On April 27, 2001 Leiah Tijou did an interview with Chris while in Niagra Falls. She had fun!!

Leiah: As a musician is there anything that you'd like to accomplish that you haven't already?

Chris: Well, probably, being president. I think that I still haven't gotten to where I want to get as a guitar player. I don't have what I'd consider to be me on a record anywhere as far as guitar playing. I haven't definitely accomplished that.

Leiah: Is there any musician or person that you'd like to record with?

Chris: There's actually a bunch of them. Ronnie Dio is one of them. I haven't done anything with him, but I'm pretty sure I will really soon.

Leiah: What kind of music have you been listening to lately?

Chris: Lately? A lot of Savatage.

Leiah: Who would you say is the best new musician of 2001?

Chris: Damond Jiniya, lead singer of Savatage.

Leiah: What side projects are you currently working on?

Chris: Now…Nothing. Actually, there is. I'm doing some song writing with John West on his new solo record.

Leiah: Are you thinking about doing a solo album?

Chris: Yeah but I don't know exactly when. I'm thinking of getting a bunch of friends together and we're probably going to have ten songs on the record. Six or seven have singing and four instrumentals. I haven't decided who, or when or how.

Leiah: Is singing an option for you?

Chris: Maybe one of them. One of the songs. I'm getting better!

Leiah: What single person has inspired you, creatively, as a musician.?

(Johnny Lee Walks into the tour bus)

Johnny Lee: Interview with Chris Caffery! Interview with Chris Caffery!

Chris: Johnny Lee Middleton ladies and gentlemen.

(Jack Frost walks onto the bus)

Chris: Jack Frost Ladies and Gentlemen.

(Jon Oliva walks on to the bus)

Leiah: Jon Oliva Ladies and Gentlemen!Chris: Jon Oliva! There ya go! It's a stampede!! Yes, but I'd probably say Criss Oliva more then anybody.

(Kyle, a tech, walks in the tour bus)

Kyle: How ya been? How ya doing?

Chris: Stampede! Everyone ran outta the club. Did somebody fart in there?

Jack: Gary farted. It was scary!

Leiah: What are your feelings about this tour?

Chris: It's great!

Johnny Lee: It sucks!

Chris: Except for Johnny, he's farting left and right.

Johnny Lee : So? When do I not fart?

Chris: That's true, so everything's the same as usual! No, the band's in a really good mood, tickets are selling well. It's been great so far.

Leiah: What do you hope to gain from this tour?

Johnny Lee: Money!

Chris: After that meal I just ate, a lot of weight. Money! No, we haven't found out yet. We're hoping to get Savatage where it is in a lot of other places. So that's what we're hoping to gain.

Leiah: How does it feel to look back at your life and career, and see all that you've accomplished?

Chris: Actually, I'm pretty proud of it, 'cause when you set off to do things when you're a little kid and you actually end up doing them… I think I have a lot to be proud of. There's still a lot I want to do, but if I was to stop tomorrow... I've been on over 50 CD's and I've been all around the world, and probably played music for a couple million people live. It's not anything that I couldn't be proud of. I'm happy with the fact that I set out to do something and I did it..... Whatever that was.

Leiah: Are there any differences in the way the band works now then when you first joined?

Chris: Well yeah, obviously. I mean Jon's not the only lead singer and I'm the only lead guitar player, which is a lot different. The attitude now is back to the way it was. Which is good. It's more of a vicious band on stage, which I like.

Leiah: How does it feel to be the only lead guitarist?

Chris: It's cool. I'm still feeling that one out. I mean I'm getting to the point where I don't have to think about it live, but it's definitely an odd thing. I'm happy that it happened now than in the past, because, I think, if it happened before I wouldn't have been ready to get the response that I'm getting now.

Leiah: How does it feel to be more popular overseas then here in the US?

Chris: It's a bit frustrating, but I don't think it's anything we couldn't do here. It's just a matter of time.

Leiah: Are there any songs that you feel embarrassed about, having written them when you were so young?

Chris: No. I'm not embarrassed about anything I did. I don't like to look at things that way.

Leiah: What got Savatage into creating orchestrated metal?

Chris: Paul O'Neil.

Leiah: How has your experience with Nuclear Blast been so far?

Chris: It's been good. I mean metal music has always been something that has been brought in from the streets, and Atlantic use to have a really good metal department, but don't anymore, and we were losing touch with the street, and here in the US that's when we need to get backwards to take a step forwards. It feels good 'cause not I think that things are actually happening in a forward direction.

Leiah: What has the recording process been like this time around?

Chris: A bit confusing at times, but it was really fun for me and Jon, 'cause we really loved writing this record. I wasn't sure what was going on with the guitar situation or really knew who was going to be doing what or why.

Leiah: Do you think that times have changed and metal fans want different qualities from bands?

Chris: I think the younger metal fans are starting to look for different things, where as in the old days there was really only one kind of metal. I mean in the older days of metal, most metal was different, I mean then all of a sudden everything got moshed into sounding the same way, nowadays kids are looking for different things, so I actually think that they're looking for stuff like Savatage now. Just something that's a little more musical, something that might have a little more to say, musically. Lyrically, bands nowadays are saying a lot. There's a lot of aggression in the music, but I don't think that musically there's a lot... Too many bands don't really have that much to offer nowadays. They really don't. I don't care what anybody says, the get pissed at me for saying that, but they know it's not that many people treating music as an art. They're learning it well enough to get by and to write songs, but they're not learning it great and there was a lot of great musicians when metal first started.

Leiah: What gear are you currently endorsing?

Chris: Jackson Guitars, LaBella Strings, Seymour Duncan Pickups, TLK Cases, Starpicks, Morley Electronics. Who else is giving me stuff for free? I think that's it.

Leiah: How do you feel you've developed as a musician?

Chris: I just think that I play the way that I've always had in my head that I thought I wanted to play now, and I think my playing is getting to a point where it's just matured. I don't sound like a little kid anymore.

Leiah: What do you want to be remembered for?

Chris: Just for being real, and hopefully for being, ya know, as time goes on I leave a couple more records, I just want to be remembered for being somebody like a Toni Iommi, somebody that somebody can look back after a period of time and say well, who was a great guitarist from this period, and be in that list of those names. I don't think I've gotten that reputation yet. To get there, that has a lot to do with the fact that until now I was sharing guitar stuff with people. So hopefully that will change.

Leiah: Has your lifestyle change at all over the years?

Chris: Yeah, I mean, I think that happens naturally when you get older. I mean you used to constantly look to go out and look for things to do, and in the middle of that, ya know, your liver used to work a lot better, so you drank a lot more (Leiah Laughs) It's serious. It's just different now. It takes too long to recover from killing yourself like that. You just naturally calm down.

Leiah: What would be a sign of success for you?

Chris: I think we have that, I mean real success would be when I could turn around and look back ad say if everything was to stop tomorrow, then I've done enough to be able to take care of myself for the rest of my life from it. That's not a ways of measuring, I mean, that's more financial success. Personal success, I mean...... I think that I've gotten a lot of it. I still want a couple more records, I want a record of guitar playing that I really feel I would be proud of and I mean, I've got a lot of songs and stuff like that, but I really haven't done the record I know I could do yet.

Leiah: How did you feel when you first began playing with Savatage?

Chris: Well at first I wasn't really in the band or anything, so I was just excited to be on the road. Then I really got to like the band, and once that happened, I felt like I was around some really good friends. I got sucked into it like all the fans do. It's a very infectious band.

Leiah: How did Criss Oliva effect you musically?

Chris: A lot. He didn't eve4n realize it at the time. A lot of our rhythm styles are the same. As time when on I remembered back to how he showed me things, and he'd be playing in the middle of a show and walk over to me and let me see what he was doing. I remembered where his hands were and it's just an attitude in his playing that I think effected me more then anything.

Leiah: Out of all your guitars, what's your favorite?

Chris: Probably that new Randy Rhodes one, that I have. The natural wood one that I had made for myself.

Leiah: Ok, I promised myself that along with the serious questions, I would do some silly ones.

Chris: Ok.

Leiah: Do you name your guitars?

Chris: No.

Leiah: As a child, when you were playing air guitar in from of your mirror, who were you listening to, and what were you using as a guitar?

Chris: Well, I started playing pretty young on guitar, so I was using an actual guitar, even if I couldn't play it. I was usually listening to people like Judas Priest, The Beatles, KISS and Black Sabbath.

Leiah: I read on your Metal Sludge interview that you're interested in writing horror novels, and children's books. Have you been working on anything?

Chris: Not as much as I should. I think once we settle into being on this tour and I start realizing I have a lot of free time, I'm going to get back into it.

Leiah: Are there any ideas you could share with us?

Chris: At this second, no, because I'd be giving them away.

Leiah: Have you ever thought about writing a horror novel about a small tour bus with at least six people living in it?

Chris: (Laughs) I live that horror!

Leiah: What's the strangest gift that you've received from a fan?

Chris: Strangest.... I don't know. The strangest gift. I haven't really thought about it. I got a clay figure of myself once.

Leiah: Empty your pockets.

Chris: There's nothing in them.

Leiah: There's nothing in them?

Chris: No, these are new shorts, and there's noth... Wait! There's guitar picks.. two of them.

Leiah: If you could be a cartoon character, who would you be and why?

Chris: The Great Gazoo from the Flintstones, 'cause I could just disappear when everything gets bad. Just snap my fingers and go. The great Gazoo... the little green guy.

Leiah: What is currently in your CD player?

Chris: Andrew Dice Clay's Face Down Ass Up.

Leiah: What kind of cologne do you wear?

Chris: Coolwater.

Leiah: What's your take on body piercings and tattoos? For the record you have several tattoos and your navel is pierced, most fans didn't know that.

Chris: I like them. I mean if that's something that makes people want to express themselves, you could over do anything! Certain body piercings like the face piercing, to me is a little bazaar, bazaar things. That tattoos are cool. My tattoos in particular are done by on certain artist and I feel part of his spirit when into me when he put that work on me. He's a very positive person. As for just walking into a tattoo shop and getting something that 90 million people have.. I don't necessarily love that.

Leiah: Give me your wallet.

Chris: It's not on me.

Leiah: Don't think you're escaping these questions.. I will ask you in the next interview.

Leiah: Tell me about your first tattoo.

Chris: Mickey Mouse. I got it when I was 21 years old on the Gutter Ballet tour in North Carolina.

Leiah: And of course it's gone now!

Chris: Yeah, I covered it up. It was burnt up from the sun.

Leiah: What color is your toothbrush?

Chris: (Laugh) White

Leiah: Finish this line "One time... At band camp" (Cringes, waiting for the answer)

Chris: I was at band camp?

Leiah: I read in your tour diary that you had an incident with Jack Daniel's and a fire extinguisher. Tell me about that.

Chris: Well, it was the night Criss died, about three or for years after. We were playing in Virginia, and I made an announcement about it on stage, and the crowd was yelling, and Al Pitrelli was drunk, and fairly new to the band and didn't give a flying fuck who Criss Oliva was. He kinda asked the crowd, and asked me ' What the hell are you talking about?' And I got pissed, and I got hammered, and I punched a fire extinguisher, and it was lucky it wasn't his face at the time. I love Al, but it was just a very weird scene at that point in time.

Leiah: I also read in your Metal Sludge interview that you graduated High School at 16. Is that true?

Chris: Yes I did.

Leiah: Why so early?

Chris: Well I was stupid. I had enough credits, I was going to high school in eight grade so I didn't realize. I lived in New Jersey in a really rich town and I didn't really have a lot of friends there. When I move to New York state I had gotten a lot, but not until I got into school, and I had already made the decision to graduate.

Leiah: How does it feel not being the baby of Savatage anymore?

Chris: I like it. I mean Jack I really don't consider that much younger, he's a year younger then me, but Damon, it's cool to see somebody that's got that kinda youth and that sort of energy and that there's certain things that we can help teach him with. But I'm glad I'm not a young pretty boy guitar player like that anymore. Seriously. And I realized that for a long time. It's good for Damon because he's a singer, but being a guitarist, people hold that against you, and there were certain gigs I couldn't get because of my image and stuff like that. I'm glad, I want people to start paying attention to my guitar playing.

Leiah: Is there anything you'd like to say to the fans?

Chris: Thanks, and I hope they'll be around and appreciate all the stuff that it is I do for them, because I know some of them don't.

Leiah: How do you feel about these people flaming you on the message board?

Chris: I personally, ya know.. It's just a small percent of people that buy our records that are on that board, and a small percent of those people have bad things to say. But I think it's pretty fucked up because you give your personal time, but in the same respect, I open myself up for it. It's an idiot way to get their opinions plastered around. I mean Shakespeare.. it took him a long time to be a recognized writer, and right now any asshole on the planet can get their words seen by millions of people just by opening their fucking mouth on a computer. So it's like.. fuck you.

Leiah: Well Chris, that's the end. It wasn't too painful! (Laughs) Thanks for taking the time and sitting with me and doing the interview! Don't be surprised if I have another one by the Rochester Show!!

Chris: (laughs) you're welcome.