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Feature Artist SAVATAGE

By Mary Ellen Gustafson

Artist:	SAVATAGE
Title:	"The Wake of Magellan"
Label:	Atlantic
Rating:	+

With their 9th release on Atlantic Records (the 14th in their epic 16 year career), "Savatage" has once again proven that a hard rock/metal edge band can create something new and exciting with each album they release, and is firmly at the forefront of the symphonic/progressive hard rock genre. "The Wake of Magellan" has been described as the band's most profound, adventurous and inspired work to date. "Many people compare this album to Queen at their creative high," raves the German magazine, "Hammer," while "Metal Edge" proclaims "TWOM" has "a sound so dynamic, it's without rival in today's musical spectrum." In a "rock opera" format, the album meshes the true stories of the Maersk Dubai, a Taiwanese freighter whose captain ordered three stowaways thrown overboard during a voyage (reported in a Nova Scotia, Canada newspaper), and Irish reporter Veronica Guerin, who was killed while fighting the growth of the drug trade in her country (reported in a Dublin, Ireland paper). A fictional character, Hector Del-Fuego Magellan (descendent of explorer Ferdinand Magellan - so he says), is used to relate the stories, as well as his own. An old Spanish sailor, Hector is sad because of recent events in his life, and decides to end it by sailing his boat into the open sea and waiting for it to sink. This is where the story begins. The album opens with "The Ocean," a brief song of waves lapping the shore, followed by a haunting instrumental, and the words in the liner notes that accompany it - "When the night will gather darkness/ And black clouds unadorned/ Only poets, dreams and madmen/ Will sail out into the storm." This segues into the upbeat sound of "Welcome," with it's rather dark lyrics, that briefly allude to the stories in the newspaper, then move on to "Ghosts and lost explorers/ Fate with all her daughters/ Saints and hopeless sinners/ Wise men in their winters/ Know/ Welcome to the Show. . ." - a fitting opening indeed, to both the album and their live show. Very reminiscent of "Tommy" by the "Who." This is also the first time in a VERY long time that I've listened to a band where more than one or two members sing. In "Savatage," EVERYBODY sings! The harmonies are fantastic, and it's NOT a studio remix. It's the real thing! I have to pause here, and say that the story line is a combination of a poem in the liner notes, that falls between the poetic lyrics of the songs (all written by producer Paul O'Neill), as things happen to Hector. The whole thing is beautifully done, and I'd be quoting forever if I tried to show everything here. Suffice to say that as you listen to the album, read the story at the same time. It fills in the blanks, as well as being an epic poem on its own. The story continues with the lonely old man standing on the beach contemplating death and the ocean, and the song "Turns To Me." This one is about an old lady, who was once a great beauty when she left their little town many years before to become a movie star. Now she stops at the small cafe for one glass of wine every day, "then walks away . . ." Others see her as gray and old, but for Hector it's another story. He's watched her for three years, but never quite gets the courage or right words to approach her, and lets her pass by. The song begins quietly, from the old lady's point-of-view, then breaks into hard rock as her story continues. Two-part harmonies enhance these sections of the song, along with some totally screamin' guitar solos. The use of pace changes, solo vocals accompanied by an acoustic sound that breaks into the full hard rock, and the clear harmonies, make this an outstanding song on an album full of outstanding songs. Hector lets the lady pass him by one more time and turns to the ocean ". . .saying it was never meant to be, and the ocean never said a word, though in truth she disagreed." The ocean listens as Hector tells her the story of his life and his plan to leave on his final, suicidal, voyage. The ocean disagrees and whispers sage words in his ear, and though he's not convinced, he agrees to wait. Meanwhile, further down the beach, a young man stands near a dock and feels his own time running out. "Morning Sun" is the young man's thoughts. This song also begins with a quiet, haunting, vocal that bursts into a loud chorus. A guitar driven instrumental bridge leads into the final verses and an instrumental ending. The young man is angry and curses fate. He can't believe there's nothing more than being stuck on that beach. "Another Way" is a heavy rocker with great instrumental bridges throughout. In this song, the young man asking why life has to be so hard, and why there isn't another way. The story continues before the next song, with the young man seeing the ship Maersk Dubai, and sneaking on board as one of four stowaways heading for America. Meanwhile, Hector is still conversing with the ocean, and walking down the beach, when he finds a young man he thinks is sleeping. The ocean tells him he's not, and brushes a wave against the young man's feet. Hector looks closer and sees he's dead, and all around him are little cellophane packages marked "Blackjack Guillotine." He asks the ocean what the packets are, and she answers they held heroin, "And it is certainly a sign that things have gotten out of hand, when one can purchase one's own death and choose it by the brand." The poetic cadence and words in this story are truly awe-inspiring I must say. "Blackjack Guillotine" starts with a very heavy, almost goth feel to it, that continues as it speeds up with the vocals. The underlying sound in this song, about what heroin does to a person, creates an atmosphere of despair and death, as it describes falling into addiction and wanting to ". . . take it back . . . but I can't think of nothing I lack . . ." A wild guitar solo, over the heavy bass line at the end of the song, interprets the downward spiral to death. Hector asks the ocean how such a young man got caught in such a trap, and the ocean explains that a friend or kindly stranger gave him his first line free; that they'd never intended to hurt the boy, and were shocked by how far he went. It was on that very beach where he tried heroin the first time, and that is where he died. "If these words seem repetitious, and the subject beaten dead, the reason I still say it, is it still needs to be said," leads into "Paragons Of Innocence," the first single from the album, and certainly one of my favorites. The song starts off with almost a boogie woogie type beat that moves into progressive orchestral rock. Trading lead vocals between, I believe, Zak Stevens and Jon Oliva, adds emphasis to the verses about the people that stand aside and watch someone go down-hill on drugs, acting like "paragons of innocence." The chorus is indeed chilling. "Moments on the carousel/ Must admit we ride it well/ And the horses never tell/ All throughout the ride/ That no one leaves/ No one leaves/ No one leaves (pause, followed by and evil laugh)/ Alive." The word "alive" is spoken in an evil tone of voice, and the sound of the music itself has an evil cast to it - just like heroin addiction should! After the second chorus there's a fast spoken word/rap about knowing what you should and shouldn't do, the lies, and knowing that you " . . . gotta let it go." A long instrumental bridge follows the third chorus and fades out. Hector picks up a coat laying there and places it over body, saying a short prayer. The ocean pushes an old, water-logged wreath up to the dead boy's feet, with gold foil letters spelling out the name Veronica Guerin. The old sailor says to the ocean that it shouldn't have taken the flowers from another person's grave, but the ocean replies that the person they belonged to would have done the same. She explains the wreath was from the funeral of a woman who fought against rich men with money made from heroin and cocaine, and that's how she lost her life. "Complaint In The System (Veronica Guerin)" is her story, and how government officials look the other way, while even the children know where to find the drug dealers, who are everywhere. Veronica bucked the system and paid with her life. The use of a reverb mike to sound like a computer for the background chant of "Got a complaint in the system," again creates the atmosphere to support the song and the story it tells. The music, effects and vocals are so well done on this album, in portraying this rather complicated story, it still amazes me every time I listen to it. After everything he's seen that day, Hector makes up his mind to follow through with his plan to sail out into the ocean until his boat sinks and he drowns. A mother and child pass by him, and the child runs back to ask to see the hourglass, a family heirloom the sailor has been carrying with him since he left home. Instead he sees the old man crying and asks him why, but the mother returns and pulls the boy away. As they start to descend from the top of a dune, the boy sees the old man drop the hourglass, the top comes off and the sand flows out onto the beach. Then he sees Hector wade out to his boat and cut the rope instead of pulling up the anchor, sailing out into the night. Segue into "Underture (back on the Maersk Dubai)." This instrumental number is background for Miguel, the deckhand's, part of the (true) story, punctuated by the crash of thunder and roiling instrumentals that imitate an angry sea. Miguel can't fathom what he's seen - the captain throwing two stowaways overboard instead of putting them to work and turning them over to the proper authorities when they reach land - a seaman's tradition! He tries to pretend he doesn't know, but he can't forget the evil act. Later on that same trip a third stowaway is found and meets the same fate. He wonders what the boy felt when he hit the water and was left behind. Perhaps he could have done something. But he's just a lowly deckhand and can't stand up to the captain. "There is nothing closer to God on earth than a captain on the sea." What is done is done, so he pushes it from his mind and stares across the sea. The song ends on a crashing note. The title song, "The Wake of Magellan," is about the deckhand's jumbled thoughts on what he's witnessed. The music is a backdrop to the vocals, with an uneven beat during the verse. Harmonies accentuate the chorus, "I believe what the prophets said/ That the oceans hold their dead/ But at night when the waves are near/ They whisper/ And I hear." This is also the first song on the album that features the counter-point vocals that "Savatage" is famous for. If you're not familiar with counter-point, it's sort of like doing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," with each of the band members starting to sing at a different time, but they're also singing different lyrics and melodies - all at the same time! The effect is totally unbelievable - until you see them do it live and carry it off with a bang! There's also some great instrumental bridges in this song as well. The next morning, Miguel happens on a fourth stowaway not believing this could happen again. He hides the stowaway until they safely reach port, where the stowaway is set free and the captain sent to court. Things take an evil twist when Miguel is held as a refugee and the captain is freed on bail. While the company lawyers of the Maersk Dubai look for loopholes, Miguel sits and waits, in some small room, for justice to prevail. He wonders if the captain ever thinks about the stowaways he killed, and when the captain meets his judgment day, if God will take mercy on him. Miguel sometimes takes long walks, and like Hector, he talks to the ocean, looks across the night and dares the stars to grant a wish. "Anymore" portrays Miguel's thoughts. This is a gentle song with strong vocals and piano accompaniment until it reaches the chorus. The lyrics on this song are really beautiful, especially the chorus, which has more of a beat and instrumental accompaniment than the verses do, but ends on a quiet note. Miguel walks away, thinking about the third stowaway. Did he wash up on shore somewhere or sink into the cold depths of the ocean? But what really happened is an even stranger twist of fate that Miguel will never know - but you will as the story continues. "The Storm" is another instrumental, and the faint sound of thunder and rain accompany a brief piano solo that segues into a wailing guitar solo, heavy beat and crashes of thunder, that help you picture an angry, storm swirled ocean. The beat gets heavier as the song continues into some awesome guitar work, loud thunder and rain. With "The Hourglass" we're back with Hector, and the story of his suicidal sail out into the storm swept ocean. He let's the sail fill and lays on the deck to make the ship his coffin and the moment his wake. Turned by the wind of the storm, "From a journey to nowhere toward a soul on the ocean/ From the wake of Magellan to Magellan's wake." As Hector is giving up he hears a "whisper" and sees "there in the waves was a man . . ." Full band vocals in the middle of this song, along with the counter-point vocals, give it all the drama the story deserves. The beat and music themselves are fairly simple, but the use of vocals, and the lyrics, make it extremely powerful. As the song continues, Hector suddenly realizes he's wrong to try and take his life, and at the same time saves the third boy thrown overboard from the Maersk Dubai. Unbeknownst to Hector, the youngster he saw on the beach earlier returns and repairs the broken hourglass, leaving it behind when he's finished, while the old sailor, and the young man he's rescued, fight their way back to shore. This part of the song and the story is all sung in harmonies AND counter-point, and you have to listen to it closely to really appreciate it. After returning to shore, Hector sets his boat free - minus any passengers - and sees the hourglass much clearer, which someone has refilled by hand and left for him. The final lyrics of this song are so wonderful I have to quote them. "And somewhere that boat's now adrift on the ocean/ The mast at full sail and there's no one on board/ The hourglass no longer sits by the ocean/ Only his footprints all alone on the shore/ and soon they're no more." What a fitting end to a wonderful song - and story almost! A few pieces of unfinished business remain. The boy he saved talks him out of reporting the incident on the Maersk Dubai, but Hector puts him on another ship whose captain is a friend. After he watches the ship pull out to sea, he returns to the spot where he dropped the hourglass, picks it up, and heads to the cafe. It's nearly time for the old lady to arrive for her daily glass of wine - and this time he will talk to her. There are also three bonus tracks on the album. The first is "Somewhere In Time/Alone You Breathe." "Somewhere In Time" is from the "Streets - A Rock Opera" album, while "Alone You Breathe" has some lyrics that allude to the "Wake of Magellan" story. "Sleep" came from Jon and Zak swapping songs during sound check, and discovering several bootlegs had been made from these sessions. So, they decided to release several official versions. "Stay" was a song planned for "Streets - A Rock Opera." The voice would have been the character of Duke. All three of these tracks are rather quite compared to the turmoil of the "WOM" album, but they are acoustic versions and are just plain great music. This is probably the longest album review I've ever written, but it's also the first time I've reviewed a "rock opera." After experiencing this album myself, I couldn't think of any other way to write it up. The story is important to the songs, and the songs are important to the story. I didn't see any way to review one without the other. As you can see from my rating, this is the most outstanding album I've ever reviewed. There's something for just about everybody on this CD. A well thought out story, true events brought together by a fictional character, and music that immediately establishes the atmosphere of each part of the story at any particular time. Not to mention outstanding instrumentals, vocals and vocal effects that are just plain awesome - and not created in a studio, a band that knows how to mix the elements of a story with their music and, most of all, true kinship. There is no way a project like this one could happen without the cooperation of all parties involved. An outstanding effort from "Savatage," among several outstanding efforts, and an album not to be missed! NOTE: Retrospective to follow in a few days. Please check back. See "Savatage" Live Concert review in the "CONCERTS" section of AMZ.

INTERVIEW WITH JON OLIVA OF SAVATAGE 4/16/97 AMZ - First let me say that I was totally bowled over by "Wake of Magellan." JO - Well, thank you! AMZ - I even went out and bought all of the "Savatage" albums I could find. JO - Great! Now I can make that car payment! (laughs) AMZ - The story told in "Wake of Magellan" is most unusual. What made you think of combining the true stories of the stowaways and the murdered reporter and connect them to an old man intent on committing suicide? It's definitely not any ordinary situation, although the story in the liner notes is a beautiful tribute to both incidents. JO - That's a tough question, because Paul O'Neill, my partner, he handles most of the story and the lyrics. What happened was those news items just struck a note in his head and mine when we discussed it, and I think he's mainly using the Magellan descendant as a vehicle to tell the story. I think that's how he was handling that. The story just really deals with the value of life and how this guy is contemplating his life and these images, like those stories of the freighter that are told in the song "The Wake Of Magellan," and the Veronica Guerin story told in "Complaint In The System." It's kinda like as he's walking down the beach finding these things, and the newspaper washes ashore, and he's hearing voices from the ocean and stuff, and that basically makes him the vehicle to move through everything.

Jon Oliva and Paul O'Neill

AMZ - Well, the story, the small story in the front of the liner notes, is very complete, and it's a beautiful tribute to both the incidents. It all comes together really well. JO - Paul's amazing for doing that. I mean I wish I spent more time working with him on it, but it was becoming so intricate that we've basically been forced to have to separate the work load. I handle the orchestrations and the backup vocals and most of that, and I let him run with the story. We discussed the concept and everything together, but he's basically doing all the lyric work now, because I just don't have time. It's just so time consuming - what we're doing, and it would cost a fortune if we didn't do it this way. I mean it still cost a fortune . . . to be able to do a project like this in the amount of time that the label gives us, and with the amount of money involved . . . AMZ - How long did it take you to do this album? JO - Writing and recording - about 7 1/2 months. AMZ - Well gee, that's not long considering some of the other ones I've heard about. JO - Oh, but we've spent as much as a year. For the "Streets. . ." album we spent a year on it. In the studio. Actually it was 14 -16 months if you consider the writing as part of it. But we also spent $350,000 to make it. Getting budgets like that these days is very difficult, because a lot of the Rap stars are doing records for $50,000 since it's all computers. Trying to convince record companies to give you a quarter of a million dollars for a record when they know people can do them for $100,000 . . . AMZ - With as many albums as you've released, and the amazing talent of this band, why haven't we heard more about "Savatage" over the years? JO - Savatage was very popular in America in the late '80s and early '90s. Then my brother, one of the co-founding members, got killed in a car accident in 1993, and we kind of disappeared off the American scene for like 3 or 4 years. AMZ - I guess I just wondered how in the hell I missed Savatage, because I'm familiar with all the bands you've toured with, and I saw "Trans-Siberian Orchestra" on the "Rosie O'Donnell Show" in December. JO - Yeah, that was us! AMZ - Now I'm saying, "Oh, that's who that was!" - and I ran out and bought the "TSO" album the minute that show was over. JO - Really, you like that? AMZ - Oh, I love it! JO - We're working on a new (TSO) one right now. That's what I'm doing today actually. AMZ - In my opinion, the band has a very unique way of presenting each song. Lots of changes in pace, loud and soft vocals, great instrumental bridges, etc. Now you say you're the one that does most of the musical composition? JO- Mostly, yeah. I mean we help each other on everything, but I do the majority of it. Chris Caffrey and Al Pitrelli helped out on a few songs on this record, but basically Paul does the lyrics and I do the music. AMZ - This is something I would normally ask a book author, but since your albums are basically stories, where do you come up with the ideas for the story line? JO - Most of it comes from the news. Current events and things like that. At our writing studio we have 4 TVs going constantly on CNN and stuff like that. We're just aware of what's going on in the world. Sometimes, like the "Dead Winter Dead" story was based on the Sarajevo war, that was something we would watch on CNN and Paul and I decided "We gotta do a record about this." It was just a topic that would lend itself to be written, and with "WOM" it was those news clippings. It just blew us away. It's just totally blew us away. we were like "Wow!" AMZ - Hey, a band with a social conscience! JO - It's better than writing "oh I love you, squeeze me, let's go to bed" and all that stuff, or how pissed off everybody is, so we'd rather tell a story that seems to make more sense to us. AMZ - The other thing I like is that you can understand the lyrics when the band sings. JO - Absolutely! Paul makes sure of that. (laughs) AMZ - Do you find the "rock opera" format or "concept" albums work better for "Savatage" than just writing a bunch of un-related songs and putting out an album? JO - Absolutely - because it gives us our own face out there in the music world right now. No one's really doing what we're doing with the big backup vocals, the two lead singers, and stuff like that, and its given us our own little niche out there, in a business that's really hard to find your own little clique. We also really enjoy doing them. They're fun to do. They're challenging. There's no coppin' out. You can't cop out once you're in it. You gotta do it. It puts pressure on you to make it all work, but it's good because you get the most creativity that way, rather than coppin' out and just sayin' "ah, I'll write this song about some chick or something." You know what I mean? It's more challenging to the mind, and we definitely like to challenge ourselves. It keeps us feelin' fresh and it's not stale. We won't repeat ourselves. It's something different every year and I think it helps keep the band fresh. AMZ - Besides that, people don't forget "Tommy" that came out close to 30 years ago, and they don't forget Pink Floyd's "The Wall" or "Dark Side Of The Moon." Those albums have been selling for years and years. JO - See, that's what we want to do. Timeless music that's gonna be around in that same format. I mean our biggest influences were bands like that. The Who and the Beatles and stuff like that. We're hopefully trying to do something like that in a more contemporary format because it's gonna be the year 2000 soon. But we also don't want to get too far away from the roots of rock and get all computerized and stuff. AMZ - Well you don't. I'm a big guitar fan, and the guitar work on your albums is just outstanding. JO - We've got two of the best guitar players out right now, I think. AMZ - I would have to agree with you because I haven't heard guitar like this in I can't tell you how long. AMZ - With the "new" album rock radio stations that are popping up, do you expect to get more exposure for "Wake of Magellan" than previous releases? JO - I'm really not sure. The record's been out a couple weeks now, and we have picked up a lot of radio stations so far, more than we were expecting, but it's a little too early yet to tell. I'm hoping it does, because the song we picked as the single, "Paragons of Innocence" is getting a good reaction, so it's just a matter of if they play it and people hear it. I think it's going to do well. If I'm battling to get people to play it because they go "Savatage, wasn't that the band from the 80's?" because like I said, we've been out of touch here for a couple years now, so it's kinda like in America we have to establish ourselves again. We're huge every place else in the world. We're doing wonderful. But not here. AMZ - I'd like to go in a different direction for a minute. I know "Trans-Siberian Orchestra" was originally founded by Paul O'Neill, but how much involvement do the members of "Savatage" have in "TSO?" JO - Well actually Paul and Bob Kengle, another partner of ours, we're the "Trans- Siberian Orchestra." We came up with the name and the whole idea. Paul really discovered it, and the three of us together said "Look, we need another outlet, let's do this thing," and that's when we came up with the concept. The guys in the band are very much involved with it. Zak is the one that's only worked on the records with us. But there's a lot of other people besides the guys in "Savatage" who are involved in it. We use sixteen different violin players, cello players, flute players, etc. We have a small little orchestra and about ten different vocalists, so it's kinda like a big thing. The "Rosie" thing looked like it was just us (Savatage) because we had this small group of guys behind us, but even then we were like sixteen or seventeen people on the stage. "TSO" is basically the alter-ego of "Savatage" and is a way for Paul and I to get material out that doesn't fit in the "Savatage" format. Paul and I write a lot of different things, and we want to get them out. I just can't see doing a song like "The Angels Came Down" (Christmas Eve 1996 by "TSO") by "Savatage." AMZ - How come "Trans-Siberian Orchestra" was on TV one time and everybody in the world knows who they are, but "Savatage" isn't? JO - That record (TSO) went gold like a week after that show. We were like "YES!" AMZ - Well, with "Savatage" do you have any plans to be on TV? JO - "Savatage" is on TV a lot in Europe and Japan, and we did a "MTV Unplugged" in South America last month. In America it's really hard being six guys with long hair that are playing hard rock to get anyone interested in doing anything. With the "Trans-Siberian" thing, we only got to do that because the song was so huge (Christmas Eve - Sarajevo 1996) on the radio. Every station in the country, from religious stations to country stations were playing that song that month. They (the Rosie Show) just couldn't refuse it, and when it was offered it was because she heard the song and said "Yes, absolutely I want them to play." And we are going back on her show, but as "Trans-Siberian" again, in December, because we are working on a new Christmas record/Christmas story for next year. AMZ - Can we expect to see new "TSO" albums before the end of the year? JO - Yeah. One is Christmas, one is not. The other one is a story based on Beethoven, and it's called "Beethoven's Last Night." That will be the one after the Christmas one. AMZ - I also read about your personal involvement with "Dr. Butcher," but there wasn't enough information to really explain what that is. Can you tell me more about it? JO - It's another side thing I did with Chris Caffrey from the band. We did an album together about two or three years ago - just him and me. It's a real heavy, heavy, heavy record, and we just wanted to do one. We had an offer to do one, and we had some songs we wanted to put out, and it's a very angry record. It was done a few months after my brother passed away, so I was in a very bitter frame of mind at the time, and it's just a really violent record. I had to get the aggression out somehow. I think you can get it through Import. It was never released in America. It was done for a German label in Europe and it did very well there. That album is very dark. I wrote all the lyrics for that record and you can tell I was very pissed off. AMZ - Well, I can understand that. I read the story about what happened - your brother being killed by a drunk driver - and I couldn't believe it when I read the guy was on his 7th strike and only got five years in prison, ten years probation and 200 hours of community service. JO - That's our great old justice system here. He wasn't rich or anything (to get a lighter sentence and a good lawyer). The guy was an alcoholic. It's just unbelievable! AMZ - How is the production of "Romanavs" coming? That sounds like it could be a big hit, the way so many historical events have become huge successes as Broadway musicals. JO - That's in script re-write right now, and scheduled for 1999. We're involved with TASE Theatrical agency to get it on Broadway - that's the only way this one is headed. They're the people that did Les Mis. We're definitely looking to have it out on Broadway by the end of '99. We're really excited about the project. That's another thing Paul, myself and Bob are involved with. Did you see "Phantom of the Opera?" AMZ - I've seen "Phantom of the Opera" six times. JO - Okay. It's like that but a little bit heavier. The music style is kind of like in that, but a little bit heavier and a little bit more contemporary. Some of the singles, the ballads and stuff are a little bit more contemporary, but the orchestration is traditional. AMZ - Gee, maybe I'm talking to the new Andrew Lloyd Weber! JO - I hope so! I'd be a happy camper! (laughs) He is brilliant beyond what I can even conceive. The man is absolute perfection. AMZ - Back to "Savatage." I know you're recently back from a European tour and will be doing at least a short tour in the U.S. Do you know what the plans are for the tour yet? JO - We doing a short tour in the East, and then we're planning to be out West, but not until August or early September. AMZ - Are you performing "Wake of Magellan" as a "rock opera" on your tour? In other words, is this somewhat of a stage production as well as a concert? JO - There's a possibility that we'll be doing some selected performances of the whole thing in its entirety, and a lot of that right now depends on staging and the availability of venues we're gonna be booked in. You can only bring the whole show into certain places. I don't want to rip anybody off and stand there and play the stupid thing in it's whole if we can't do it right. So, in certain places in the States, in venues that are gonna be capable of handling the stage show, we may do some full length performances. AMZ - If you do "WOM" as a full stage production at certain venues, will you do the parts of the story in the liner notes that aren't sung by spoken word, or is it just the music? JO - Yeah, we'll have a narrator for those parts, and there'll be a lot of video projection - three screens and three different cameras. If I'm gonna do it, I definitely want to do it right. We'll probably do it in Dallas and Los Angeles. We'll probably do it in Vegas also. AMZ - Do you play any of your older music while on tour? JO - In our regular set, we do almost the whole "WOM" record. We only leave out like one or two songs off the record, but we scatter it about. Our show live that we'll be bringing across America is more like a history of the band show, where we do mostly all the title tracks from every album, and then a few of the other stronger things, and medleys of some stuff from "Streets" and stuff like that. In my opinion, "Streets (a Rock Opera)" is our best record. That was the one we spent the most time making, and for me, I think it's got the best music that I've done so far on any of them. AMZ - Since I've listened to most of your previous albums, I've heard a gradual change from a heavy metal style to a bit more mellow and polished sound that's more hard rock with a metal edge than straight metal. Is this the direction the band is headed in now? JO - Absolutely. We're experimenting a little bit now. We're having fun with it - doing a lot of counter-point things, where there are lots of different vocal pieces going on at the same time. And I'm still learning a lot with orchestrations and incorporating them with a hard rock sound. It's fascinating. We all sing (rather than using studio mixes). It's hard, but we cover all that stuff live. That singing, back-up singing - I don't know how we do it, but we do! It's all of our voices, so we're all doing the parts in the studio anyway and live we really belt it out. (NOTE: To experience the whole band singing counter-point, make sure you check out "Wake Of Magellan" and "The Hourglass" on the "Wake of Magellan" album. It's truly awesome - and he wasn't kidding about how they do it live either!) JO - When we started we were heavy metal, but we were also 18 yrs. old. After we did three albums like that, we were burnt out on it, we were like "Guys, let's try something else," because you just get tired of it. That's why bands don't stick around. Because they keep doing the same thing over and over and over until it just beats the songs out of you, and you just can't come up with anything any more. AMZ - In my own small way, I'd really like to see "Savatage" get more exposure and have more people out buying your albums. Do you have anything you'd like to tell our readers so they'll know more about the band and encourage them to experience "Savatage?" JO - I think the best thing I can say is "If you like hard rock, and you're looking for something out there today that's a little bit different than what you're used to hearing, I think you should definitely investigate our albums. If you're into stories and stuff like that it's custom made for you. After listening to the other stuff that's out, I really feel that we're doing something unique. Give us a shot because I think you'll like it." AMZ - I want to thank you for your time and I wish you luck with the new album and the tour. JO - Well, it's been really nice to talk to you, and I hope you can get to one of the shows so we can meet face-to-face. Surprise, Surprise! I happened to be back East when "Savatage" played in Cleveland, and I DID get to see their live concert and meet Jon Oliva face-to-face. Read about that incredible experience in the "CONCERTS" section of this issue of AMZ!

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