Interview Jeff Plate

23 years after your last tour, you’re finally back ! So our first question is probably the same everybody must have asked you : why o why did it take so long ?

There are some questions we may never have answers for you know…

Is this one of them ?

Yes (laughs) ! No, but this question has lots of tentacles attached to it. The bottom line is that after Dead Winter Dead was released in 1995, the track Christmas Eve became a huge hit in America. At that point, Jon Oliva had been playing in Savatage trying to making it succeed… Savatage had always been successful but they had never got to that next tier. You know that Jon had stepped away from Savatage in 1992 and, with Paul O’ Neill, he began to write kind of theatrical Broadwayish type of music. When you listen to some tracks from Gutter Ballet and watch these videos, you could already hear Paul and Jon aiming towards this Trans-Siberian Orchestra thing. So, when this song became successful, it looked like all of their hard work was finally going to pay off. So this was the opportunity for them to make this project that Paul had got in the back of his mind for many years happen. And it happened. All of a sudden in America, they had this project, with gold records, hit songs… and Paul wanted to put on a great show, something really spectacular. So their focus became centered more on that than on Savatage. And you can’t fault them for that. So they put all their efforts into making TSO succeed and it has succeeded beyond all expectations. So this is a big factor regarding why it took so long for Savatage to come back. And you know, Savatage has never been my band, I’m just a guest in the band even though I’ve been the drummer for a bit more than 30 years, I love the music, I love the people I work with but it’s not MY band. I would have love to have Savatage and TSO at the same time, Savatage travelling to Europe for a part of the year and TSO in the winter in America… but it wasn’t my choice to make. Anyway, eveything has finally worked out and we’re here now and we’re gonna make the best of it.

You briefly mentioned the frustration that Savatage, even though the band had some success, never became that big and we understand the appeal of focusing on Trans-Siberian Orchestra that became huge… but when you announced your return, the reactions all over the world were more than enthusiastic. How did this enthusiasm make you feel ?

It’s awesome ! Yesterday, we played the Into The Grave festival in the Netherlands and holy shit, the signing line, it was so long… they had to stop it. People are so excited about our being back and we are as well, believe me. When this whole idea came up a couple of years ago, Jon Oliva had done an interview and mentioned new music, the fans were so happy, they were ready. And I think it took a lot from Jon to do that. I’m so impressed, with all the health problems he’s had, that he still has the spirit to keep this going. And also, he’s not able to travel but he gave us his blessing and I’m so grateful for that. We’ve always known the fanbase was there and wanted to us to do this… there is something about this band… there’s a magic to this. I mean, when people came to us yesterday to have their stuff signed, they were so excited and moved. We played in South America in April, I saw some grown men crying. It’s really amazing how this music connects with people. The lineups have changed all over the years but the music has always been the same, the lyrics… and the reactions have always been the same. It’s taken a long time but we’re here now and the plan is to do this as well as we can.

Talking about plans, the initial plan when Jon Oliva started talking about this was to make one last album and one last tour… but it seems the plans have changed sinced then, right ? What are your plans now ?

So the idea is to come over here and play, reestablish the band… Jon has a lot of music that he’s been working on but he’s suffering from serious health issues. The man has trouble walking, he has trouble sitting for too long. Let’s just hope, he’ll soon get all this straightened out. I would love to go back to the studio and record new music but at the same time, we’ve already got so much music to choose from, we can never cover all of it, we can never make everybody happy. But we’ve decided to come over here with a minimal amount of shows, just to test the waters… we knew people would be excited but we’re seeing just how excited now. So I think it’s going to roll the ball for us. We’ll just keep our fingers crossed.

Talking about new music and new tours, this is the first time you’re going to have to work without producer Paul O’Neill who had been working with the band since 1987 and played a huge role in the band but sadly passed away in 2017. How do you approach your coming back without him ?

Yes, this affects Savatage as well as TSO. But we’ve all worked with Paul for a very long time. So, everytime there’s a decision to be made, that’s the first question we ask ourselves : « How would Paul do this ? ». We know what sounds he likes, we know how he likes to deliver things, we’ve worked so much with him that I’m quite confident that between the group of us, we should be able to produce a very good record. When we get in there and start doing, we’re gonna find out. The main thing is that Savatage is Jon Oliva. Jon writes music that sounds like nobody else’s… it is Jon Oliva, it is Savatage, that’s where it starts. There’s a strong identity here… That, with the input from everybody who’s worked for a long time in this band and the fact that we’ve had a lot experience with Paul before he passed make me have no doubt we’ll know how to release a very good Savatage record. We trust the chemistry between us… we’ve done a a lot of shows together, not just with Savatage but also with Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Al Pitrelli has taken on the role of musical director as he has with TSO. He’s so musically educated, so smart and open-minded… and he was also next to Paul all the time you know. We’ve got a lot of trust within each other and there’s no denying that when this group of people play, there’s really something special to it. Just this year, we were auditioning keyboard players for this tour, the five of us had not played as Savatage since… Wacken in 2015. But we got in the room and started playing together and went « Yeah, there it is ! It sounds like us ! ». So, we’ve got this to help us move forward and eventually, I’m sure something’s gonna happen as far as new music is concerned…

Have you had the chance, personnally, to hear some new music, new tunes written by Jon or not yet ?

Ideas. Some are almost finished songs. But we still have to get together to shape the songs and say « ok, this is what I might do differently… what about you, Chris, Al what do you think ? ». As much as Al is the musical director for this tour… along with Jon, you know, when we prepared for this tour, Jon was at every rehearsal, he was going over vocal parts, especially the keyboards so he has his hanbds all over this… but we don’t do anything without discussing it. Everybody’s opinion is welcome. That’s why we sound the way we do.

You were talking about the magic that happened when you were on stage. As a fan, I’ve seen that quite a few times in the 90s or early 2000s but I have to say, without any disrepect, that I’ve always been a bit frustrated that the rare live recordings you’ve released, as good as they are, have not exactly managed to convey that magic, especially the one we witnessed with the new line-up from 1995 on, with Chris and Al together, the choirs with four or five people singing the parts from Chance or Wake Of Magellan, etc. For years, we’ve been wondering, you must have tons of footage, recordings from that time… and you’ve been absent for so long. So do you have some live recordings that will see the light of day eventually ?

Let’s hope so ! Us being here right now was in doubt for some long time… It wasn’t until last year that we could finally say « Yes ! This is gonna happen ». Sure, there’s some footage, there are lots of recordings. I think the idea was just « let’s hold on to this in case we don’t play… and maybe release something in the future… ».

Well, you could actually do both… (laughs)

You know what, I don’t disagree with that but here again, these are decisions made by other people. For better or for worse, Paul was always very protective of this stuff. He imagined that a live version for Chance had to be played exactly like on the record and there times we couldn’t do it exactly like on the record… I think he was really kinda just waiting for the opportunity for the band to get to that level so that when we would play this stuff live, he would feel comfortable releasing it that way. But hey, there again, he had his reasons for doing things, along with Jon but… I don’t disagree with you. There is an energy when we play live. You look at Kiss, their frustration with their first three albums was like « it doesn’t sound like us live !! » so then they released Kiss Alive I, and I don’t care how it was recorded (laughs), it’s just one of the best live albums ever made, it represents the energy I’m talking about. You know what, eventually these things will come to light !

We’ve been waiting for so long, I think we can wait for another couple of years (laughs).

Yeah ! Ha ha…

Now that Savatage is back, I suppose that the band will be your priority in the near future but I was wondering if the different members of the band would keep on working on different projects on the side…

All of us have done things while Savatage was gone. I’ve done work with Zak on Machines Of Grace, I’ve got my own band, Alta Reign, and I’ve done two albums with them, Chris Caffery is always doing or releasing stuff, Al is always busy all year long with TSO, Johnny is doing local things, Zak has sung on other projects like Archon Angel… I can’t speak for the other guys but I will say this : Altar Reign was something I wanted to do for years, I wanted to write the music, write the lyrics, produce the record, I wanted to run the ship… and I’m proud of the two records we’ve made. But it is so hard to put a band together and tour. And it’s also hard to release an album… because once you’ve recorded it, it’s for free to everybody and there’s no way to get something back from it unless you really go on tour. So Alta Reign, for me, right now, is going to be a project for which we’re gonna keep recording music but more on a song-to-song basis. Yes, with Savatage and TSO, I’m plenty busy and more than happy. But yes, I’m going to stay active and keep creating music… and I’m sure the other guys will too.

Unfortunately, we’re running out of time. Thank you very much for your time, Jeff.

My pleasure. Thanks for your support… and enjoy the show tonight.