The short European escapade of Forida-rockers Savatage consisted of a total of two performances in the Dutch city of Eindhoven, on the 13th and 15th of May at the Dynamo Festival. The German fans will have to maintain their patience until the fall, before they'll be able to enjoy the quartet live -- but by then they'll be bringing along a brand new album. In order to be able to give you folks a small preview, we invited singer Jon Oliva and drummer Steve Wacholz for some smalltalk.

The new LP, the successor of the brilliant album entitled "Hall Of The Mountain King", will be presented to us in AUgust and will probably be entitled "Temptation Revelation". The first listens leave behind the impression of another masterpiece, although "Hall Of The Mountain King" can hardly be surpassed...

"You can bet your ass it will be", Steve laughs. "Hall Of The Mountain King" was a good album, because we had major influence on the production and disturbing exterior factors had been eliminated as much as possible. With this new album we even went a little bit further, and have recorded several basic tracks without a producer. Paul O'Neill, who was already on board with "Mountain King" didn't step in until later, so this time we really had total freedom."

At the time of he interview Savatage was still mixing the album in and because of this had to cancel their already booked European tour except for the two gigs in Eindhoven.
"If we had played more than just these two shows, we would have completely dropped our production rhythm and that would definitely have had it effect on the album. So there was nothing left for us to do than to cancel all the other dates and potpone them till the fall. The new album is too important for us to afford half-baked stuff. With "Mountain King" we have re-established the major part of our credibility, and "Temptation Revelation" will have to enforce the break-through!"

The guys deserve it beyond any doubt. "City Beneath The Surface", the EP released in 1983 under the old band name "Avatar" ( in a limited edition of 1000 pieces, 45 of them in yellow vinyl, released by US-Indie Par Records and in the meantime an extremely rare collectors item ) already was an underground-metal milestone. Basically every Savatage release - except for the "Fight For The Rock" album , must be considered a true classic. Nevertheless, the band still remains an insider-tip.

"Unfortunately that's true", Jon admits, "Fight For The Rock" has thrown us backwards cosiderably, while at the time we were working with the wrong people who have tricked us into the production. "Hall Of The Mountain King" was kinda like a new start for us and has sold at least 300.000 times worldwide. That definitely isn't a bad number, if you realize, that just about everything we did turned out wrong until then. In the meantime we've got a strong management (John Goldwater/Crash Management) and a record company that moderately supports us, backs us up, so we can have confidence in them.
After the release of "Mountain King" we toured the States together with Dio and Megadeth for six months, and following the release of the new LP we hope to have a similar solid package. By then everybody should be aware of he fact that Savatage isn't an ephemeron and that they can no longer ignore us. Even the Scorpions had to release four or five records, before they were succesfull internationally".
"Temptaton Revelation", incase we should decide to use this title, will prove that we'll be around for at least another ten years! Each one of our records shows a certain development and sounds different than the one before -- as opposed to the releases of many other bands, that often sound completely alike.
Besides, our fans can rely upon the fact that they will this time get a real heavy album. Even "Fight For The Rock", our weakest LP, in my opinion was still heavy and fitted Savatage. Stilistically, the new album represents a combination of "Sirens" and "Mountain King", but sounds more accomplished and has a more modern sound."

Dynamo

1989

Let's get into detail. What can be said about the songs separately ?

"Most of the compositions were again written by Jon and Criss", Steve begins, "and they're writing better than ever. If for example I think of "When The Crowds Are Gone", a ballad, I get goose-bumps even telling about it!"
Ostentatiously he puts his arm in front of my face -- and indeed his skin resembles that of a christmas turkey. And because it's anything but cold today while sauna-like temperatures reign even in the shadow, the guy is obviousy telling me the truth...
"With this new album Jon And Criss have surpassed themselves. I simply cannot think of any better songwriters".

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear", Jon grins, "But this can hardly be of importance to you...Ehmm what was the question again?"

The songs, dear gentlemen, the songs...

"Exactly, the songs. "When The Crowds Are Gone" is, like Steve already said, a ballad, of which we're all extremely proud. Lyrically it's not about one of those damn love stories, but about a musician who's been dreaming of fame all his life, but at a certain point in life realizes that he became too old.
"Of Rage And War" is the political song of the album, we give our opinion of the contemporary army politics.
"Gutter Ballet" is a very progressive, almost crazy piece, that in our opinion could embody the HM of the future.
"Hounds", a rather interlaced song in its composition somewhat reminds of "I Believe" from the Sirens album and belongs to those typical Savatage compositions.
The 'dirty' song on the album is entitled "She's In Love" and is about a girl that has fallen in love with a certain part of the male anatomy...
"Metalhead" is a song about our fans, a hymn like for example "Legions".
Then, there's a short instrumental that offers the musical horror in an accomplished manner, and a piece that's approximately one and a half minutes long and consists of vocals and acoustic guitar only."

And not to be forgotten, a song entitled "Thorazine Shuffle". The lyrics are about a sedational drug, that's being used in mental institutions and influences the muscular movement of the human body. Even though the whole thing has been molded into a humorist form, the serious background is rather obvious. In the meantime it may be sufficiently known, Jon has been struggling with serious drug problems during the past year...

"That's a dark period in my life, that I have fortunately come through. During the past year I became more and more depressed, until I finally made a huge mistake and almost ruined my body with tremendous amounts of alcohol and coke. A rock musician's life unfortunately doesn't exist of only music, parties and sex -- I had to establish that in the most awkward way. I always used to think that you simply had to do the things that were fun and everything would turn out just fine. I simply couldn't imagine that rock'n'roll can also be a totally insensitive hard buisiness. In the past there have been a lot of people that have pulled us down financially speaking, and it's almost a miracle that it didn't break us up as a band.
I really appreciate it that my fellow bandmembers have stuck with me during my worst drug period, because mentally I had reached a point where I should have been declared irresponsible for my actions. That was also the reason why we had to cancel our European tour last year. I just couldn't go on like that; the only logical consequence was a treatment for my addictions, which I have actually undergone. Right now I'm feeling better than ever and don't need ay more drugs. Even if some people may be cynical; the business is a dangerous thing that can destroy you in notime. What's the use of beating about the bush? I was an idiot and had almost destroyed the band."

Firm language from a man, who obviously knows what he's talking about and who -- as opposed to many other musicians in the scene (Chris Holmes, Slash -- to name just a few first class examples) -- doesn't try to live up to the cliche image of the typical rocker by means of huge excesses.
So let's abandon the drug theme and turn to more joyful matters: Savatage will probably start their upcoming world tour in Europe. If all goes according to plan, the new album will hit the stores in august, before the band will finally be performing live again in Germany.

"We know, we have to re-conquer the lost territory in Europe. That's why we will be playing here for you first thing and after that we'll be touring throughout the States. We're really thrilled about coming to Germany -- we hope the fans are equally thrilled about seeing us again..."

I think you won't have to worry about that after "Hall Of The Mountain King !"

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