Gary Smith: The Life-artist

Gary Smith is not just a spectacular airbrush-artist, thanks to his long-term friendship and cooperation with Savatage he has also become the American counterpart of Derek Riggs, who has been responsible for countless Iron Maiden covers since the very beginning. Chris Caffery describes Gary Smith as: " just like us: easy, cheerful, a wiseguy who's always in for a couple of drinks".

Gary, how did you and Savatage get together ?

Years ago, when I worked in a T-shirt shop in the Clearwater Mall, I met Steve Wacholz, who had seen some of my airbrush stuff that was on display. Pretty soon, Steve became a regular customer, and one time he mentioned, that he'd like to have me design an album cover some day. After that, nothing happened for two years, until our roads crossed again and the band gave me my first assignment. That was " Hall of the Mountain King "

Was this cover something like a breakthrough for you as an artist at the same time ?

Definitely - both nationally and internationally. Shortly after this, I also got the assignment for "Escape to Nowhere", by Omen. Eversince, I have met a lot of celebrities, like for example Aerosmith, for whom I have made some private stuff.

Why haven't you designed the cover for "Dead Winter Dead" ?

At the time, I was traveling and couldn't be reached, and they wanted the design within a weeks notice. Oh well, there's always a next time, and after all Savatage is still my number one band.

Don't you also make a lot of airbrush stuff for motorcycles and the like ?

Yeah, I already had an assignment for a motorbike from Malcolm Forbes, painted a portrait of his yacht for Donald Trump and I work for some wrestlers regularly. For example, Hulk Hogan's wife wants me to do a couple of wall paintings in her new house, which looks more like a castle.

What does your personal relationship to the Savatage guys look like ?

Steve Wacholz was a very good friend of mine. We even lived together for a while. One day he returned from a long tour and was looking for a new place to live, so I offered him to move into my two-room appartment for a while. That period turned out to be a whole year - until my deranged girlfriend started to make difficulties, haha. Oh well, I threw the lady out right after that and bought me a house upon the lakeside, and Steve also got himself a better place to live.

What's your personal favorite Savatage artwork ?

Probably "Gutter Ballet", a very interesting project: Steve and I went to a library where we ploughed through at least ten books about the architecture of old churches and cathedrals. I used to study engine building and have always liked to combine architectural design with freelance-art.

If I'm well informed, you can also be seen in one of the Savatage video's...

Yeah, that was in "Jesus Saves", when they were looking for someone to play the part of D.T Jesus. I had just started to grow a beard and Steve said: " Hey Gary, you're the perfect guy for this, let's just forget about the other candidates".

How do you remember the day that Criss died ?

Criss called me that night and wanted to know if I'd like to drive to the Livestock festival, that takes place in this neighbourhood each year, together with him and his wife Dawn. It was a dark and rainy day; Criss really didn't feel much like going there, but Dawn convinced him to go anyway, 'cause she was getting bored at home. I ended up not going, 'cause I just had to finish a portrait - I have never touched the thing again after that day.
The next morning, I got the call from Johnny's wife Michelle, who told me what had happened to Criss and Dawn that night.

Criss was a very good friend, the very night before the accident he and Dawn were at my place. In the end, the relationship between Criss and me was just like it had been between me and Steve in the past. I was a good friend of all of them, but Criss was something special. He'd like to come see me, and at night we'd walk along the shore of the lake and talk about all kinds of stuff - ideas for new songs, artwork and the future in general.

CHRIS LEIBUNDGUT

From: RockHard Legends, Savatage

Translated by: Ellen Bakvis