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2 апр 2025
SAVATAGE's JON OLIVA Says He Nearly Died In A 'Freak Accident': 'I Hit A Tree And The Tree Cut My Car In Half'
In an interview with Brazilian music journalist Marcelo Vieira, Oliva repeatedly emphasized that his injuries prevent him from taking part in the tour, explaining how his condition has affected even basic activities, let alone performing.
"Oh, I feel like shit," Jon said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "Well, I've learned my lesson. First of all, never fracture your spine. That's my first tip, because it's incredibly painful and it takes a long time to heal. And, unfortunately, I fractured my spine in three places. Other than that, I'm okay, except with the fracture, I mean, I can't sing. I can't really move around that well yet because it isn't completely healed yet. And I can't do therapy, physical therapy, because it's not healed enough yet for that. So I'm basically stuck, and it sucks and I'm very disappointed, but what are you gonna do? Things happen. And if I would've hit where I did a foot to the left, I'd be dead right now. My truck, my vehicle got cut in half and I missed being grounded to a tree by about a foot. It was scary. And it was a freak accident. I hit a puddle on the road, I hit a puddle and I hydroplaned and I went off the road and hit a tree, and the tree cut my car in half. And, like I said, I just missed hitting the tree with my body by about a foot, they said."
After Vieira noted that Oliva will still serve as SAVATAGE's "musical director" for the upcoming shows and inquired as to what "this new dynamic" has been like for Jon and the rest of the band, Oliva said: "Well, it's weird, it's strange, but I put everything together. I was the first one that started putting this whole tour thing together. And then when the accident happened, I ended up in the hospital for seven months and my managers were, like, 'Well, I guess we're just gonna cancel.' I'm, like, 'Oh, man. No, no. Let me think on this for a little bit.' And I talked to all the guys, and I said, 'Well, look, what if you guys just go and do it and do it without me for this time, for this run, and then when I'm healed up, I'll come back and everything will be like it used to be.' I didn't wanna disappoint the SAVATAGE fans because everyone was looking forward to it and the guys in the band were really looking forward to it. And then, of course, I got in that accident and it screwed everything up. And I'm not that egotistical of a guy where I'm, like, 'Well, if I'm not there, nobody's [gonna play].' I'm not like that. So I talked with everybody. I put a setlist together, song list together, and I said, 'Okay, well, you guys wanna do this? Let's do it. I'm with you.' I'm gonna go to all the rehearsals and everything like that. I'll be there doing musical directing and stuff and whatever.
"The guys are hungry. They're gonna do great," Oliva continued. "I'm very confident that that they're gonna kick your ass. I mean, I wish I could be there, but physically I can't. And I won't go out on stage if I can't be at a hundred percent. And with this injury, there's just no way that I can sing at a hundred percent, and I won't do that. I'd rather just let the guys do it, and when I'm healed up — hopefully next summer, next spring, summer — I'll be okay to be back in there and I'll be back out there."
Asked if this return to the stage is a "one-off celebratory event" or if fans can expect the band to continue to release new material in the future, Oliva said: "Well, we've basically got a whole album that's written, that I've been working on and worked on some stuff with [guitarist] Chris Caffery and I worked on some stuff with [guitarist] Al Pitrelli and some stuff on my own, and we basically got all the material. It's just we were getting ready to start working on it together and this accident happened. I was actually on my way to the studio when this accident happened. It was just bad timing, and what are you gonna do? I mean, it was just a freak accident, but that stuff happens. I'm lucky to be alive. I decided, well, let the guys go and do these shows in South America and maybe a couple shows in Europe and then we'll get to work on the album. And I can do that, I can work on the album, as I am right now, but I can't do any live performances, because I can't stay on my feet that long with this spine thing, and I can't sing. I sing from my diaphragm, and let me tell you, trying to sing with a fractured spine is very painful — it's like being stabbed with a screwdriver. So until I'm better, I'm sending the guys out there to bust ass, and they're gonna do great. And they're very excited, and I'm excited for them. And there's a few surprises we have in store."
Regarding the musical direction of the new SAVATAGE material, Jon said: "It's a little bit of everything. There's some really great, great heavy, heavy dark songs. There's some great progressive, QUEEN-ish type songs. It's a little bit of everything. As a matter of fact, there's so much stuff, it might have to make it a double album, 'cause I've just got too much material. And it's all good. I'm not gonna just slap together some crappy album and call it SAVATAGE: 'Here you go.' No. Every song has gotta be a 10, and so far every song we've worked on is really good. And I think you guys are gonna love it."
Joining Chris and Al in SAVATAGE's current touring lineup are Johnny Lee Middleton on bass, Zak Stevens on vocals and Jeff Plate on drums.
Zak joined SAVATAGE in 1992 as the replacement for Jon. Zak sang on four albums with the band — "Edge Of Thorns" (1993),"Handful Of Rain" (1994),"Dead Winter Dead" (1995) and "The Wake Of Magellan" (1997) — before departing in 2000, allowing Jon to return. Both Jon and Zak took part in SAVATAGE's 2015 performance at Wacken Open Air, which marked the band's first, and only so far, appearance on stage since they went on hiatus back in 2002.
SAVATAGE's last album release, "Poets And Madmen", in 2001 was highlighted by Jon's return as lead vocalist, replacing Zak, who left the band citing family reasons, and the departure of Pitrelli, who accepted an offer to join MEGADETH in 2000. Pitrelli did record solos for some songs prior to his exit. Another very limited U.S. tour followed, supported by FATES WARNING in the early shows, and then NEVERMORE for the remainder. Around this time, Jon chose Zak's replacement in the form of Damond Jiniya (DIET OF WORMS). Damond performed Zak's parts on tour, with Jon having an increased vocal role in proceedings.
In September 2021, Jon Oliva was arrested on the west central coast of Florida for driving under the influence as well as possession of a controlled substance. Police charged Oliva with possession of cocaine, which is a felony, and DUI, which is a misdemeanor. Oliva was reportedly arrested again in July 2023 on another cocaine possession charge.
Back in 2016, Jon announced on social media that he suffered a stroke in April of that year. At the time, he said: "It was not as serious as it could have been, but it did leave me with some physical recovery challenges often associated with strokes."
Despite his health issues, Jon said that he didn't regret the way he had lived his life. He wrote: "I lived the rock 'n' roll lifestyle since I was 18. It's all I knew and I enjoyed the ride very much. But there comes a time in everyone's life where you have to step back and make some life-changing decisions... which I have."
Shortly after SAVATAGE's reunion performance at the 2015 Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany, Oliva claimed that he felt better than he had in 20 years because he had "stopped drinking and eating" in preparation for the concert. He explained: "It's my voice that's freaking me out, because, even when I was in my late 20s, early 30s, doing songs like '24 Hours Ago' were always really hard to do. And, of course, I didn't realize that it was all the drugs and alcohol I was doing. But, after doing that, getting my act together and stuff, singing '24 Hours Ago', it's actually easy now. [Laughs]"
In addition to his work with SAVATAGE, Oliva is well known for co-creating the classical music-meets-prog rock and pyro act TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA alongside Paul O'Neill. Oliva has reportedly remained involved in TSO's activities even after O'Neill's April 2017 death of an accidental drug overdose.
Jon's brother Criss, who was one of the founding members of SAVATAGE, was killed in October 1993 by a drunk driver when he and his wife Dawn were en route to the Livestock festival in Zephyrhills, Florida. The driver of the other car was found to have a drunk driving record of seven prior DUIs and having a blood alcohol content of .294 percent.
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