Jon Struggles

In spite of the agony, that pulled down the ones who stayed behind after Criss' accident, the work on the various projects was consequently continued.
Jon: " Originally my starting point was that my brother was strong enough , to keep Savatage on course, even without me, but after his death we have again overturned all our life plans. First of all that goes for myself, then without at least one of us, Savatage would no longer have existed."

While Jon proceeded the challenge of the Broadway opera with Paul, and completed the production of the Doctor Butcher album together with Chris Caffery, in the beginning of 1994 he already was involved in writing the songs for "Handful of Rain" - an album with which Jon's modest nature showed itself more than ever.
The master of all classes not only created uncomparable pieces like the multi-vocal 'Chance' or 'Alone You Breathe', thereby providing the Savatage sound with a renewed push in the direction of orchestral power-rock, but besides the keyboards also played all of the rhythm guitars and drums (!) singlehandedly.

Neither Steve Wacholz ( "I have only made a video together with the guys and refused to make my comeback in the band later" ), nor Jeff Plate, who is in the picture on the back cover of the European issue of the album, had any part in the creation of the album in reality.
Ex- Testament axeman Alex Skolnick only contributed the lead guitar parts.

The result of his hard work is well known: six months after " Handful of Rain " the long-awaited Doctor Butcher album came out, that got hold of one of the prime positions amongst the traditional heavy metal albums that were released in 1995, Jon and Paul were able to sell their "Romanovs" opera to a leading Broadway production company, and with " Dead Winter Dead " the second concept album in rock opera format next to " Streets " appeared, an album with which the band definitively entered a new era - which not in the last place was proven by the brilliant shows in the Spring of '96.

Nevertheless it is sad, that the guys have again within a period of ten years after the frustrating " Fight for the Rock "-catastrophy been robbed by a manager: John Goldwater had not been able to believe in a future for Savatage, decided to earn his last fast dollar at the cost of the band and embezzled an immense amount of money. This, amongst other things, lead to the fact that Savatage could no longer finance their European " Handful of Rain " tour ; besides the planned Doctor Butcher tour could not take place as the result of the robbery.

However, there's more than just hope that Savatage, while in the meantime producer Paul O'Neill has also taken the business interest of the band in hands, in the next years will finally be able to harvest the fruit of their solid creative power.

The Sales of the early albums including " Streets " have in the last three years reached the number of 300.000 pieces worldwide.
That leads to the conclusion that there are enough fans that discovered the band later, but who find it wortwhile investing in the unique repertoire of this formation. An indication for the fact that any newly conquered fan will be under the spell of Savatage for life.

Chris: "That's right! In the heart of the matter I'm also such a fan of the band and their music. Savatage have always been so much more cheerful, intensive and bold than all that has been praised by radio, TV and press. It's a pity that a lot of people never had the chance to notice them because of that. Nevertheless: while Savatage never really got out of the underground scene, we've got the best and most loyal fans you can imagine. It's a very special experience when you can still, after more than ten years, draw hundreds and thousands of people to the shows in Europe, Asia and America, while in the meantime a lot of bands that once sold millions of albums, have forever disappeared into thin air."

From RockHard Legends, Savatage

Translated by Ellen Bakvis.