Speaking to Greece’s Rock Overdose, guitarist Chris Caffery discussed the ongoing talks of a possible Savatage reunion and his beginnings as a guitarist.
On the topic of when he started playing guitar, Caffery discussed his history and his biggest career regret: “I remember when I was about 17, I met the singer from the band "Heaven", Allan Fryer the Australian guy. Mitch Perry had left the band and I got into the band that happened to be produced by Paul O'Neill at that time. The next year I started working with Savatage and it was at the very beginning that Paul was telling me that this band is going to be huge! Paul always said that Savatage should have two guitar players, that was his push on, but Savatage didn't want to have two guitar players! So when I was first came in there was a big push on between Paul and management, me and the Oliva brothers got along really well, and it sounded really good so they decided to put the position of second guitarist which was made for me. It would never happened if I wasn't there!
“Maybe I should have stayed in the band and see what happens but I wanted to be with my brother, because he was feeling depressed of not working with him, and me being a young kid I decided to side with my brother.
“Nowadays you see people playing in 10 different bands and that's ok, but back then you just wanted to be in one band!
“However, me and my brother are so far musically that I realised soon that I've made a mistake! So, when Jon left Savatage and I started hanging out with him and it was then when Doctor Butcher came out and I returned into that big family! We were always working together and my main regret comes from the years that I missed working with Criss (Oliva) being alive! No matter how much I replace time, I can't replace time without him... to this day is something that really bothers me! Especially when I see Streets (Streets: A Rock Opera) cover and I'm not on, I regret my decision because I was there and I should be part of that, part of Savatage history. Of course, I'm a part of Savatage family but I look back to what may have been at that time...”
Caffery recently guested on That Metal Interview Podcast to discuss the new release from his side project, Spirits Of Fire. During the chat Caffery shared some Criss Oliva stories and discussed his beginnings with Paul O'Neill and Savatage. He also addressed the ongoing topic of a Savatage reunion.
Caffery: "We've been writing and talking about it now. It's the first time in a long time where I actually have been trading riffs and songs with Jon (Oliva / vocals) over the phone, and I have some really cool things. I have this one song that I wrote that he really likes and it's kind of one that I think would be a good lead-off track for Savatage. We're just calling it 'The Dungeous Are Calling Again' and it's a really, really, really cool metal song. We'll see what happens. I know a lot of people would like to see a new Savatage record. I think the cards are lining up. Whether or not it's gonna fall into place, we'll find out. I always tend to stay really positive and optimistic about it; I have for 20 years. So hopefully it does wind up happening."
