Savatage Interview: Chris Caffery and Al Pitrelli Discuss The Past, Present and Future of Savatage.

In the first half of an exclusive interview with Totalrock, Savatage’s legendary guitarists Chris Caffery and Al Pitrelli spoke to Kahmel Farahani before their London show.

Totalrock: So, it’s been a long time since you’ve been on the road. It’s almost a quarter century. How does it feel to be back on the road in Europe playing packed shows with Savatage?

Chris Caffery: The crazy thing is, to me, it doesn’t really even seem much like we left. I think it’s just the chemistry of this band and the way the fans are, that it’s been a long time, but it feels the same. So, that same energy, I think, but exploding a little bit more because of the, I think, the emotion amongst us and the fans for waiting that long. It’s making it like it was, but even more special. 

Al Pitrelli: I love it, dude. I mean, listen, we cut our teeth, you know, in clubs, scratching out a living, doing all that, working our way up the food chain. And then, obviously, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra exploded into one of the biggest things globally. Hey, you know, and so playing those big arenas is like a dream come true and it’s fantastic. But now to get back in it. Like the other night in Oberhausen, Germany, I think it was almost 4,000 people in that building. It was nuts.

From our vantage point, I think we had more fun than the folks in the audience. Because there’s that immediacy, you know, you get back in an arena, it’s a big production. It’s fantastic what we put together with TSO. But for this to kind of just take us back to where, you know, we all came from and to have, you know, people know that it’s that far away from you, and it must have been, I don’t know, 90 degrees in the place. Yeah, hot, sweaty, disgusting.  It was the best night ever.

And the energy, like Chris was saying… we really have not stopped playing. Maybe not under the banner of Savatage, but for the last 30 years, we haven’t been too far out of close proximity with each other, working real hard on what we need to work on. And then to do this at this level is fantastic. 

Chris Caffery: Yeah, when we first started doing these shows together with this line-up with Jon for Dead Winter Dead. We, at that point, had no idea what to expect. And we came into Germany, I think it was the first place we played. And we did these shows, and they were sold out. And we saw these crowds, and we saw their reactions. We all walked into the dressing room, and we just looked at each other and were like “Did that just happen?” Yeah, it was like, this is cool. That whole thing is there, you know, it’s there again, like I said. The fact that they say you never know what you have ’till it’s gone. But we always knew what we had. And now that it’s back, it’s like, yes, it was exactly like I remember, but even more special. 

Totalrock: That actually leads me right into the next question. It’s been however many years since the Dead Winter Dead album.

Al Pitrelli: 30 years yeah. That’s three marriages ago! (laughs).

Chris Caffery: I was only 10 when that came out! 

Totalrock: Looking at the heavy metal landscape as it stands right now; Helloween just released a new single yesterday. Alice Cooper’s got a new album out next month, and Savatage is back on the road. Do you feel a nice sense of deja-vu, like stepping back into what it was, but with people who weren’t even born to see it the first time?

Chris Caffery: I think for me, a big difference of it back then when you were younger, you tended to…. not necessarily take it for granted, but you took the moment like you were that age.  So we were partying and going out there. You never really think that it’s going to end. You don’t have that kind of feeling in your head.  When you go away from it and you come back, I think we all went into this saying we’re going to make sure that this is the best it can possibly be. And every minute that we’re doing it, I think we’re all appreciating knowing exactly what it is like not to have it. And we want to make sure that when we get out there, these people want to come back again. 

Al Pitrelli: And we approach it differently this time. You know, like Chris was saying, 30 years ago, we were 30 years old each respectively. And then, you know, fantastic.  You know, there was no cell phones. There’s no YouTube back then. There’s no proof!  You had to live in the moment, you know, like good old-fashioned rock stars. Having fun and tearing up and playing very well. I mean, we go back and listen to old soundboard tapes from back then, albeit on two-inch tape – fantastic.

But the training we all have been under, albeit outside-induced or self-induced, striving for a level of perfection because of what we do for a living in America year after year after year. We all approach rehearsal differently.  So it’s not like listening to the songs once or twice and go bam . What we did was pretty much deconstruct every song. And we spent, I’m going to say, give or take 250 hours practising, you know.  So it’s like getting ready for a boxing match, you know. Train hard, fight easy. In this case, it was the same thing. 

We took this set apart, these songs apart, like when we do a TSO show and put it back together meticulously. Now, are the folks in the audience going to know exactly why they love this? No. Or will they know why they don’t like it? No, that’s our job now. 

You know, as you’re getting older or as we’re getting older, that’s what we’re paying attention to. Okay, all these little subtleties and nuances that the average person will not really audibly know, but they’re just going to react to it because we did so much homework. And when you put in-ears on, you can’t hide. You know, there’s no hiding. You hear everything. Everything. And now everybody’s in there filming it. So it becomes global. I mean, we didn’t even, we were in Calais after the Oberhausen show, and that whole show was being streamed worldwide. 

It’s a responsibility too because we owe people in the audience that. If you’re paying, especially in the economic climate now, if you’re going to pay any amount of money, if you’re going to lay out in the hot sun, you know, for us to show up after 30 years, you don’t know what the hell we’re going to do. Well, we owe it to you to give you the best show humanly possible. And I think we’re a much better band individually and collectively right now because the songs are the most important thing. 

Serving the song, and Jon Oliva and Paul O’Neill’s legacy. I’ve read a couple of things where people have said, these songs mean so much to me or they helped me get through a crisis, time of need, whatever it may be. And God help us if we ever came out here and did like a half-assed version like a bunch of old fat dudes. Ain’t gonna happen. You know, we pride ourselves in presenting it visually and sonically as close to perfection as we can. Yet keep it a rock show. 

 Totalrock: I mean, it’s funny because I was born in 1993 ,and I was turned on to Savatage by a friend who’s actually going to be here tonight. Strange Wings and then Dead Winter Dead and all that stuff. So it’s really interesting to see how the legacy and the songs have travelled to the next generation. You must take a lot of pride in that.

Al Pitrelli: So much pride. 

Chris Caffery: Well, you look out there now, I was just down on the street (in front of the venue), and that line has a lot of parents and their kids. The kids are your age, and my age when I started playing in Savatage! And it’s kind of like you’re watching this go on, like you said, with the legacy and the power of that music. And I think for us, it’s really, it’s really important to make sure that we do justice to Jon and to Paul. And I want to personally have that music that they created be represented as good as it possibly can be. And that means a lot to all of us involved.

So I think the fans are seeing that right away. When they watch it… we saw it a lot when we were playing, we’d come in the middle of the year and people would be like, they hold up signs saying “concert of the year”.  To hear that these fans really feel, and really liked what they’ve seen so far, that we did something that was really special. And that means a lot to us.

Al Pitrelli: If we’re honest to ourselves, I mean, really, really honest to ourselves, we’ll know if we’re really good or if we’re short-changing ourselves first and foremost. And we worked really, really meticulously hard to get this thing up and running.  And I hope you enjoy tonight. I mean this could all be bullshit (laughs)

Totalrock: I’m sure it’ll be amazing. It’s funny because I’ve been watching the old videos, the new videos, and kind of everything I can. The most common reaction I’ve seen online, the thread that runs through it all, is people saying “I’m so glad they’re back“.

Al Pitrelli:  Last time I played with these guys was ’98… So I think they were out 2001. When was the last time?

Chris Caffery: The last time Savatage played London was 2001, which was with Judas Priest , I think was the last time… Yeah, I came here a couple of times since. I played with my solo band. Played with Metal Church. I played with Ripper Owens over here. So I can’t remember if we did London then…Well, I did Download Ripper Owens. And we came over here with  the Beethoven tour. That’s right. We played London in 2012 with TSO. 

Al Pitrelli: The thing with that is, and I’ll speak for Paul O’Neill, because he even made a speech during his introduction at that show how important it was for us to play London, because the bands that were most influential to him were all English prog bands.  Yes, ELP, Crimson, Pink Floyd. You know, I mean if you pay attention to the catalogue that he and Jon both wrote, in TSO and Savatage, you hear a lot of those influences. So it was always very important for him anytime we would show up here, which was only that one time. And now, unfortunately, he’s not with us. But to come back here, you know, and make sure that we pay tribute and respect to, you know, the people who influenced to get us to this point.

Totalrock: I was listening to Savatage songs like Morning Sun. When you say all those 70s bands influenced you, that’s the closest or the best I’ve heard of someone taking the Zeppelin influence.

Al Pitrelli: Authentically. 

Totalrock: Right! Not just a pastiche, which a lot of bands do. How do you carry those influences forward? Because you also you hear a lot of younger bands saying, oh, Savatage influenced us. What do you think about the way that Savatage has influenced other bands?

Al Pitrelli: Well,  I don’t want to sound like a Disney dad that I am, but it’s just the circle of life. Yeah. That’s how shit goes.  You know, I mean, we grew up with our heroes that we aspire to be like, you know, Jimmy Page. Whatever guitar players, heroes he have on drums, guitar, bass, whatever, you know, and they influenced us when we were kids. And then, you know, if we influenced another generation beneath us or a couple of generations later, well, that’s what we’re supposed to do, give a little bit back. Hopefully you do good work that people aspire to and go I want to try that.

So here’s how this really works. So Shawn McNair is one of our two keyboard players.  Kid was born in 99, right? So he’s 26 years old. Met him in, he lives in the same town that  my family lives.  And he came and wanted to take a guitar lesson one day, right? And he comes and he goes, I just want to let you know that you’re a huge influence on me. I loved your work, and my dad was the world’s biggest Savatage fan. I’m like nice, right on.  So we sit down playing guitar. He’s an amazing guitar player. He’s playing keyboards now, but on guitar – holy shit. Anyway, randomly three, four months after that, he sends me a video of him playing Gutter Ballet. On drums, bass, guitar, keyboards, and singing. Out of the blue. I was like dude look at you! And I  deleted it like I delete everything.

Last year, our manager said, you know, there’s a serious chance we can go over and tour, you know, South America and Europe and the UK in the summer. But we’re going to need at least one or two keyboard players. And I was like, aha. I got your man. So I told Shawn, send me the video again. And I just sent it to, I think, you know, Chris, and Jon and a couple other people. And they’re like, holy shit, this kid’s great.  So he grew up in a household. It was a household, if you will. Grew up listening to that music, was influenced by music, which he’s too young to be influenced by that, but yet he was because it’s quality music.

Loves the songs. I called him and went ” you want to audition for the band?”. And here he is playing in the band. He loves it. So here he is doing all the work, being influenced by a band, and now he’s playing in the band. You know, it’s a good story. That’s a circle of life. It really is.

 Because like Chris said, we don’t take anything for granted. When you face your own mortality and you get to that other side of the fence, every day is a blessing and a good day. 

 

Savatage’s upcoming shows:

• June 18 – Komplex 457, Zurich, Switzerland (Headline Show)

• June 19 – Tonhalle, Munich, Germany (Headline Show)

• June 22 – Graspop Metal Meeting, Dessel, Belgium (Festival Appearance)

• June 24 – Alcatraz, Milan, Italy (Headline Show)

• June 26 – Barcelona Rock Fest, Barcelona, Spain (Festival Appearance)

• June 28 – Rockwave Festival, Thessaloniki, Greece (Festival Appearance)

For more information on Savatage:

https://www.cmm-marketing.com/a85/savatage