Chris Caffery, legendary Savatage/Trans-Siberian Orchestra lead guitarist, began playing guitar at the age of 11. From his earliest memories, Chris always wanted to be a guitarist. Music was just about all he wanted to do since he was 5. His first performance was singing The Beatles song "Help", for a show and tell in kindergarten! Growing up, Chris’ favorite bands were the Beatles, Kiss, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Rush and many other classic metal bands. Chris had many favorite guitarists: Ted Nugent, Rick Emmett, Ace Frehley, Randy Rhoads, Michael Schenker, to name a few.
Chris took about 13 months of guitar lessons. He was bored of Mel Bay and decided to teach himself. Chris had a band in Middle School called "Blitzkrieg". The band did a few shows, the first being at a bar in Ridgewood, New Jersey when Chris was 13.
When he was 14, Chris’ brother, Phil, and he formed a band called "Anti". They found a bassist in "The Aquarian", now called "The East Coast Rocker." His name was Darryl Sage. To this day, he is one of Chris’ best friends. Anti found a singer named Blaze and began to play gigs. The band did half originals/half covers. Anti opened for many national acts when Chris was in High School: bands like Mountain, Metallica, Overkill, Steppenwolf, and Blackfoot. Chris would get an hour of sleep after a gig and then go to school!
Chris graduated High School at 16, and went straight into being a professional musician, teaching about 30 students by day, and playing out at night.
Anti did well as a band, but had trouble with vocalists…never finding the right one. There were about four demo tapes floating around. The first Chris did was at the age of 14. Chris did one at the age of 17 and it got Chris his first national gig. Chris was hanging out in New York City in a club called "Nirvana", in the middle of Times Square, a very cool place to hang out. Chris met the singer of the band "Heaven", his name was Allan Fryar. Chris heard that they were looking for a guitarist and Chris asked if he could give Allan a tape. The next week Chris was asked to join Heaven. It turned out that they also needed a drummer…enter Brother Phil. The band was managed by David Krebs and Paul O'Neill. Paul was a producer, as well.
Chris met Paul O’Neill and began his relationship with him and David, one that has endured and thrives to this day.
Heaven had a CD out called "Knockin' on Heaven's Door", it was on Columbia Records and contained versions that Chris believed was listened to by someone in Guns N Roses!!!!
Heaven was leaving Columbia Records. Chris did some shows with them at the end of the tour and went into the studio to record a new demo. Allan had sung on the tapes of some Anti songs, which inspired David Krebs to get the band into the studio. Opening for Heaven at the shows Chris played were Skid Row on the East Coast, and Warrant on the West. Sebastian Bach was not with Skid Row at the time. They asked Chris to join the band. Chris turned down the offer.
Paul O'Neill was then introduced to Savatage by Jason Flom at Atlantic Records. He flew to Florida and began working with the band. They agreed to have Paul produce the Hall of the Mountain King record. Soon Savatage was in New York recording the CD. Paul invited Chris to the studio and introduced him to the band. Heaven had ended their working relationship with Krebs and O’Neill, but David and Paul wanted to keep working with the Caffery brothers. They began looking for singers again. One singer in whom they were interested was Sebastian Bach! They never got him to New York, and soon he was in Skid Row.
Paul O’Neill had mentioned to Chris that he wanted a second guitarist in Savatage: something that would take some time to settle in with the Oliva brothers. Chris learned the entire Savatage catalogue, and when Savatage was booked on the Dio/Megadeth tour in '87-88, Paul asked if Chris could go with them.
Unfortunately for Chris, the band had hired someone else. Chris was very upset and asked to fly to Florida to audition. He was given the opportunity and played just 2 songs before the band stopped and hired him on the spot.
Savatage gelled musically, instantly. Chris loved the music and Criss Oliva was very happy the band’s sound.
Savatage went on tour, but with an odd twist: Chris was kept on the side of the stage, and eventually was hidden! Chris was 20 and playing arenas: he was happy, but miserable. Chris left after the arena tour and went home dazed and confused, but definitely a seasoned road dog!!!!
Chris became friendly with the metal department at Atlantic Records. They asked if he would audition for a band they signed called Big Mouth. Chris got the gig and recorded a record with the band. Chris was in a video that was on MTV before he turned 21. Oddly enough the band actually was ahead of its time, musically: Rock-n Rap hadn't emerged yet. Big Mouth toured, opening for a band called The Dickies. Big Mouth was not getting along with the label.
Atlantic’s metal department suggested Chris try out for Dirty Looks: He got the gig.
Dirty Looks recorded demos for their second CD with producer, Beau Hill. Atlantic wanted to use him because of his success with Ratt and Warrant. The band’s singer did not get along with Beau, so, they brought in another producer. It did not achieve the desired effect. The label was not happy. To make matters worse, Chris and the singer did not get along. He wanted Chris to play things his way, or no way.
Chris never got credit on the Dirty Looks CD, on which he wrote 5 songs and played all the basic tracks.
Chris left soon after to re-join Savatage, officially.
Chris ran into the Oliva's while they were recording their epic record, Gutter Ballet. They realized that they missed each other a lot. A short time later, the Oliva’s called Chris to come to New York City. They asked him to join Savatage. Chris gladly accepted. Since Gutter Ballet was just about done, Chris figured it was useless to spend the time and money for him to record new tracks. Criss Oliva did offer to do it, though.
Savatage was on the road for a long time supporting Gutter Ballet. The road took its toll on the band. Chris was receiving a lot of pressure from his brother to quit Savatage, find a singer, and start another Caffery brothers-based unit: a decision Chris regrets very much. Chris lost some very precious time with Criss Oliva.
Chris called the band Witchdoctor. Chris recruited Hal Patino from King Diamond on bass. Witchdoctor toured Europe. The keyboard player was from Anti. His name was Doug Kistner (He would tour with the first TSO West: Chris got him the audition). Chris and his brother were not clicking musically. Chris had a few demos recorded. The first versions of the Butcher songs “The Altar” and “Born of the Board” were on the tapes. It became a tug of war between rock and metal and eventually Witchdoctor called it a day.
Chris was then contacted to re-join Savatage for a tour supporting the acclaimed Streets record. The tour did not materialize; the band pulled off the road for personal reasons. Chris was upset. He had soon learned that Jon Oliva had left the Savatage. Chris called Jon and was asked to Florida to hang out. About 10 bottles of Jack Daniels later, Doctor Butcher was born! Chris and Jon had so much fun with this band. They were hugely popular in the band's home town of Tampa. They lived in the local clubs at night, writing Doctor Butcher songs in between beer runs!
Savatage replaced Jon with Zak Stevens, the only thing that stopped Criss Oliva from joining Doctor Butcher. Eventually, Caffery recorded Doctor Butcher demos with Hal Patino and Gene Barnett. The band landed a deal with Atlantic Records and began pre-production for a CD. At the same time, Criss Oliva and Zak Stevens asked Chris to re-join Savatage, but Caffery was loyal to Jon Oliva and Doctor Butcher. Unfortunately some bad press about Jon's health forced Atlantic Records to choose between Doctor Butcher and Savatage. They went with Savatage. Caffery was tired and confused.
Caffery began working with long time friend, the late, great, Ray Gillen, in a project called Sun Red Sun.
Later that year, Criss Oliva was killed by a drunk driver. Savatage was unsure of its future. Weeks later, Ray Gillen passed away. For Chris, it was a mental and emotional disaster!
Chris was asked to re-join Savatage, but was not ready mentally or as a player to take over the band. Atlantic Records suggested the band use Alex Skolnik (Testament/TSO). Doctor Butcher continued to write and eventually landed a European deal. Doctor Butcher recorded its debut record in 1994, just before Jon Oliva left to participate in Savatage’s Handful of Rain tour. Doctor Butcher never toured the CD, due to Jon's commitment to record the next Savatage CD.
Chris decided to ask Jon about re-joining Savatage. The spirit of Criss Oliva was not in the band’s live performances, and Caffery felt the need to try to remedy that. Chris slept with his guitar for a year, and was rehired during the recording of Dead Winter Dead. Another long time friend, Al Pitrelli, was hired as his guitar-slinger partner.
Savatage had a steady line up for the next 6 years. The group took over the European Metal scene. The Wake of Magellan CD and tour propelled Savatage to the top of most of the European metal charts, a feat they had achieved in the US in 1990.
During this time Chris was prolific, recording with Joe Lynn Turner, TM Stevens, as well as recording and producing. Chris played on Tribute CD's for Guns N Roses, Accept and Iron Maiden. The Iron Maiden tribute CD was recorded with Jeff Plate (Savatage, Metal Church, TSO, Machines of Grace) and long time friend, John West. The group did a tour of Europe called American Rock Live. During this period, Caffery hooked up with Metalium, producing the band’s first CD.
Savatage was delayed recording a follow up to Wake of Magellan, due to the tremendous success of then "Side Project" Trans Siberian Orchestra. An album was written and recorded around Savatage's song "Christmas Eve". It has since gone platinum in America with a gold follow up, "The Christmas Attic."
Al Pitrelli left Savatage during the recording of “Poets and Madmen”, shortly thereafter so did vocalist, Zak Stevens. Al joined Megadeth; Zak needed some time with his family. Jon Oliva finished the vocals on the record himself. Savatage kept a few of Pitrelli’s solos on the CD. “Poets and Madmen” was released, and Chris got his opportunity to play sole lead guitarist on the tour. Savatage toured all over the world, highlighted by a dream-come-true for Caffery: opening for Judas Priest in Europe. Chris met Judas Priest at a show when he was age 12. Asked then by guitarist KK Downing what Chris wanted to do when he grew up, Chris said..."I want to be just like you!" The tour ended in February of 2002 after a postponed European tour was finished. The attacks of September 11th caused the band to be cautious in 2001.
Caffery went on to help Zak Stevens and his band, Circle II Circle, on their first CD, “Watching in Silence”. John West recorded a CD called Earthmaker. Chris played guitars along with Mike Clasciak from the band Halford.
There is a gap in my chronology, here…
In January of 2004, Chris began pre-production for his very first solo CD, Faces. Recording began in February.
Jeff Plate took care of the drumming duties, Dave Z the bass, and Paul Morris the keyboards and piano. The CD was recorded at Spin Studios in Astoria, NY City. Chris produced the CD with co-producer/engineer Nik Chinboukas. The recording and mixing were finished in May of 2004. Chris then flew to Athens, Greece for the mastering and CD photo shoot.
Caffery had an abundance of material amassed over the years he played with others. He decided to record 30 songs during the Faces sessions. The result was 2 CDs recorded: Faces and God Damn War.
In August of 2004, Chris flew to Germany to be a special guest for Doro Pesch at the 15th Anniversary of the Wacken Festival. At Wacken, the premier Heavy Metal Festival in Europe, Chris played 3 songs with Doro and her Classic Metal Orchestra. The performance was very memorable. The next night Chris also appeared as a special guest with Saxon. Chris got to play Denim and Leather with the band. Caffery is a huge fan of Saxon, and considered this a great honor!
Chris even got invited onstage to play "Killed By Death" with Motorhead in Austria!!! Those guys are Chris favorite Rock and Roll Stars!!!
The first single for Faces was released on September 1st, 2004 in Europe. It was called The Mold. The disc contained 3 songs from the release and 2 unreleased bonus tracks. It was a limited edition that has just about sold out everywhere!
Chris also released an EP called "Music Man". The CD has a few unreleased holiday songs Chris recorded. The sample for the one song "What Child Is This?" was downloaded over 300,000 on Chris’ web-site www.chriscaffery.com. The site is really cool and very active, with a message board community of over 4,500 people and growing rapidly. Chris keeps studio diaries and daily thoughts there too, as well as the main site which features many things including Chris photos, diaries and recipes!
Chris went back in the studio in early 2005 to finish the God Damn War CD. The result was the CD, WARPED. This CD was released in Europe in June 2005 (Sept. in the US). WARPED is the full length version of Chris God Damn War CD! The CD contains 6 unreleased songs, one sung by Jon Oliva, a lost Doctor Butcher track called "Iraq Attack." Chris did some European and American touring in support of "Faces" and "WARPED". The European tour was in support of the legendary Metal Church. The US leg of the tour was a 3 band bill consisting of Jon Oliva's Pain and Ripper Owen's (Judas Priest/Yngwe Malmsteen) band, Beyond Fear.
In addition to the bands already mentioned, Chris Caffery has recorded with or written songs for many bands and artists including: Circle II Circle, John West, Joe Lynn Turner, Metalium, Eidolon, Jon Oliva's Pain and more...For a complete list of Chris discography visit this page. http://www.chriscaffery.com/discography.htm. Chris has also had a few special guest appearances in many friends DVD's including Cradle of Filth and Doro! In the summer of 2006, Chris did a brief tour playing guitar in the reunion of the band Spread Eagle.
On February 8th of 2006 Chris entered the studio to begin working on a new CD, "Pins and Needles". The European release date was March 23rd 2007 on Metal Heaven Records. The US release was June 5th on Locomotive Records.
The 2006 TSO tour was tremendously successful. Caffery and co. performed for over one million people!! TSO tours are amazingly successful: 8 tours (last 4 all arenas), millions of tickets sold, Seven million records sold to date, two simultaneous (East and West) sold out tours at Christmas each year.
Chris Caffery is the onstage ring leader of TSO East. The band also recorded a non-Christmas CD called "Beethoven's Last Night". TSO also recorded a song for The Grinch movie soundtrack. Every year TSO gets bigger and bigger, selling out major arenas, nationwide.
Chris played a couple shows in Germany as a special guest with Doro. Then he played a couple guest solos on the new CD by Jordi Sandalinas in Sweden. Chris returned to Europe for the first leg of Pins and Needles dates in April, 2006. The tour was with Kotipelto, featuring Timo the singer from Stratovarius. Chris remained in Europe to play lead guitar for Doro at a couple festivals. Chris also played the rest of her 2007 tour dates thru Sept 1st including the US run in June! Chris’ band opened the US tour as well: double duty! Chris recently produced vocals in Italy for the band Merendine Atomiche. Chris also played guitar on the last Sandalinas CD and wrote music for a future release. In 2008, Chris recorded and engineered his new solo CD, "House Of Insanity", which was released on Digital in October, 2008. The Retail CD was released in the US in the spring of 2009 and will be out soon in Europe and the rest of the world.
Chris also wrote and recorded a song for the new Ripper Owens solo CD, recently released on SPV Records. Chris will be doing some live shows soon, keep an eye out here for dates.
Caffery has shared the stage, playing alongside such stars and legends as: Joan Jett, Greg Lake, Jon Anderson, Ian Hunter, Roger Daltrey, and most recently, the incomparable Steven Tyler!
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