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THE ARCHIVES
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Morrigan's Pit has closed down as of November 2006. The site and its articles will stay online as an archive until September at least, but probably longer.
The Archives
2002-2006
» CD REVIEWS
» INTERVIEWS
» LIVE REVIEWS
» SPECIALS
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JON OLIVA'S PAIN
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Jon Oliva & Matt LaPorte
July 2006
http://www.jonoliva.net
Last July I had the pleasure of talking to Jon Oliva and Matt LaPorte of Jon Oliva's Pain about their new album "Maniacle Renderings" (out in September on AFM) and the little appetizer "Straight Jacket Memoirs". Savatage is still with SPV, but for himself he wanted to have a smaller label that could pay more attention to its bands, and he chose AFM, because they're young and hungry. Here is a brief reproduction of our talk!
Jon: The reactions so far have been really great. A part of the record I donated to the fanbase, to do the things they expect to hear from me, but as an artist I also need a few tracks where I can experiment a little. The album is very well balanced between the type of heavy rock that I'm known for and some different directional things. I'm very happy with it. It's some of the best work I've ever done, the rest is up to you guys.
The EP "Straight Jacket Memoirs" has mostly the known type of rock on it, and it also features some of Criss Oliva's music that was recently discovered.
Jon: Most of them are riffs. When we used to work together, he was the riff guy, I was the chorus guy. We would practice together, but we also worked at home and switched tapes afterwards. So my wife found a lot of tapes at the bottom of a big shoebox and she asked me, is this stuff important? I was like, AAARGGHhhh! I freaked out, but it was cool, because now he's a part of the record in a way. It was stuff no one had heard before and I've only gone through half of those tapes so far! It's hard, he talks to me all the time on those tapes, but it was very comforting too. I'm quite proud of it.
Ex-guitarist Jerry Outlaw contributed to the writing, but they took most of his riffs out. Partly because he's out and partly because the riffs didn't fit in.
Jon: He did great on the tour, he is a great guitar player. But when we started working on the new record, he started to tell me how to do my record. I don't think so. Shane French came in later, but did some solos. There is a lot of sponteneity in the songs.
Matt: He did two guitar solos, "Time To Die" and "Push It To The Limit". It's great to work with him again, he likes his role as a supportive guitarist to me and makes my work a lot easier. He is a blessing and a godsend.
Jon had started with Pain to have his outlet when Savatage members were too busy with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, that gave them the option to finally make a lot of money with their music.
Jon: The true fans that know the history and the tragedies, should be happy that we kept the band alive for 25 years and that after all these years the guys are finally putting some money in their pockets. TSO is just a name, it's the same people playing different music that we couldn't do under the name of Savatage. Savatage became a part time thing, but I didn't want to wait for it. The songs are the same, but I didn't want to use the name Savatage out of respect of the other guys and the fans. This is what I can do for you, it's again just a name. To me this way of working reminds me of the way Savatage worked when Criss was still alive. After he died the band became a democracy, which changes the way you write songs. JOP is my opportunity to say what I want to say again. We also all live in the same area and it's easier to work that way. A Savatage practice costs 10,000 dollars to get all the people in one place. (laughter)
There is currently no activity in the Savatage camp, but there are negotiations going on for a tour next year and to film a DVD with a bonus DVD with old footage to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the band. And then we'll see what happens. If that would be the last thing we do, I want us to go out big. If not, in 4 years at 50 years old we might say (in a raspy and southern voice) hey let's do another Savatage album! I don't know what's going to happen.
The European summer festivals they've been doing have all been great so far and in the middle of the week they've been doing some acoustic shows. There has been talk about a European tour at the end of the year, and when I asked where he would still love to play Jon said he had never played (and would love to) in Australia and Russia. And what has been his biggest gig so far?
Jon: Dynamo 1995 with the 110,000 people, that was huge and we were the only band it didn't rain on. Johnny Lee Middleton said, that was your brother who made it stop raining, you know that don't you? I know dude.. It was so spooky, the previous band was soaking wet and when we went on stage I saw this little blue spot in the sky with some sun shining right on the stage and my hair on the back on my neck just went up, wham! All of a sudden the sky opened up, all the people came out from wherever the hell they had been hiding. And as soon as we left, it rained on everybody again, they just got poured on! It was the great Criss Oliva miracle we call it.
It's time to wrap up this interview... any last words for our readers?
Jon: I love you guys, man. I love all you guys. Let's party and I hope you enjoy the new record. Like I said it means a lot to me, so please check it out!
submitted by Marlies 26.11.2006
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