Savatage frontman Jon Oliva recently went down memory lane with Sakis Fragos of Greece's Rock Hard Magazine in a new world-exclusive interview. During the interview Oliva discusses his earlier days with Savatage, decisions that were made in the bands career, songwriting stories, and most exciting….. he brings up his near audition with heavy metal icons Black Sabbath nearly four decades ago.
"We were gonna break up after Fight For The Nightmare" Oliva recalls. I mean it was over, and um…I actually had a plane ticket and set list sent to me, FedExed [for Black Sabbath]. I was supposed to leave, like, the day after or the next day to fly to L.A. to audition for Black Sabbath, because Geezer Butler really liked my voice a lot. And Criss [Oliva], [Jon's brother and then Savatage's guitarist] was going to fly to Phoenix to talk with [Dave] Mustaine about joining Megadeth. So, we meet with Paul O'Neill [who produced Savatage].
"He was, like, 'You guys are united. You're not splitting up. I'm gonna give you fifty thousand dollars.' And I remember kicking my brother's leg underneath the table… And he gave us a check for fifty thousand dollars, and he said, 'You're not auditioning for Black Sabbath, and you [Criss] are not going to be in Megadeth. You've gotta stay together and we're gonna do a real Savatage album.'
Olivia says "To be honest with you, Criss and I didn't wanna split up. We loved being together and doing our shit. We didn't want to split up. I would have loved to sing for Black Sabbath! I mean, I know… I'll tell you right now I would have been the best singer for Black Sabbath besides Ozzy [Black Sabbath's original singer]. And I had a demo sent to me of the Eternal Idol album — the song The Shining was one, and Ancient Warrior was another one. And then I got a list of classics, like War Pigs, N.I.B. And I knew all those songs anyway. I'm, like, 'Oh, man. I'm gonna tear them up.' I was co confident.
"And then when Paul stopped us from doing that, because he gave us all this money. He was gonna keep us together and redo our contract with Atlantic. And then I find out that Ray Gillen flies out there to California in my place and gets the goddamn gig. "You know what O'Neill said to me? He was, like, 'Jon, I know you would have gotten the gig, but you were never gonna make any money with them.' I'm, like, 'Well, I haven't made any money in 20 years. It's Black fucking Sabbath" Oliva says.
"So Ray Gillen went out and he got the gig. 'Cause Ray was a really dear friend of mine. I loved Ray Gillen. He had a great voice. He was one of those magic guys. And he got the gig and he did a tour with them and he raged; he kicked ass. And he sang all the songs on the Eternal Idol album. And then he came up with Jake E. Lee and put Badlands together; him and Paul actually put it together. And he quit Sabbath. How do you fucking quit Black Sabbath?" Oliva says with utter emotion. "And that's when they got Tony Martin."
After this story Oliva goes on in the interview to discuss how great and nice all of the guys in Black Sabbath were to him, as well as he pays respect to the late legendary and iconic singer Ronnie James Dio (former Black Sabbath, Rainbow, and highly successful solo artist Dio). This is a great interview to listen to the discussions that Oliva had with Black Sabbath guitarist Toni Iommi on guitar riffs, how Oliva was inspired by them, and how much he really respected them. It also goes to show you that you never know when someone you are inspired, or idolized by may call you one day to audition for their band. For example singer Tim "Ripper" Owens (formerly of Judas Priest), or Jay Weinberg (current drummer for Slipknot). Point being…Dreams can, and do come true!
