Guitarist Chris Caffery, known for his work with Savatage and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, recently spoke with The Pure Rock Shop about his new project, Sprits Of Fire, featuring vocalist Tim “Ripper” Owens, bassist Steve DiGiorgio, and drummer Mark Zonder. He also discussed the TSO / Savatage connection.

On the writing process for the Spirits Of Fire album

Chris: “The original idea was to have stuff that was going to be able to be like… the bands that we had played [in]. I wrote probably 14 songs that were my ideas, and eight of them (made it) onto the record. I was just trying to write things that were going to be fun to listen to, that we were going to be able to be liked by the fans, but also that had their own personality. I think that’s what I went for the most.”

On whether the band plans to tour

Chris: “That’s what we would like to do. Obviously, everybody has their moments in the year where they’re busy, but we would love to play. That’s going to be, I think, pretty much something that’s going to be determined by what the fans think about it. If the record gets out there and everybody likes it and wants to see us and the opportunities come, I think that is something we would definitely love to do. I think it would be great with us because we could do a 10-song set that holds six of our songs, but also would be able to have a song from everybody’s projects and bands of their pasts in there. I think it would be a fun set and a great band to watch. Ripper is a brilliant live vocalist, and everybody else in this band’s got a lot of legs and a lot of experience on the road, so I think it would be a very fun band to watch live.”

On whether Trans-Siberian Orchestra - who perforned Savatage's "Chance" during their 2018 winter tour - will perform additional Savatage songs in the future

Chris: "That's something I believe could happen. That decision will be made by Paul (O'Neill)'s family, and they really loved how everybody reacted to seeing 'Chance'. Our thing with this now is we just want to do whatever we can to keep Paul's legacy alive. There are a lot of songs in the Savatage catalog that have that TSO theatrical and musical emotion and level to them, because they were written by Paul and Jon (Oliva). That stuff can wind up, I'd imagine, anywhere at any time. It's just going to be what everybody decides to be the ones they want to have in the set."

Go to this location to hear the audio interview.