LARISSA STUPAR VENOM PRISON
Venom Prison’s screamer-in-chief on quitting drink and drugs, run-ins with Nazis and getting namechecked by Tom Hardy
What was it like growing up in Russia in the 90s?
“I had a really nice childhood. We lived in a very small place that was like a big village or
small town. People there had their own animals – chickens, cows, pigs, so we had that too, and also grew our own veg. We had cats and dogs too, so I spent lots of my time caring for the animals and being friends with them.”
Did looking after those animals prompt you to become a vegetarian? “It’s kind of weird; I never considered vegetarianism [then] even though I had friends who were. But then I had a cat who ran away when I was 14 and that cat was my best friend, so I said to myself, ‘I’m not going to eat meat until my cat comes back.’ After a while I started thinking, ‘There are places in the world that eat cats’, so made the connection that there’s no difference between a pet and any other kind of animal.”
When did you go straight-edge?
“I went to a straight-edge gig when I was 16 and that was a major turning point for me. I’d started drinking when I was 13 and I’d drink almost every weekend without my parents knowing. At some point I realised I couldn’t handle it – I’d wake up and not remember a single thing that had happened all weekend. After that the thought of drinking made me feel sick, so I gave it – and all other drugs – up.”
How did you first become immersed with the music scene?
“We moved to Germany when I was 10 and at first we lived in this kind of refugee camp for Russians that were coming to the country. There was another girl there who became my best friend. We got into heavy music together and later started going to shows when I was around 13. A lot of the people we met were involved in left-wing politics so we also started participating in protests. At that point, there was a really big problem in Germany with neo-nazis and right-wing culture, so there was a lot of work to do!”
Did you ever get into any trouble? “Mostly when I was in my 20s, to be honest. Getting into fights and being arrested, being stopped by the police, that kind of thing. The scariest time was at a protest in Dresden – each year they’d put on this big march, the biggest neo-nazi/right-wing rally in Europe, so we’d go to stop them. One year it was snowing and super-cold, we got surrounded by riot cops who then chased after us. It felt like being chased by actual stormtroopers.”
How do you unwind when you’re not writing/recording/touring?
“At the moment I’m watching The Sopranos because I’ve never actually seen it and I needed something really cool to get into. I’ve watched three seasons in a couple of weeks, so it’s going well! I really love playing videogames on my Nintendo Switch, too. I’m not really a fan of shooters or anything – I just like fun games like Pokémon and Ni No Kuni, and Mario Golf too.”
What was the last game you were obsessed with?
“It was a mobile game, of all things! We were in the studio and my Switch had died and I’d not brought a charger, so I decided to download one onto my mobile. It was a puzzle game a bit like Candy Crush and in the end I couldn’t go 30 minutes without playing, so at some point I just had to delete the app.”
Venom: Let There Be Carnage director Andy Serkis and star Tom Hardy recently played ‘Symbiote or Death Metal Band’ for IGN, and Venom Prison’s name came up. How weird was that?
“Not overly weird to be honest. How many other modern death metal bands our size are there these days? If they want to use a song off our new record that is coming out in the future, don’t hesitate to ask.”
Have you DM’D either of them to see if they’d like to come to a gig?
“Nah, would be weird, don’t really know the guy, but heard Tom Hardy was in Barry [Island] recently going ham on the log flume ride, so we did a shout out. If he’s about in the future and wants some chips down Barry, just drop me a message.”
THE NEW VENOM PRISON ALBUM IS DUE IN EARLY 2022
“IT FELT LIKE BEING CHASED BY ACTUAL STORMTROOPERS”