I met Savatage guitarist Chris Caffery at Metal Night with The Metrostars at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. on April 22. This "5 and Dime" interview was conducted via an e-mail with Chris the following day.
Everybody knows Savatage, tell me a little bit about your new project, Faces, and your bandmates.
I decided after many inactive years to do a solo CD. I wrote a lot of music in my time off and Faces is the result. My touring band consists of Jeff Plate from Savatage on drums, Nick Douglas from Doro on bass and vox, newcomer Brandon Cook on guitar and vox, Paul LaPlaca on keys, vox and guitars and myself on lead guitars and all lead vox.
Describe your new CD "Faces" and its musical direction.
"Faces" is a bit of a journey through the mind and soul of a schitzo heavy metal musician...not personally...but musically. There is some stuff that is heavier than anything I have ever done, but also some that is more melodic. I am truly showing you some of my many FACES!
Talk about the tour dates that are scheduled and your future touring plans.
I have a few dates announced so far. My first ones are here in New York later this month, at B.B. King's and in Farmingdale. Then I head to Cleveland to headline the Brave Words Fest and then to Rochester to headline the Shredfest.
I will be announcing a European tour soon for June and a U.S. tour in August/September. Cool packages. I will announce these when the tour is official.
What else do you have in store for your fans in the next 12 months?
Well...The original "Doctor Butcher" CD gets re-released worldwide in a week. This includes the demo tracks and a brand new song! I am also releasing my full war CD called "WARPED." This will be out in Europe in June and the U.S. in September. I plan on touring as much as possible until Trans-Siberian Orchestra rehearsals and then it is back to work for Christmas.
Feel free to promote your website and anything else you'd like that applies to your band.
www.chriscaffery.com It is very active and interactive! I think anything you may want to know about me you can find there!
Please share a story/memory/your thoughts on Dimebag Darrell.
I had met Darrell a few times...always a great guy and a lot of fun! He and his brother were big Savatage fans. They would come to see us play in the old days. I recently saw Vinny out at Namm and I said hi and told him I was sorry and mentioned that we recently lost Diamond Daryl Pediford from TSO. He told me that he and his brother were listening to Hall of The Mountain King on the tour bus the night of the Columbus show...it was an honor to have met him, a bigger honor to have his respect and will always be a pleasure to listen to the music of one of the greatest metal guitarists of all time!!!