Zak Stevens, well known as the voice of Savatage and Circle II Circle, talks about his new band, Machines Of Grace and the story behind this band. Also, he shares with us his thoughts for a reunion with Savatage and his personal taste in music. The following lines belong to him.

Interview: Nick Astifidis

Rockpages.gr: Is there a story how it all begun for the Machine Of Grace?

Zak Stevens: Yes, it goes way back. I mean this is the band I was in before Savatage. So this goes back to the early 90s when I met Matt Leff at the Musicians Institute. I had my first year in V.I.T., in '89 or '90, when it was the first year they had the vocal institute, so I wanted to try that out, and that's how I started to work with my vocals and made the brake from drums to be a front man. So, I met Matt at the school and so we recorded the song Fly Away, there at the school. It was the first time to record at the studio, at Musician Institute at Hollywood, California. So, that kinda goes way back. Of course, as you know, in '92 we were called Wicked Witch, so we reformed the band and renamed it to Machines Of Grace. But back at this time it was the Wicked Witch demos that got me to Savatage. So, I had to leave the band, which was unfortunate for them, but it was really fortunate for me because I got to join Savatage and start my music career. So, now we are basically going back doing it the way we wanted to do it in order to show everyone, what it was going back then. So, it really goes way back.

Rockpages.gr: So, that's why your new records sounds more like 80% hard rock and 20% metal.

Zak Stevens: That's probably about right. It is so different, a different rock sound. You know, about half of the record is stuff that we played back at the clubs in New England, from '90 – '92 , and then the other stuff is what we wrote recently. So, we really had a wide variety of time frames and different musical tastes going on in one album. It is all over the place but you know, Nick, when I was doing the Machines Of Grace album it was a lot different from singing to a CIIC album, it is night and day. This is the fun of it all, it is really interesting when you start doing different things, you don't realize how different is gonna be and I, after about four, three songs, was like “man, this thing is a whole different animal than anything”. What is interesting about Machines Of Grace is that it is one thing that isn't related to Savatage. You know, everything else in my musical life is related to Savatage. You know, CIIC directly related, everybody can say “oh listen to the sound is very similar”, but with Machines Of Grace you can't really say it's like Savatage, it is impossible because it is a thing we did before that.

Rockpages.gr: So, you experimented with this one. Do you think it’s good to do experiments with music?

Zack Stevens: Oh yeah, definitely. We got to do a lot of that with the Machines Of Grace album. It's part of what is all about there. Experimenting with everybody's different background, just leads to so many different possibilities in the music… It’s really mind-blowing. You know, a lot more guys write in the Machines Of Grace. In CIIC were me and Mitch (bass), and Andy (guitars) would come with something here and there, but in the Machines Of Grace even Jeff Plates (drummer) likes to give a lot more in the writing for this band compared to other things he does. So, a lot of people are working in the writing aspect in Machines Of Grace I guess.

Rockpages.gr: Do you believe that your basic fan club from Savatage and Circle II Circle will embrace this record?

Zak Stevens: I don't know, it's interesting. It's been ok so far. It is just another side of it, you know these songs are very early on, back in the history, as we were discussing, and then it is definitely influenced by the stuff I've done in the past sixteen years as well. So, it is a really crazy mixture of kinda me before all that influence and then putting that influence into that record as well. Well, I know, I am surprised, everybody seems to like it, they think it stretches the boundaries a little bit. So, that's good so far.

Rockpages.gr: Do you believe that you would ever be part of Savatage if you started your musical career with Machines Of Grace first?

Zak Stevens: Yes, because the reason I had the chance to be a part of Savatage was because of this band. Because it was the demos of the Machines Of Grace. You know, even though it was not as heavy as Savatage, I think they saw something in the voice that would work with them. Definitely it was more commercial over our sounding. Everything less heavy than Machines Of Grace I would struggle a little bit with it. Now that we can compare all these bands, Savatage, Machines Of Grace, Circle II Circle, Metal Church, I wouldn't go any lighter than Machines Of Grace (laughing).

Rockpages.gr: Which are your plans to promote your new record? Maybe a video clip, a tour?

Zak Stevens: As far is good promotion on the websites and if you look around some sites like, itunes, myspace... . So actually the promotion for the Machines Of Grace would be going here in U.S. and we gonna see what happens.

Rockpages.gr: And a video clip maybe?

Zak Stevens: Yes, we gonna work on a video clip, actually at the same time we will start to play the shows, because we have to put something together. So, we will do that and hopefully we will get to Europe. I would like to get Machines Of Grace all over to Europe again, to play in Greece and all the other places.

Rockpages.gr: Have you already chosen the song for the video clip or you are still in the process?

Zak Stevens: Oh, no. I guess we gonna take a strong live song. Something like “Between the Lines”  or maybe... “Psychotic”, “Innocence”. I don't know there is a lot to choose, this is a great question, we haven't decided yet but we have to do that soon. 

Rockpages.gr: So it's gonna be a heavy song not a ballad right?

Zak Stevens: Yeah, it's gonna be a heavy one. We have a few ballads as you noticed.

Rockpages.gr: Yeah, some girls gonna cry again (laugh)

Zak Stevens: Yes (loud laughing)

Rockpages.gr: Now that you can listen to the whole album again, is there anything that you would like to change?

Zak Stevens: No, I guess I am pretty happy with it. You know, only recently I started listening to it in my head phones from start to finish, I like doing it that way. I don't know, for some reason this record sound really good, I have some good head phones, and I just sit there with a beer and listen to this album from start to end. That's how I like to do it buddy.

Rockpages.gr: Cool, I really like it that way. So, tell me now, do you think that this period of time is a good time for hard rock music? I mean there are many old bands, like Journey, that start again touring and write new album. What do you think about all these things?

Zak Stevens: Well, I guess it's pretty cool. I mean everybody likes to see their old favorite bands. You know it is a little different without their original singer, Steve Perry. You know, it is not the same for me, as I was a huge fan of Journey because of Steve Perry, but I kinda get used to it. When I saw Journey playing on Super Bowl show with the Asian singer that they have, who has an awesome voice. Well, I don't mind, I think is good for the young kids to see those bands and try to understand the sound and how different it is from bands today. I mean, you got bands like Shinedown, for instance here in the States, a band that is a bridge in the gap between the old and the new heavy sound and from the other side you have the old school bands like you said. So, it keeps everybody honest, I don't mind the reunions so much, but it keeps the kids educated.

Rockpages.gr: So, I believe that you can guess my next question. It's about a reunion... (Zak laughs). I was sure you were going to understand this one (laughing). So, should I expect to hear a big “NO” or what?

Zak Stevens: Well, it's the same as the last six months or a year. We all know how we feel about it, I am totally in favor of that. I think it would be great, I think it's more of a matter of timing because it seems as I’m talking to the guys everybody's really in favor of this. Overall we have a good feeling there, it’s just a matter of what decisions Jon Oliva and Paul O' Neill are gonna make as far as it is in their regard and then what is our role, what do we need to do in support of that. I feel that is more of a matter of time, hopefully.

Rockpages.gr: All right, now, imagine that Jon or Paul calls you and tells you that from tomorrow you get into the studio for a new Savatage album and a tour. What is gonna be the first words that you gonna say?

Zak Stevens: I would probably say... Fiiiiiiiiiinally... (Laughing), something like that. Seriously, I think I would probably say something along the lines... “It's about time!”.

Rockpages.gr: All this time you are talking for Savatage you have a passionate tone in your voice. Tell me, how it was the feelings of the first years when you were touring with Savatage? If you can deliver these feelings with words.

Zak Stevens: It was really a mixture of excitement but also willing to work, because I had a lot of work to do to get in the level I wanted to be for that band and continue on getting better and keep learning to be able to do different things from album to album. So, yeah it was a mixture of excitement and good work I think, just keeping the excitement tone down to realize that we still had work to do. I wanted to be as good as I could be. The whole feeling was cool, plus being in a band that strong, you get attention which was cool. As we were going on tour, we got a lot of respect because of the quality of music that was so strong. That was a cool feeling knowing you got good backing, the pedigree is very strong with that. The fan base was great, they are very smart, very willing to talk about lot of different things, we have a really great group of fans. The Greek fan club has been really great, you know they have a lot of passion, so they share their passion that we had with the music. So, maybe one day we can do it again.

Rockpages.gr: When you say together in the same phrase the words “Savatage” and “touring” which are the first thoughts that really come in your mind?

Zak Stevens: I think when there were several big festivals that we played. You know, we had one in Brazil, Philips Monsters Of Rock, and then Wacken, one in Holland. I think of Savatage as looking over on these guys ... we were on auto pilot, we were automatic on that point. No more thinking about lyrics, no more thinking about the songs, you could just do it kinda like on an automatic reflex. I remember Savatage being a great band like that, and at that point on tour it was time for us to just rule. Some of these big shows were great because it's not often you got such a strong line up, Pitrelli, Chris Caffery, Middleton, Jon Oliva on the keyboards, Jeff Plate on the drums, even before that we had Alex Skolnick out there. So, we had strong line ups, knowing you are playing at your peak... that was good times. And that is a great question Nick, because that is what I think about it, as strange as it is, that is what I think about it.

Rockpages.gr: By the way, now that you mentioned most of the former members of Savatage, tell me, do you still hang around with them? How are the relations with them?

Zak Stevens: Is really good, I mean I see Jon more than any of them, we work on a lot of projects. We like to sing and do a lot of different things in the studio. I talk to Johnny (Middleton) quite a lot, he is still here in St. Petersburg, he has a Harley Davidson motorcycle  and he drives around, he also has his solo project called JLM and we talk about that, you know, he really do a lot of studio. With Jeff we work together for the Machines Of Grace, and you know we talk almost every day. You know, it is still a very close group , we need to be that close because one day maybe we get together and do all this thing like we were talking about so we still need to be keeping in touch.

Rockpages.gr: So, you mean something like releasing a new Savatage album?     

Zak Stevens: (Laughing) Yeah, that should be great.

Rockpages.gr: Is it a sarcastic laugh?

Zak Stevens: No, no. I just laugh because it seems a long way away right now. But we never know, you can never know with these guys. Like you said, I could get a call tomorrow and everything changes. That's the way it is in this business and especially in the Savatage room.

Rockpages.gr: How it was with Trans -  Siberian Orchestra?

Zak Stevens: It was good, I've been there three times now doing some vocals on the new album they are trying to finish here in Tampa. It is gonna be the fifth album I sung on. So it's a huge operation, every time we have sessions we have so much to do that we have to be really ready to go. We all get in there and we do groups of four or five guys doing backing vocals sometimes we do two or three. You know it just depends on what the song calls for, but we get in there and we have to be very prepared and it's just a very busy busy thing. You know when we do Circle II Circle albums we lay back, we do the drums in about three days, we do the bass... we just take our time, I spend a long time in the vocals. But over there man it's like, “time to go”, everything is so rigid, but this is because is a large operation so you can't lay back as we do in Circle II Circle or Machines Of Grace.

Rockpages.gr: So, tell me who was the artist or the band that gets you into the heavy metal world?

Zak Stevens: Oh, that has to be Bruce Dickinson, because I saw Iron Maiden back when I was still in college in high school and it was really cool. And when I saw him I said, “you know what? I got to do that. That is a great job. Look what this guy does.” Well, if I have to say a band I think it is Iron Maiden but if I have to say a person then definitely it’s Bruce. I remember pointing at him and telling to my friends, “Do you see that? I want to do it one day”. That guy is awesome. And I got lucky enough to do what I am doing.

Rockpages.gr: Have you ever imagined your life doing something different?

Zak Stevens: No, I tried to do some different things before. It just doesn't really feel that good, it doesn't feel right, it would be hard. Life without music for me it would be a tough road.

Rockpages.gr: So you are born to be an artist.

Zak Stevens: Yeah, pretty much I am. That's funny Nick because that's the third time I am asked this question in like two weeks. As long as I stick with the music and teaching music and stuff it’s great. But if I leave from this room and trying to be a corporate business man, oh I am terrible at that. I don't wanna even imagine that.

Rockpages.gr: Now, let’s play something like a game. I want you to tell me your top five albums and a words that describe those.

Zak Stevens: OK. I am gonna say... Judas Priest – Stained Clash. One of my favorite albums, I would say devastation. Let’s see, Queensryche – Operation Mindcrime and I would say that the word is mystery. A lot of mystery in there. Next I would say, Iron Maiden – Peace Of Mind and I would say blast, it is a blast of metal. Let’s see, four I would say Molley Hatchet – Flirting With Disaster and I just say “Southern Rock”, because that's the best way to describe it. And last, I gonna say Ronnie Dio – Last In Line I would say perfect, because he is just perfect.