Producer/composer Paul O'Neill, who co-founded TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA with SAVATAGE mastermind Jon Oliva, told Billboard.com that he and company are currently re-recording "Gutter Ballet" (also the name of the second record O'Neill did with SAVATAGE) "in its original Broadway format," though there's no firm timetable on when it might go into full production. It's the culmination of a work that O'Neill began in the 1970s. Many of the songs have already had rock versions recorded by SAVATAGE, but will return to their roots for the Broadway show.

"We want to take it back to the original blues, gospel, Motown sound," O'Neill told TheNewsStar.com in a December 2009 interview. "For SAVATAGE, you've got to metal it up."

He added, "Jon and I are kind of psyched to be doing it because Broadway is something we've always wanted to take on."

CIRCLE II CIRCLE, the band formed by ex-SAVATAGE frontman Zak Stevens, has been confirmed for next year's edition of the Wacken Open Air festival, set to take place August 2-4, 2012 in Wacken, Germany. The group will be joined at the event by special guest guitarist Chris Caffery (SAVATAGE, TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA) for a special performance of the classic 1997 SAVATAGE album "The Wake Of Magellan" (which featured both Stevens and Caffery) in its entirety.

CIRCLE II CIRCLE released its fifth album, entitled "Consequence Of Power", in September 2010 via AFM Records. The second concept effort for the band was recorded at Sweet Spot Studios and was described in a press release as "a melodic power metal album catering to all fans from the old SAVATAGE era to all CIRCLE II CIRCLE European fans and breaking new ground for an all new fan base in America."

CIRCLE II CIRCLE's current lineup consists of Zak Stevens (vocals), Rollie Feldmann (guitar), Mitch Stewart (bass/keyboards) and drummer Johnny Osborn, formerly of DR. BUTCHER.

Jon Oliva, the American composer, multi-instrumentalist and singer who is best known as the founder of and keyboardist and lead vocalist for SAVATAGE, spoke to That Metal Interview about the possibility of new music from the cult metal outfit. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Ever since [SAVATAGE's 2001 album] 'Poets And Madmen', I have been writing SAVATAGE material. Me and [guitarists] Al Pitrelli and Chris Caffery, over the last couple of years, have been putting material together and writing stuff together.

"This is the thing: there is no official thing that we're going to do a SAVATAGE album; there's nothing official. Because you know what? As soon as I say, 'Yeah, we're gonna do a new SAVATAGE album,' something will happen to fuck it up. And then I look like a liar. So all I'm gonna say is there are many surprises in the future.

"We don't know what's going to happen," he continued. "We're not sure. But we're writers; we write. And we have — dude, just me alone, I have enough songs for three SAVATAGE albums, okay? And so, yeah, we write because we like working together. And because of the pandemic and stuff, a lot of the stuff that we've been just fiddling around with each other, we've done it over the phone and over the Internet: 'Here, I've got this. What do you think?' 'Oh, I love it.' And I'll send Al something over the phone. He'll send me something. Caffery will send me something or I'll send him something. Because you don't know.

"The world today is different, and I don't want to say to people, 'Hey, we're gonna do a new SAVATAGE album,' and have something come along to fuck it all up.

"No one knew that this COVID-19 shit was gonna happen. And who knows? Yeah, there's the vaccine now, but they're already saying, 'Oh, there's different strands of it now,' and, 'Who knows?', and this and that and blah blah blah blah."

Oliva went on to say that he and his SAVATAGE bandmates "would all love" to make a new studio album. "But there's no deal with a record company to do it," he explained. "There's no plan — actual plan — saying we're gonna start recording SAVATAGE. There's no plan like that. All we're doing, as being musicians and songwriters, is we're compiling new material. So if we do get, 'Hey, why don't you guys do this? We've got a company that wants to give you guys [a deal], we're gonna be prepared.

"A lot of the fans, which it makes me upset, because SAVATAGE fans, I love them so much, because they have never, ever turned their backs on SAVATAGE — ever. And I just don't want to lead them down a road of false shit," he added. "If something happens where we say, 'Okay, we're ready to do this. Let's do it, guys,' I will be the first person to make a professional press release to tell everybody. But I just don't want to, because it's not solidified in stone right now. Do we wanna do it? You bet your fucking ass we wanna do it. But do we have the material for it? You bet your fucking ass we have enough material for another 10-year run. But all I can say is if we do a SAVATAGE thing, it's gonna fuck you people up — it's gonna be fucking blowaway."

Legendary SAVATAGE singer John Nicholas "Jon" Oliva was arrested earlier this week on the west central coast of Florida for driving under the influence as well as possession of a controlled substance.

The Pasco County Jail web site shows the 62-year-old musician was arrested at 3:43 a.m. on Thursday (September 30) and was released on bail less than 24 hours later — at 12:34 a.m. on Friday (October 1).

Police charged Oliva with possession of cocaine, which is a felony, and DUI, which is a misdemeanor.

In a new interview with Jeff Gaudiosi of MisplacedStraws.com, vocalist Zak Stevens spoke about the status of SAVATAGE, the cult metal band which resurfaced in 2015 for an appearance at Germany's Wacken Open Air festival but hasn't performed live since then. He said: "We got a lot of work done at the end of last year with SAVATAGE. In 2015, we came together and played Wacken, with TSO [TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA] andSAVATAGE at the same time. Very aggressive. That was cool. And then the idea was to come back and play and do another record. So we're still on target for that. We got more work done coming into this year… When we were all there playing with TSO, we all just got to meet and get together and have meetings. And I was very excited about that. So we're making progress.

"I have to tell everybody, just on the SAVATAGE side, keep being patient, 'cause we're doing everything we can," Zak explained. "We got a few things outside of our control, but it's not a big deal, and we're just kind of working through those. And we got the music rolling. We're working on a lot. It's abundant, I'll say that. So everybody's got a job to do.

"That's one area that I would like to see really develop — get SAVATAGE back out there," Stevens added. "It came to my mind when I was talking about playing festivals — that's the perfect way. If we came out with this album, we can go straight to doing that, and it would make so many people happy, including everybody in the band and people who've been waiting for SAVATAGE to do something else."

Asked if he is ever surprised that people are still interested in SAVATAGE, Zak said: "It's amazing. It's a blessing, is what it is. We have our job to do. I just want everybody to know we're doing everything we can. We got a few little things on the management, the label side, try to make a few decisions, but we're just real blessed that that's still the case — that there is such a demand out there for the band. For me, it's kind of everything that my career is based on. That was the first major band I was in, being the second singer for SAVATAGE. So there would be nothing greater than to get everything rolling again."