Interview date: 4 November 1998
Savannah brought a smile to the lips of many AOR fans with the release of their debut album a couple of months ago. I've mentioned that I was going to interview these guys for the past couple of updates. This month I finally got some questions together and Mr Z Records, Mark Alger, passed them onto the band. Let's hear more about Savannah:
Q1. Maybe we could start off with a brief summary of how Savannah was formed ?
1. Savannah was formed by 2 succesful bands of the early 90's, Slyboyz and Lord Grey. "I was living in Florida but kept in touch with Tony and Dario and when they told me that they could get Earle and Marc, I decided to move back to Boston. I was familiar with Earle's voice and always a big fan of it, and knew I'd be working with musicians that are talented and have the same tastes and goals as me." Says Marty
Q2. It is obvious right from the start of the album that the band have gone after that 'classic AOR' sound. Was it a difficult decision to, I assume, follow your heart, rather than attempt to go for something more modern and more commercially viable at the moment ?
2. "It was not a difficult decision at all to play the style of music that we play."Says Earle, "We could have easily conformed to to the commercial sound but we could never look in the mirror or look at the fans and be sincere."
Q3. I know that I mentioned Journey in my review of the album & I've seem them mentioned in other reviews. Do you these constant comparisons get boring ?
3. "We get compared to alot of bands"Says Dario, "But that's gonna happen. We weren't shooting for too much of a Journey sound, but it's not a bad band to be compared to. However we'd prefere to be known as having our own original sound.
Q4. One of the things I liked about the album was the fact that, even though the sound is classic AOR, the band manage to keep it sounding fresh. How did you manage that ?
4."I think what we did was take some influences from country music, blues and straight forward hard rock. We kept the lyrics mature and credible. And we stuck with vintage sounds on the keyboards for the most part. And some accoustic guitar. And at the same time we had Earle's powerful high range voice and used big backround harmonies" Says Marty.
Q5. How did the band hook up with Z Records, who are better know for signing Scandinavian acts ?
5. "Well Z records has a US office and we mailed a package to Dave Tedder at that office recomended by D2's PR girl and we got a call shortly thereafter." Says Marty
Q6. What are your favourite tracks from the album ?
6. Dario-All of them, Earle-Useless Alibi, Down Every Road, Marty-Hardline, Useless, Marc-Down Every Road, Premonition, Never Too Late, Tony-All of them.
[I'm going to agree with Earle - Down Every Road & Useless Alibis - are my favourites.]
Q7. Are you completely happy with the album, or are there any aspects you would to have the chance to go back and tweak a little ?
7. "Definitely would like to go back and change alot of things" agrees Savannah "But I don't think we'd ever be completely happy with anything" adds Earle.
Q8. The band are going to be playing at this year's Gods gig, are you looking forward to that ?
8. Unfortunately the Gods festival won't be seeing Savannah this year but the band is preparing an overseas tour early next year.
[As you can see, my rapidly decreasing number of brain cells is starting to cause me a few problems. Hell, if I'd even read my own web page occassionally I'd have known that Savannah weren't in the Gods 98 lineup. One valuable lesson learnt - a bit more research before firing off the interview questions wouldn't go amiss. Still, this interview thing is kinda new to me. Sorry about the silly question guys!!!]
Q9. Listening to 'Useless Alibis', I guess you must have an Eagles fan in the band ?
9. "Usless Alibi is influenced by country, Kinda like a Collin Raye Tune but we all love the Eagles and I guess after adding a bit of a rock edge it sound very Eagles influenced. The song has gotten overwhelming feedback from the fans. When we play it live, the crowd sings and slow dances and it's very moving." Says Marty
Q10. What does the future hold for Savannah ? What can we expect from the next album ?
10. "We'll be playing alot of shows!" says Marc enthusiasticly, " and we're excited about our new material." "That's true." Adds Marty, "The new stuff has a little more roots of rock n roll sound, a little more accoustic sound but also the electric stuff has more grooves. But we'll always be melodic. And we can't write a song unless it has some characteristics that keep it from sounding like anything typical" "We're looking forward to recording the new cd." Everyone agrees.
Many thanks to Savannah (Earle (vocals), Dario (guitars), Marc (bass), Marty (keyboards)& Tony (drums)) for taking the time to reply to my questions.
