Christopher Caffery (born September 9, 1967)[1] is an American heavy metal guitarist, best known for his work as a member of Savatage and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Caffery has been releasing solo records singing and playing guitar for almost 20 years, releasing nine albums and many singles since 2004.
After only 13 months, Caffery grew bored with guitar lessons and decided to teach himself. He was part of a band called "Blitzkrieg" in middle school and played a few shows, the first of which was at a bar in Ridgewood, New Jersey when Caffery was only 13. At the age of 14, he and his brother formed a band called "Anti". Caffery graduated from Goshen Central High School in 1984 and went on to become a professional musician, teaching students during the day and playing shows in the night.
Caffery recorded his first demo tape at age 14 and his second at 17, which got him his first national gig. Caffery was in New York City one night, hanging around in a club in the middle of Times Square, when he met the lead singer of a band called Heaven named Allan Fryar. They were looking for a guitarist and Caffery asked if he could give Allan a tape. A week later and Fryar called, and it turned out that the band also needed a drummer, so Caffery's brother Phil joined. The band was managed by David Krebs and a certain Paul O'Neill, who Caffery would maintain close ties for most of his career.
Paul O'Neill was later introduced to the Oliva brothers, Jon and Criss of Savatage by an Atlantic Records rep and O'Neill left Heaven to work with Savatage. Eventually, Paul invited Caffery to New York, where they recorded the CD and introduced Caffery to the band. But, Caffery soon learned that a second guitarist may be needed in Savatage, so he learned all of the Savatage songs he could in time for Savatage's 1987-1988 tour with Dio and Megadeth. Savatage hired someone else, which left Caffery very upset and he flew himself down to the audition. Caffery was given the opportunity to perform, played 2 songs before the band stopped and hired him on the spot. The band went on tour, but Caffery was kept on the side of the stage, hidden from the audience. Caffery was only 20 years old and playing arenas and was happy, but miserable. He left Savatage after the arena tour.
Caffery bounced between bands for a couple of years until he came into contact with the Oliva brothers once more. They asked Caffery to join them just as the Gutter Ballet album was finished; despite the fact that he never played on the album, Caffery was credited with guitars and keyboards and is pictured in its booklet "both to prepare the fans for the line-up they'd see on tour and confirm his permanent member status". He agreed to join Savatage, but the road took its toll on the band. With outside pressure to finish their dreams of a band together Caffery regretfully quit Savatage at the end of the tour and formed Witchdoctor, with his brother Phil on drums, Hal Patino of King Diamond on bass, and future TSO West member Doug Kistner on keyboards. The band played all over America however the brothers were not clicking musically and the band disbanded. Caffery was contacted to perform on Savatage's Streets tour, but issues meant this did not happen. Caffery soon learned that Jon Oliva had left Savatage. Caffery called Jon, who invited him to Florida, and over "10 bottles of Jack Daniels",[3] their project Doctor Butcher was born.
Zachary Stevens replaced Jon in Savatage, but Jon continued to work with his brother Criss on the record. Caffery was again asked to re-join the band, but, he stayed loyal to Jon and Butcher. Some initial demos were recorded with Hal Patino and Gene Barnett for Butcher, but bad press over Jon's health lead Atlantic Records to make a decision - Doctor Butcher or Savatage? Atlantic chose Savatage. Caffery was left disheartened. Caffery went to work with friend Ray Gillen of Badlands fame, but Gillen died shortly after the project began. Around this time, Criss Oliva was killed in a car accident by a drunk driver on October 17, 1993.[4] Caffery was asked for the fourth time to join Savatage, but Atlantic Records suggested Alex Skolnick join the band instead. Caffery would later work with Alex on the TSO East touring company. Butcher was signed in Europe and their debut was recorded in 1994. Jon Oliva left to do the Handful of Rain tour with Savatage so Butcher never toured. Caffery, this time, enquired about joining Savatage on a more permanent basis with Jon Oliva, as a close friend and student of Criss Oliva he felt he could pay respect to Criss "spiritually" on stage. Jon agreed, and Caffery was joined by Al Pitrelli, a good friend of his from New York. The two formed a steady partnership for almost 6 years, recording both 1995's Dead Winter Dead and 1998's The Wake of Magellan together.
During this time, Caffery recorded with Joe Lynn Turner, TM Stevens, as well as produced and recorded for Metalium. Caffery was featured on tribute CDs for Guns N' Roses, Accept and Iron Maiden. The Iron Maiden tribute was recorded with Savatage drummer Jeff Plate and his "long time and newly re-acquainted best friend", TSO member, John West. Savatage was stalled a bit in the recording of a follow-up to The Wake of Magellan, due to the tremendous success of the then "side project", Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Caffery considers himself the "ring leader" of TSO East when they tour, and he enjoys performing live with the ensemble. In 1999, Caffery also was a member of the German band Metalium. He is featured on their album Millennium Metal: Chapter One, but left after the album and the following tours.
Al Pitrelli left Savatage in 2000 when he accepted an invitation to replace Marty Friedman in Megadeth. Zak Stevens left shortly after, citing family reasons. Caffery was left as the only guitarist in Savatage and Jon Oliva took up lead vocal duties for the first time in ten years. Caffery played the lead parts with Jack Frost (ironically, who replaced him in Metalium) playing the rhythm parts on a short tour with Fates Warning and Judas Priest in support of 2001's Poets and Madmen. After Megadeth "disbanded" (it later reformed in 2004) in 2002, Al Pitrelli was invited to re-join the band since "he never left the family anyway".[3]
Since the release of Savatage's most recent CD, Caffery has recorded on releases records of Savatage alumni, including Zak Stevens's Circle II Circle and on Jon Oliva's Pain records. Caffery himself released solo EPs and albums in 2004 and 2005, with a follow-up full-length album, Pins and Needles released in 2007. Caffery is also worked on TSO's new album Night Castle, released on October 27, 2009.
Musically Caffery recorded on several releases as a guest musician. He also toured as the guitarist for the legendary German Metal vocalist Doro as well as a solo tour supporting Heaven and Hell with Tim "Ripper" Owens' band in Europe. He co-wrote and played the guitars on the song "The Shadows Are Alive" on Tim's first solo release entitled "Play my Game".
TSO continues its yearly Winter tours and also performed three tours for its Beethoven's Last Night CD. The second tour saw TSO cross overseas to Europe for the very first time.
In addition to several more guest appearances and collaborations Caffery also appears regularly with 18 time Grammy award winner Jimmy Sturr. He also starred as a guest on two episodes of his national TV show.
Caffery's other ventures include personal and online guitar instruction, additional culinary adventures, book writing, painting/sketching, photography, musical production and public speaking.
Caffery is currently[when?] writing new material for an upcoming solo release, with songs co-written with Jon Oliva[5] as well as several other musical projects.
1988 – Quite Not Right (credited on album as 'Lead Guitar, Vocals') played with Big Mouth and recorded on the album release in 1987, but not released until 1988. He left Big Mouth after recording the album and appearing in the music video for the song "Big Mouth" so he could audition for and join Savatage.
With Savatage
1989 – Gutter Ballet (never actually played on this album, despite being credited as an official member)
2021 – Burning Witches's The Witch of the North(featured on the track "Hall of the Mountain King")
2021 – Exxiles (Reminiscence) Act II
Related Research Articles
Hall of the Mountain King is the fourth studio album by the American heavy metal band Savatage, released in 1987 under the direction of producer Paul O'Neill. It is their first album produced by O'Neill, who was assigned to the band after the tour in support of Fight for the Rock. O'Neill's influence pushed Savatage to adopt a conceptual progressive metal style beginning with this album.
Dead Winter Dead is the ninth studio album by the American heavy metal band Savatage, released in 1995. It is a concept album, that tells a story from the perspectives of a Serb boy, a Bosniak girl and an old man. The story of the album is set during the Bosnian War, which was ongoing at the time.
Streets: A Rock Opera is the sixth studio album by the American heavy metal band Savatage and is a rock opera dealing with the rise and fall of the fictional musician DT Jesus. It was originally released in October 1991 on Atlantic Records. The album took almost a year to record, with pre-production beginning in October 1990. It was also Jon Oliva's last album as lead vocalist until 1995's Dead Winter Dead and 1997's The Wake of Magellan, where he shared lead vocal duties with Zak Stevens. He resumed lead vocal duties exclusively on 2001's Poets and Madmen.
Savatage is an American heavy metal band founded by brothers Jon and Criss Oliva in 1979 in Tarpon Springs, Florida. The band was first called Avatar, but, shortly before the release of their debut album Sirens (1983), they changed their name to Savatage, as Avatar was already taken by at least one other band. Savatage is considered to be an integral part of the American heavy metal movement of the early-to-mid-1980s and has been cited as a key influence on numerous heavy metal subgenres.
Poets and Madmen is the eleventh studio album by American heavy metal band Savatage, released in 2001. It was their last album before their 12-year hiatus, which lasted from 2002 to 2014. The album has a loose concept inspired by the career and death of journalist Kevin Carter, but has much less narrative in the lyrics than the previous two rock operas penned by Paul O'Neill. Everything said in the album is fiction, except with regards to what is sung about Carter. The album is also noted as it is the only Savatage album to not feature a title song from the album, although the title was taken from lyrics to the track "Symmetry" from the band's 1994 album, Handful of Rain.
Al Pitrelli is an American guitarist, best known for his work with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Megadeth, Alice Cooper and Savatage. He has performed with various acts as a band member, session musician and touring member, including Michael Bolton, Celine Dion, Asia, Dee Snider, Kathy Troccoli, Taylor Dayne, Blue Öyster Cult, Exposé and Joe Lynn Turner.
Handful of Rain is the eighth studio album by American heavy metal band Savatage, released in 1994. This is the first album since the death of the band's founding member and lead guitarist Criss Oliva. who had contributed to writing on its songs "Taunting Cobras" and "Nothing's Going On" before his death.
Gutter Ballet is the fifth full-length album produced by the American progressive metal band Savatage. This was the second album created under the direction of producer Paul O'Neill and was initially released in December 1, 1989.
Jeff Plate is an American professional hard rock/heavy metal drummer. He plays with the group Trans-Siberian Orchestra. He is best known as drummer for American heavy metal band Savatage on their albums since Japan Live '94, and was also a member of Metal Church from 2006 to their break up in 2009 and again from their reunion in 2012 to 2017.
John Nicholas "Jon" Oliva is an American singer and musician. He is best known as the co-founder, keyboardist and lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Savatage, which he co-founded with his younger brother Criss Oliva. Since 1996 he has also been a songwriter, musician and vocalist in Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Producer Paul O'Neill referred to Oliva in numerous interviews as the single greatest vocalist/musician he has ever worked with.
Christopher Michael Oliva was an American musician who was the lead guitarist and co-founder of the heavy metal band Savatage. During his lifetime, he released seven studio albums and one EP with the band.
Johnny Lee Middleton is an American musician, best known as the bass guitarist for the heavy metal bands Savatage and Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
Zachary Trussell, known professionally as Zachary "Zak" Stevens, is an American singer, best known as the second lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Savatage. He currently performs with the heavy metal band Circle II Circle. Stevens also has a degree in psychology but is not, as is often reported, a licensed, practicing psychologist.
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Doctor Butcher was a side project involving Jon Oliva and Chris Caffery of Savatage which released one major self-titled studio album in 1994. The original album title, A Living Hell, was changed at the last minute.
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Night Castle is the fifth studio album by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. It was released on October 28, 2009 as a double CD with a 60-page booklet illustrated by Greg Hildebrandt, and debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard charts and No. 1 on the rock music charts. It was certified gold in eight weeks and is currently a platinum album.
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