Jon Oliva about "Gutter Ballet" - part 1

from : Aardschok/Metal Hammer, Holland feb. 1990
author : Andre Verhuysen
translated by : Ellen Bakvis

When you're reading this, it's finally in the stores : Savatage's new album. And some album it is! Album of the Month with reason. And to make the party complete, the band, now a five-piece, will be coming to tour Europe in february already. A good reason to call Jon Oliva in sunny Florida, literally only a few hours before this magazine's deadline.
First of all, he gives his explanation of the songs of the new album, that he wrote himself for the most part. After that, we proceed to the 'who, what, where and why' concerning "Gutter Ballet".
The word is all yours, mr. Oliva !

""Of Rage And War" is our humorist view of what the political world is all about. Maybe, also a little bit our frustrated opinion of how it all fits together, which persons are top notch,which people are pulling the ropes. You shouldn't try to find too many hidden meanings because first and foremost it simply is an ultra-heavy Savatage song with extremely aggressive guitar parts. Text and music, in that respect, accomplish each other very well.
It is ofcourse terrifying to have to live with the thought that somewhere in this world some or other lunatic needs only to touch the wrong button in order to turn the entire world into an inferno, but at the same time there's nothing you can do about it. Look at the amount of countries that are in posssession of nuclear weapons nowadays.
The only thing you can do yourself is transform your powerlessness into anger, for which you need to find an outlet then. In that respect, "Of Rage And War" ofcourse is an excellent song."

"The title song "Gutter Ballet" deals with the contemporary reality in the streets of every major city. The song is more or less the opposite of "Of Rage And War", both musically and lyrically speaking. The musical aspect seems obvious to me. After the brutal power of "Of Rage And War", the quiet piano intro surprises you. And, as the problem of "Of Rage And War" is evident, there's nothing you can do about it. It's not touchable. The probems out on the streets, on the other hand, are ; you see them in front of you daily.
It's especially about how un-friendly the streets can be, how confusing and how violent. But on the other hand, the streets can also be very beautiful, cosy and moving. The text comes forth from the mind of someone walking through a major city. Whether it is New York, Detroit or Chicago really doesn't matter.
While writing the piano intro, I was thinking of a sunrise above a skyline of skyscrapers. Very peaceful. Until the city comes to life, and that's where the rest of the band comes in. Purposely this was done very abruptly, because all of a sudden the city changes into a madhouse."

" For the most part, this song was written by me. Inside my head, I had a vision of myself up on a mountain in the Scottish Highlands or a similar environment. The song begins very peacefully with piano and cello, but Criss' guitar work makes it more andventurous along the way. Everyone is entitled to think whatever they want while listening to this song, but I worked it out keeping the idea of such a stately view in mind.
In any case, it gave Criss an opportunity to play a completely different kind of solo than he normally does. It's more modest, more the kind of thing you'd expect from for example Michael Schenker. He's not such a bad guitarist, that brother of mine..."

" My favorite song, and also the song that was the biggest effort to write, because it's a very personal piece. It's the life story of a musician who has been trying to become successful all his life. In vain, of course and so finally he breaks down. How, that's not the main issue, because this can happen in many different ways. Suicide, an overdose of drugs... I've seen it happen around me, so I know what I'm talking about. And that goes for our producer, Paul O'Neill, who helped me write the lyrics, as well. He also knew musicians who went down because of the lack of success.
The musician that this song is about spent his whole life composing one song, that was meant to be his absolute masterpiece. Finally, he completes the song, but then he's too old himself to accomplish anything with it. He's past the height of his glory. Then finally when the song gets airplay, it is too late, because it is at his own funeral.
The way it's written, it is ofcourse purely imaginative, but the reasons to write the lyrics the way they were, unfortunately are very true. It has cost me a lot to sing this song. Because it was so personal, and because I wanted it to carry the right emotion, vocally. Listen to the end of the song, then you'll understand what I'm talking about.."

"An acoustic piece by Criss. He has always wanted to do something like this, but up until now the rest of the band didn't let him, either because there was no time left or because it didn't fit in. This, for example, could never have been on our first record.
It reminds me of Led Zeppelin. Jimmy Page could have done something similar on "Led Zeppelin III". Just like in "Temptation Revelation" Criss proves that his style is a lot more diverse than most people realize ".

"If you're in possession of an old-fashioned LP, this is the first song on the B-side, which obviously is the heavy side of this album. The lyrics are very sarcastic and are totally the opposite of what people would expect looking at the title. It certainly is not a love song, on the contrary the lyrics are purely sexual, almost mean maybe. The main character is a woman who isn't in love with a specific person, but with a certain part of that person's body. And the fact that's she is partial to taking that body part into her mouth. It obviously is not about any particular woman, but about a certain group of women that really derserve being made fun of. We all know who are being meant here. The lyrics absolutely aren't perverse or anti-woman. It's just a funny story about things that happen in this world.

" With "Hounds" we arrive at, what I'd call, pure fantasy. Behind the lyrics to this song there's no deeper meaning, it has entirely been made up by me. In my spare time I love to write horror stories and the lyrics to "Hounds" are based upon such a story. It's about a crazy professor who is experimenting with hunting dogs. Ofcourse, things get completely out of hand and the dogs turn into murderous monsters. First they devour the professor and then start hunting for more human flesh and blood. To stay in tune with the American horror movies, I gave the story an open ending so no one knows whether the dogs are dead or still alive. Who knows, maybe it will be continued sometime.."

" The Unholy" is also based upon such a short horror story written by me. Pure fiction also. The subject is the origin of evil. One day, thousands of years ago, evil must have settled itself within humanity and that's what "The Unholy" is all about. It's about the way evil came to earth, along with the arrival of extraterrestrial beings from another universe. I had the title in mind for a long time and it was about time to write some lyrics to go along with it.

"The next three songs, "Mentally Yours", "Summer's Rain" and "Thorazine Shuffle" together form a trilogy. It is true that the story that runs through these three songs is fictive again, but this time it is based upon facts. It's a pity, but in America these things occur too often.
It's a story about Timmy. In "Mentally Yours" he's still a little boy. His father left and his mother and him drive each other completely insane because they can't live with each other. Timmy has a difficult childhood and eventually he runs away from home with his girlfriend. But he's so twisted, that he often beats her up. He torches the cat...to sum it up he's totally insane, sadistic and sick.

" Summer's Rain" gets deeper into the relationship between Timmy and his girlfriend from "Mentally Yours". Timmy already is twisted, but when he finds out that she's cheating on him he totally loses control. In the end, she leaves him and Timmy ends up in a mental institution. Like I said, totally made up, but these things happen all the time here in the States.
By the way, the title of this song IS "Summer's Rain" and not "Stand Alone" like I've read in a couple of reviews. The record company made a mistake and put the wrong title on the tapes."

"In "Thorazine Shuffle" Timmy is in an institution and Thorazine is the drug that is given to him to keep him quiet. They're giving him huge dosages and that's why he starts hallucinating. The hallucinations form the major part of the lyrics. And until his dying day Timmy will have to stay in the institution, being the insane person he is thanks to his unhappy childhood.
I think, we'll be linking those three songs live as well. They belong together, and it gives me the opportunity to give a short explanation."

On to part 2 >>