In a new interview with Pete Pardo of Sea Of Tranquility, guitarist Chris Caffery and drummer Jeff Plate of legendary American progressive metallers SAVATAGE, who recently announced their first headlining shows since 2002, were asked if there are any plans for the reactivated band to play the U.S. in 2025. Plate said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I wouldn’t expect it this year. But I certainly think 2026 is a possibility. And once we get out there and play, this is gonna create a little bit more interest.”Referencing the fact that most of the members of SAVATAGE also tour every year with the holiday-themed rock opera TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA, Jeff added: “We’re not gonna go do something just for the sake of doing it. It’s gotta be a really good situation. We’re all busy. And obviously, the [2025 edition of the] TSO tour is coming up at the end of the year. But we’ve kind of made a decision on this whole thing that we are gonna go out and try to be as high profile. I don’t wanna sound snobbish or anything, but we just wanna do some very, very good gigs in very good situations. We’re not kids anymore. We’ve been doing a very high-profile gig in TSO. We wanna try to bring that along with us. I think the States is gonna be there in 2026.”Chris chimed in: “If we were looking at doing things in the States after [our European dates this summer], I mean, we’re in March, so you’re not gonna be booking SAVATAGE — just because there’s time — you’re not gonna book SAVATAGE in September and October. I mean, we’re in preparation for TSO at that point. It’s not just when we start playing with TSO — there’s months before that where the musical directors get together. And it’s the same management working with both [SAVATAGE and TSO], so they get into that mode there. It’s not realistic, I don’t even think, for us. And maybe if somebody said, ‘Hey, there’s one huge show going up here, if you guys would play.’ But I’m not saying that’s gonna happen… That’s the only thing I could see being possible. Touring would be way too much to do this year just because it’s a lot. And like Jeff said, we don’t wanna do kind of low-profile things. We wanna make sure that SAVATAGE has a cool production. And we’re using the same lighting designer for these shows that we have with TSO — Bryan Hartley’s doing the SAVATAGE shows — and we added the one headline show to São Paulo Brazil]. So there’s four shows in South America, and one of ’em is gonna be a full-on SAVATAGE show. So that’s kind of where we’re all really excited about getting into that. The festivals are a lot of fun, but we’re gonna be able to play more and get out there and play a longer set. And then, as time goes on, we’ll just roll some songs around.”Caffery added: “The band has such a huge catalog, and I always talk to the guys, and I think it would be fun for us to do some of our records as a whole, that have the stories and things like that. Like ‘Dead Winter Dead’, you’ve gotta think about how much impact that record had on all of our lives. There’s something going on in this world right now that still ties that record to everybody… And a lot of that stuff is timeless on ‘Dead Winter Dead’, especially the overall message of how you wanna bring people together on both sides, even in the middle of it. And I think that there’s just a lot of potential for SAVATAGE to go out there and do some really cool things. I’m just looking forward to this now. I’m going day by day, and when everything else comes out, I’m just gonna be smiling, like I said. It’s gonna be awesome.”Jeff continued: “We know the very first note that we play is gonna be viral in a matter of hours, or seconds for that matter. So our approach to this whole thing is not only the anticipation of the audience and ourselves, but we also understand there’s gonna be some scrutiny. People are gonna be looking at us, like, ‘Do these guys still got it?’ et cetera, et cetera. Plus we’re obviously going out without Jon [Oliva, SAVATAGE mastermind]. So we’ve gotta be able to prepare a show that’s really just gonna kick ass top to bottom. And everybody’s on board with this. We’ve got a learn list, so to speak, that everybody’s really dialing in for now. But we’ve got three weeks of rehearsals scheduled for what’s coming up, and we all know that going into this, we’ve gotta be spot-on, and I have no doubt that we’re gonna be. But like I said, once we get out there and play and people see and hear this band, I think it’s gonna take off. And fingers crossed, we’ll see what happens in 2026, but there’s a lot of places for us to be. And I think we’re gonna cover a lot of that.”Joining Chris and Jeff in SAVATAGE’s current touring lineup are Johnny Lee Middleton on bass, Al Pitrelli on guitar and Zak Stevens on lead vocals.Jon Oliva, SAVATAGE’s founding vocalist and keyboardist, in 2023 suffered a T7 vertebra fracture in three places, a severe injury that has left him relying on a wheelchair. Additionally, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and Ménière’s disease, conditions that have further complicated his health.Zak joined SAVATAGE in 1992 as the replacement for Jon Oliva. Zak sang on four albums with the band — “Edge Of Thorns” (1993),”Handful Of Rain” (1994),”Dead Winter Dead” (1995) and “The Wake Of Magellan” (1997) — before departing in 2000, allowing Jon to return. Both Jon and Zak took part in SAVATAGE’s 2015 performance at Wacken Open Air, which marked the band’s first, and only so far, appearance on stage since they went on hiatus back in 2002.SAVATAGE’s last album release, “Poets And Madmen”, in 2001 was highlighted by Jon’s return as lead vocalist, replacing Zak, who left the band citing family reasons, and the departure of Pitrelli, who accepted an offer to join MEGADETH in 2000. Pitrelli did record solos for some songs prior to his exit. Another very limited U.S. tour followed, supported by FATES WARNING in the early shows, and then NEVERMORE for the remainder. Around this time, Jon chose Zak’s replacement in the form of Damond Jiniya (DIET OF WORMS). Damond performed Zak’s parts on tour, with Jon having an increased vocal role in proceedings.In September 2021, Jon Oliva was arrested on the west central coast of Florida for driving under the influence as well as possession of a controlled substance. Police charged Oliva with possession of cocaine, which is a felony, and DUI, which is a misdemeanor. Oliva was reportedly arrested again in July 2023 on another cocaine possession charge.Back in 2016, Jon announced on social media that he suffered a stroke in April of that year. At the time, he said: “It was not as serious as it could have been, but it did leave me with some physical recovery challenges often associated with strokes.”Despite his health issues, Jon said that he didn’t regret the way he had lived his life. He wrote: “I lived the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle since I was 18. It’s all I knew and I enjoyed the ride very much. But there comes a time in everyone’s life where you have to step back and make some life-changing decisions… which I have.”Shortly after SAVATAGE’s reunion performance at the 2015 Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany, Oliva claimed that he felt better than he had in 20 years because he had “stopped drinking and eating” in preparation for the concert. He explained: “It’s my voice that’s freaking me out, because, even when I was in my late 20s, early 30s, doing songs like ’24 Hours Ago’ were always really hard to do. And, of course, I didn’t realize that it was all the drugs and alcohol I was doing. But, after doing that, getting my act together and stuff, singing ’24 Hours Ago’, it’s actually easy now. [Laughs]”In addition to his work with SAVATAGE, Oliva is well known for co-creating the aforementioned classical music-meets-prog rock and pyro act TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA alongside Paul O’Neill. Oliva has reportedly remained involved in TSO’s activities even after O’Neill’s April 2017 death of an accidental drug overdose.Jon’s brother Criss, who was one of the founding members of SAVATAGE, was killed in October 1993 by a drunk driver when he and his wife Dawn were en route to the Livestock festival in Zephyrhills, Florida. The driver of the other car was found to have a drunk driving record of seven prior DUIs and having a blood alcohol content of .294 percent.Photo credit: Josh Ruzansky[embedded content]