First of all – Happy New 2012 everyone, hope you had a great start of this new and exciting year in Rock! :-)

On New Year’s Eve, there was an announcement on Blabbermouth that former Savatage-guitarist Chris Caffery was joining Jon Oliva on stage in Europe later this year – read more HERE.

That made a lot of Oliva-fans happy. :-)

It’s not the first time after the “breakup” of Savatage that Chris and Jon have shared the stage though. The last time I saw it was in Belgium, the indoor-festival Pestpop back in October 2007 when I joined Oliva & co on their European tour. Caffery and Zak Stevens (ex-Savatage vocalist) were both at Pestpop festival playing their own sets (Zak with Circle II Circle and Chris doing his solo thing).  

Chris and Jon have played together after that in FL, but as far as I know this was the last time they shared the stage in Europe. Correct me if I’m wrong. :)

Sorry about the sound in the beginning of this video – I think I was standing a little bit too close to the stage monitors…It gets better a few minutes into the song though.

There is an unmistakeble comradery still when these guys get together. I was sitting in the dressing room after the show that night in Wieze, Belgium, when Zak and Chris came by to say hi to Jon. Lots of laughs and hugs, I just sat there quietly, smiling to myself. You just don’t see that kind of affection in bands anymore, there’s definitely something special about Oliva. :-)

2012 will be an interesting year for Savatage-fans, I’m sure. So…. In the name of that – I dug up an interview I did with Chris Caffery at Sweden Rock Festival back in 2009 – another one of those recordings that I never used for anything, so this is the first time anyone will get to hear it. 

He was visiting the festival with Ripper Owens that year, and his solo-album House of Insanity, had just been released . The interview was supposed to be about that, but ended up being a lot about his feelings for Savatage.

He stated that he would gladly play in a garage for no money, if he got a chance to play with his friends (Savatage) again, because the band was his life. He was doing solo albums simply because “his band” wasn’t playing and he had to do something. It’s as if he was waiting for Savatage to wrap it up at some point, because as Oliva himself stated in an interview I did with him that same year, Savatage never officially split up. It’s been on hold for many years. And in the interview with Chris, you will hear him talk about how he feels about that:

“The Savatage-thing needs some kind of closure….”

So, there’s no question that Savatage really is what’s closest to Chris’ heart, so what you’ll get to see on stage this summer will certainly be sincere. 

You can listen to the whole interview here. My apologies for the bad sound, it was a very windy day and we were standing in the backstage bar at Sweden Rock Festival, with all the noise coming from everywhere. It’s a miracle that anything was recorded at all. :-)

I truly enjoyed talking to Chris, he’s cool guy.

1,52 – The reason for me doing this is because my band is not playing. If Savatage was playing, I would not be doing solo records…

2,23 My band, my life, my whole soul, is with Savatage.

7,25  Even if the band played in this TENT for five minutes, I don’t care what the circumstances are, I don’t care what the reason is, or the money… I just wanna play with my friends, play that music again. I really miss it.

8,00 Jon Oliva is one of the best songwriters that Ive ever seen, he’s a genious. 

8,10 – The Savatage thing nees to get some kind of closure.

 

[Savatage from back in the day – one of my favorite songs, and one of the craziest drummers! Check this out!]