Johnny Lee Middleton - Savatage

Savatage

Middleton spent several years with Lefty, the nightly shows honing both his bass chops and his stage presence. And it was during this time that he first crossed paths with Savatage, a decidedly un-glam metal band based in the Tampa, Florida area, near his hometown of St. Petersburg.

By 1984, Savatage had released several albums, but guitarist Criss Oliva and drummer Steve Wacholz were losing patience with bass player Keith Collins. That year, Wacholz spotted Middleton onstage with Lefty at a local club. Although the Lefty image was a far cry from that of the hard-edged Savatage, Middleton's talent and stage presence caught Wacholz' attention. Wacholz passed Middleton's name to Savatage founder and singer Jon Oliva. Like Wacholz, Oliva had little interest in the Lefty look, but he too was impressed with Middleton's performance.

When invited to join Savatage, however, Middleton turned the offer down. The members of Savatage all worked other jobs, and Middleton's Lefty gig paid well enough to live on without the need for outside work. "Steve approached me and offered me the bass gig. I said, 'I'm not going to a day job – I'm making $250 a week.' For me, being 19-20 years old, that was good money. I said, 'When you can offer me a salary, come back and see me.'"

But eventually, playing cover songs with Lefty lost its appeal. "We did well, but it got old," Middleton says. Late in 1985, Savatage approached Middleton again. Preparing to record their next album, they were still looking to replace Collins. This time, Middleton agreed: "Somehow I was fed up with this bar-band-shit, even though it was a good living, getting through the week with $250, even if it meant we had to work each night for it. At the time I was only 20, 21 years old. The guys from my band would have loved to have lynched me, when I stepped out. Four weeks later I couldn't have cared less. I was in London with Savatage – and had a fuckin' great time!"

Middleton's first appearance on a Savatage recording was 1986's Fight for the Rock, an album the band now refers to as "Fight for the Nightmare." "We recorded a great record," he says, but the record label "took our record, mangled the hell out of it, and tried to make us into something we weren't, when they thought the market was going more poppy. It was a learning experience." The experience improved with 1987's breakthrough Hall of the Mountain King, which marked the band's first collaboration with producer Paul O'Neill. The title track received significant airplay on hard-rock radio and MTV's Headbanger's Ball. Gutter Ballet (1989) and Streets (1991) continued and solidified the partnership with O'Neill. During this time, Savatage embarked on several American and European tours, opening for bands such as Motorhead, Dio, and Megadeth.

1993 saw the first significant change in the Savatage lineup since Middleton's arrival in 1985. Singer Jon Oliva departed, and the remaining members of Savatage recorded and released Edge of Thorns with new vocalist Zak Stevens. Middleton describes Edge of Thorns as "about my favorite record, due to the fact that I like the bass mix in it, and it was the last one me and Criss got to do together. Jon had stepped down to pursue his Broadway thing, and it was me and Criss against the world, really. Everything was against us, and we fought back and won."

The victory was short-lived. On October 17, 1993, Criss Oliva's car was struck head-on by a drunk driver. Oliva was killed instantly.

Middleton did not play on 1994's Handful of Rain. He entered the studio, saw Criss Oliva's signature white guitar, and – still devastated by Oliva's death only months before – turned around and walked out. But he joined the reunited and rebuilt Savatage for the Handful of Rain tour, and in early 1995 he rejoined the band in the studio to record 1995's Dead Winter Dead.