During an impromptu car stereo airing of early scratch demo tracks, complete with drum machine backing, BW&BK had an exclusive listen to ideas for the next Chris Caffery (SAVATAGE, TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA) effort. The guitarist/singer envisions a dozen songs on the final product. Though he currently feels there are three holes remaining to be filled, there's already enough in the can to head for the studio. "We'll start recording actual tracks the first week of May and I hope to deliver it to Locomotive by July 1st, so they can release it sometime this year."

'House Of Insanity' is a vintage 'Tage-styled piece, mixed amongst one countrified number and a metalized remake of BOB MARLEY's 'Get Up, Stand Up'. Jokingly, Caffery says it will be in place of a 'Piss Me Off' song for the third disc. Other titles include 'Shame' and 'Winter In Hamburg', an acoustic laden number which discusses how Americans are viewed in the post-9/11 era. The brief section in-which it revs up is augmented by German-English spoken word counterpoint.

Says the good-natured shredder-turned-frontman, "When I started my solo career, Savatage was supposed to play again, I didn't want to ride on their reputation, so I tried something new. I'm not big enough to get a big enough push to gain new fans, so I can't ignore those from my past."

Caffery has a couple of veteran/well known metal drum monsters in mind, but since he hasn't asked them yet, we'll not help them jack up the price of their services by detailing it here. Rest assured, whichever tunes make the final cut (others for possible singles and bonus tracks), they'll be the most Savatage sounding material of his solo career.

(Photo by Mark Gromen)