"They just had the music awards on the other night and I couldn’t recognize any of the bands"

SAGAВ is a great band from Canada. They've been building their reputation of a progressive institution for 38 years.В 

In 2008 their vocalistВ Michael SadlerВ left due due to a desire to focus on his family life and retire from the stress of being in an active traveling band. SAGA returned in the Spring of 2009 with a new singer - Rob Moratti and a new album - 'The Human Condition'. SAGA are set to play for the first time in Bulgaria on June 29th.

We have a lot to talk with SAGA guitarist Ian Crichton.

an interview conducted by Vassil VarbanovВ 

THIS IS THE FIRST TIME WE ARE SPEAKING WITH YOU. ALL OFВ OUR PREVIOUS SAGA INTERVIEWS WERE WITH YOUR NOW EX-SINGER MICHAEL SADLER. IS THISВ ONE OF THE BIGGEST CHANGES IN THE BAND -В YOU TOOK OVER THE PRESS?
Well, yeah it is. We took a year trying to find the right singer. Rob is fantastic. He does the old stuff just the way we like it and the new stuff is shining. He’s awesome. We found our man.

WASВ HE THE FIRST CHOICE OR YOU HAD SOME TENTATIVE SINGERS BEFORE FINDING HIM?
Yeah, there were six singers in the end of the day. A bunch came out to play through the internet and people that we know. We did an audition in the end of 2008. One guy from San Diego, one Manchester, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and one from Finland.

OBVIOUSLY THE MOST INTERESTING CHANGE OF SINGER NOWADAYS WAS THIS JOURNEY CASE WHEN NEAL SCHON FOUND THIS FILIPINO BOY TO REPLACE STEVE PERRY. HE FOUND HIM ON YOUTUBE SINGING IN A JOURNEY COVER BAND. WAS ROB FAMILIAR WITH YOUR WORK BEFORE, BECAUSE AS FAR AS WE KNOW, HE WAS THE SINGER OF ANOTHER BAND CALLED FINAL FRONTIER, BUT TO BE HONEST WITH YOU, WE DON’T HAVE A CLUE HOW THEY SOUND LIKE.
They don’t sound like Saga at all. When you hear Final Frontier, which I did on the internet, I just heard Rob sing. I wasn’t really listening to the song or the type of material. It was just his voice. I thought he could work out fantastic. I didn’t know until I heard it, so we had to hear it, and we had to audition.

YOU MENTIONED THE FIRST AUDITION FOR ROB MORATTI. WHAT WAS THE FIRST SAGA SONG YOU MADE HIM SING?
It was ‘Intermission’. The audition was based on various songs we had written – soft, heavy – so we could cut a feel for this singer if he could cope with both of these.

YOU HAVE BEEN QUITE PROLIFIC LATELY IN RELEASING LIVE ALBUMS, BUT PLEASE TELL US A SPECIFIC SET THAT YOU ARE GOING TO PRESENT HERE IN SOFIA ON MONDAY?
We haven’t been to Bulgaria before so what we’ll try to do is come and play material that represents the band. Stuff from out catalogue. We are going to play new material, but we’re not going to favor it. We will play three or four songs from the new record and the rest is going to be fun. We have never played there.

YEAH, WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU FOR SO MANY YEARS SO IT IS GOING TO BE A DREAM COME TRUE…
Yeah for us too!

SO WE CAN EXPECT SONGS LIKE ‘ON THE LOOSE’ OR ‘WIND HIM UP’ AND ‘INTERMISSION’ AS WELL…
I don’t know about the last one.

WHY NOT? YOUR NEW SINGER DIDN’T SING IT THAT WELL AT THE AUDITION?
Ha-ha. Well, it is a festival, a bigger show, a shorter set. In a normal Saga show we bring the audience down and up and all kinds of stuff. It is going to be good. Looking forward to it.

SO IT IS A FESTIVAL AND YOU ARE GOING TO SHARE THE BILL WITH BANDS LIKE QUEENSRЕёCHE AND LIMP BIZKIT. I 'M SURE YOU HAVE PLAYED WITH QUEENSRЕёCHE BEFORE BECAUSE YOU KIND OF HAVE THE SAME TYPE OF FANS, BUT FOR US IT WAS KIND OF A SURPRISE TO SEE YOU ON THE SAME BILL WITH LIMP BIZKIT. ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH THIS BAND AT ALL?
Yeah, I am. I haven’t heard from Limp Bizkit in a while. They aren’t getting my times wrong, but their hits were big at the end of the nineties, was it? They are not the same genre as Saga and Queensrÿche… that would do a good tour together by the way… we haven’t played with both bands so we are looking forward to it.

YOU HAVE NEVER PLAYED WITH QUEENSRЕёCHE?
Yeah. Both bands came out at a different time. You know, we were in the eighties and continued on, QueensrГїche were in the nineties I think. It is nice to do a package tour.

FOR SO MANY YEARS NOW THE MUSIC THAT WAS MADE IN CANADA WAS KIND OF SYMBOLIZING HIGH MUSICAL QUALITY WITH BANDS LIKE RUSH, SAGA AND MORE RECENTLY THE TEA PARTY AND EVEN MORE COMMERCIAL ACTS LIKE ALANIS MORISSETTE AND BRYAN ADAMS, BUT WHAT IS THE LATEST BIG THING IN CANADA?
You know, I couldn’t tell you. The music we all hear is… there is nothing innovative around. In what we call rock stuff… they just had the music awards on the other night and I couldn’t recognize any of the bands.

WE HAVE A BAND OF THE WEEK NOW HERE ON THE RADIO, CALLED DREAM THEATER. ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH WHAT THESE GUYS ARE DOING, BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY IT IS NOT THE SAME AS YOU GUYS, BUT WE COULD PROBABLY SAY THAT IT IS THE SAME GENRE.
Yeah. That’s great that you have them as a band of the week. That is another band we’d like to tour with.

rights Tangra Mega Rock