Black Metal. These basses have been destroyed.

Cronos owns various 6 string guitars also which he plays to compose his songs with.

Amplifiers

  • Acoustic 220 and 230 Bass Amplifiers
  • Acoustic B1000HD 1000W Bass Amplifiers
  • Peavey 500w Bass Amplifiers
  • Carlsboro Bass Amplifiers
  • Marshall Bass Amplifiers (also will play the JCM 800 & 900 series)
  • H&H 600w Power Amplifiers x 2

Discography

with Venom

with Cronos

  • Dancing in the Fire (1990)
  • Rock n' Roll Disease (1991)
  • Venom (1995)
  • Hell to the Unknown (2006) - Anthology release

other appearances

References

  1. ↑ "Interview with Venom". Karsmakers.nl. Retrieved 2014-07-29.
  2. ↑ "Blabbermouth.net". Roadrun.com. 17 April 2013. Archived from the original on 18 January 2006. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  3. ↑ "Lords of Metal interview with Cronos of Venom by Ramon van H". Lords of Metal. Retrieved 2013-10-11.
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