Gary Smith remembers Criss Oliva

from an interview by Chris Leibundgut
RockHard US-correspondent

Gary, how did you and Savatage get together ?

Years ago, when I worked in a T-shirt shop in the Clearwater Mall, I met Steve Wacholz, who had seen some of my airbrush stuff that was on display. Pretty soon, Steve became a regular customer, and one time he mentioned, that he'd like to have me design an album cover some day. After that, nothing happened for two years, until our roads crossed again and the band gave me my first assignment. That was " Hall of the Mountain King "

What does your personal relationship to the Savatage guys look like ?

Steve Wacholz was a very good friend of mine. We even lived together for a while. One day he returned from a long tour and was looking for a new place to live, so I offered him to move into my two-room appartment for a while. That period turned out to be a whole year - until my deranged girlfriend started to make difficulties, haha. Oh well, I threw the lady out right after that and bought me a house upon the lakeside, and Steve also got himself a better place to live.

How do you remember the day that Criss died ?

Criss called me that night and wanted to know if I'd like to drive to the Livestock festival, that takes place in this neighbourhood each year, together with him and his wife Dawn. It was a dark and rainy day; Criss really didn't feel much like going there, but Dawn convinced him to go anyway, 'cause she was getting bored at home. I ended up not going, 'cause I just had to finish a portrait - I have never touched the thing again after that day.
The next morning, I got the call from Johnny's wife Michelle, who told me what had happened to Criss and Dawn that night.

Criss was a very good friend, the very night before the accident he and Dawn were at my place. In the end, the relationship between Criss and me was just like it had been between me and Steve in the past. I was a good friend of all of them, but Criss was something special. He'd like to come see me, and at night we'd walk along the shore of the lake and talk about all kinds of stuff - ideas for new songs, artwork and the future in general.

Gary Smith was interviewed by Chris Leibundgut
for the RockHard Legends Savatage special in l996.