A record and a tour. Those were drummer Jeff Plate‘s modest career goals once upon a time, but more than three decades after he joined SAVATAGE for their tour in support of 1994’s “Handful Of Rain”, he’s assembled a far more impressive list of accomplishments: three legendary SAVATAGE studio albums, as well as a live record capturing the final show of the “Handful” tour; multiple gold and platinum records with sister group TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA; five albums with METAL CHURCH, with whom he played from 2006 to 2017; two records with his own group ALTA REIGN; and hundreds of shows performed around the world.
Apart from a one-off performance at Germany’s Wacken Open Air festival in 2015, SAVATAGE has been on extended hiatus since the completion of their world tour in support of 2001’s “Poets And Madmen”. Since then, TSO — which launched in the wake of the success of the “Dead Winter Dead” instrumental “Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)” and quickly became one of America’s top concert draws — has consumed most of the group’s energies. The Wacken gig hinted at a possible resurrection, but for multiple reasons — namely, the 2017 death of longtime producer and lyricist Paul O’Neill; the global pandemic in 2020; and ongoing health issues of the group’s heart and soul, Jon Oliva — a proper reunion never materialized.
That changed late last year, when SAVATAGE announced their first tour in 23 years. They’ll kick things off this month with gigs in Brazil, Argentina and Chile before heading to Europe this summer to play a mix of festival and headline dates. They’ll do so, however, without Oliva, who hopes to rejoin the band on tour as soon as his health permits. In the meantime, he’s serving as the band’s musical director while the “Dead Winter Dead”-era lineup — Plate, bassist Johnny Lee Middleton, vocalist Zak Stevens and guitarists Chris Caffery and Al Pitrelli — rehearses for their upcoming shows at the former Morrisound Recording studio in Tampa, Florida, where Plate first met Oliva and O’Neill 31 years ago this month.
Plate recently spoke with BLABBERMOUTH.NET‘s Clay Marshall about SAVATAGE‘s return. An excerpt from the conversation appears below. (Previous excerpts saw Platediscuss the group’s approach to rehearsals and how he came to join the band. Another excerpt will follow soon. The full interview will be posted shortly.)
Blabbermouth: This year is the 30th anniversary of “Dead Winter Dead”, the album that changed everything for SAVATAGE. What memories stand out after three decades?
Jeff: “Going into ‘Dead Winter Dead’, obviously, I’m the new guy. This is not my band. I don’t make decisions when it comes to certain things. The question was, ‘What is going to be the lineup?’ Jon and Paul had ideas — they already had ‘Dead Winter Dead’ written. I think [‘Handful Of Rain’-era guitarist] Alex [Skolnick] had some ideas too, and they didn’t quite jibe with Jon and Paul — there’s no animosity, but just musically — so Alex decided, ‘You know, I’m not going to continue with this. Thank you for the opportunity.’ He goes his own way. Then Chris Caffery re-enters, and then they brought in Al, so that was our lineup. But the story with ‘Dead Winter Dead’ is, obviously, ‘Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)’. That song wasn’t necessarily the centerpiece of ‘Dead Winter Dead’, but that song became the centerpiece of our future.
“We’re in the studio, and I’m just doing what I’m told. ‘What would you like me to play?,’ et cetera, et cetera. Jon and Paul had drum parts basically mapped out and kind of wanted me to stick to the script. I learned right then that Paul‘s approach to the band was that the lyrics and the story and the rhythm and the melody are really the most important things. He wanted drumming, and he wanted some aggression here and there, but he really wanted everything to just be solid, whereas I may have wanted to throw in a fill or something. It was like, ‘No, just keep it simple. This is stepping on this or stepping on that.’ I’m learning as I go, but I was also the new guy standing at the back of the room watching and listening and giving my opinion when asked.
“‘Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)’ was obviously a big conversation between Jon and Paul. That song led to the TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA, but then ironically, that album led the way to SAVATAGE kind of reclaiming Europe, especially Germany. All of a sudden, we’re in Europe touring this record in early ’96, and everything is sold-out. It was unbelievable. It was an interesting experience.”
Blabbermouth: If, as you noted previously, the “Handful Of Rain” tour was bittersweet for the band, the “Dead Winter Dead” tour was another story.
Jeff: “When we all got together in the studio to record ‘Dead Winter Dead’, it was kind of an interesting point in all of our lives, let alone the life of the band. I’d met Chris privately, but we hadn’t really hung out together or anything. Connecting with him was great, and he and I hit it off so well. Then Al came in, and it was like, ‘Damn, this guy is really good.’ Rehearsing [together], it was like, ‘Wow, this sounds great. This is really cool.’
“When we got to Europe, the first show we did — and Al and I literally were just talking about this last night — was in Bochum, Germany. It was January or February. It was cold as hell. We get to this club and it’s sold-out, jam-packed. You could not fit another person into this place, and there’s a line of people waiting outside. We got onstage, and I think we opened with ‘Nothing Going On’, and then I think came ‘Jesus Saves’. That room was singing back to the band so loud. I remember Al turned around to me like, ‘Holy shit. This is awesome.’ I had never experienced anything like that before. Al, he was a veteran, but he was equally surprised at the audience, just how into it they were. From then on, that tour was just a blast. We knew we had something really cool happening. Every show on that tour was sold-out. But that first night really set the tone, and it’s what solidified that lineup. We were together for the next four or five years.
“There is a thing when this group of guys gets together and plays. Over the years, the lineups have changed, but Johnny and Jon have been the mainstays since I’ve been in the band. As a rhythm section, Johnny and I clicked together in whatever scenario, whether it’s SAVATAGE or even TSO. It just makes sense and sounds right every time we play. For me personally, when I joined SAVATAGE, it’s like, ‘Wow, I found a home. My playing style fits this really well,’ and that’s why I’ve been here for 31 years. Here again, all these years later, getting back into the room and playing together — even though we’re relearning and reconstructing a lot of these songs, there is a thing there, and it’s always been the case with this ‘Dead Winter Dead’ lineup: myself, Johnny, Caffery and Al. Obviously, Jon was part of it too. Once we started touring in Europe with that ‘Dead Winter Dead’ band, it was like, ‘Wow — there’s something here with this group.’ That has not gone away. I think the fact that we’ve stayed connected in TSO has kept us together, kept us sharp. We’re probably better musicians now than we’ve ever been, and now we’re applying that to this new SAVATAGE.”
Blabbermouth: Obviously, “Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)” was a major turning point for SAVATAGE in America, but “Dead Winter Dead” did wonders for the band’s European following as well.
Jeff: “When we came with this new lineup and this new record, the fan base there just loved it. The band, we were obviously younger, and we were obviously more raw, but when we got on stage and played, that lineup just kicked ass. It was awesome. The European audience, when they go to see a show, they want to see [it], but they’re also listening [closely], where I think maybe in America, there’s more of a party atmosphere around live events. Over in Europe, people take it a little bit more seriously. They’re listening; they’re focusing on the players. For me, I’ve just always felt like people are there less to get drunk and have fun. They’re there to enjoy the band, but they’re very critical too, so they can keep you on your toes, whether you like it or not. [The concept behind] ‘Dead Winter Dead’ had a lot to do with all of this, because that album was about something going on in Europe, so they all knew as well as anybody what the album was about and what it meant. Revisiting that record now and relearning stuff for these shows coming up, there’s some great music there.”
Blabbermouth: Why do you think SAVATAGE‘s music transcends language barriers and resonates so strongly in international markets like Germany, Greece and Brazil?
Jeff: “I think there’s a real sincerity to the music. From ‘[The] Dungeons [Are Calling]’ up to ‘Poets And Madmen’, it’s just great music. It may not be everybody’s cup of tea, and that’s fine, but when you sit down and listen to these albums — really, any of them — they’re all unique and original, and they don’t sound contrived. Even the four-piece lineup — there were plenty of four-piece rock bands out there, but none of them sounded like SAVATAGE. And I’ll tell you one thing why this band has connected — Criss Oliva, one of the most unique rock/metal guitarists ever. There was something very real about his playing. Then Jon Oliva, his music writing — you can say it’s simple, but there’s a very complex emotion to it, and that really carries into his vocals. There is not a more sincere-sounding singer, and there’s a sense of desperation and emotion in Jon‘s voice that you cannot deny when you listen to it. ‘When The Crowds Are Gone’, ‘Believe’ — I mean, Jesus, when you listen to ‘Believe’ and listen to Jon sing, how can you not be taken in by that? That’s a guy just signing his heart out. His heart is bleeding, and it sounds like that in the vocal. It doesn’t sound fake, and I think that’s why this music has endured, and why people just won’t give up on it.”
SAVATAGE will kick off its first tour since 2002 at the Monsters Of Rock festival in Sao Paulo, Brazil on April 19.
Source: blabbermouth.net
