In a new interview with RockTheLife, SAVATAGE guitarist Chris Caffery spoke about online criticism he and his bandmates have received for reactivating the band without late SAVATAGE guitarist Criss Oliva and Criss‘s brother, SAVATAGE mastermind Jon Oliva. Referencing the fact that he engaged in online banter during the pandemic on the social media channels of sites like BLABBERMOUTH.NET and SAVATAGE-related pages, Caffery said in part: “I have a decent relationship with the Blabbermouth people… In the COVID time, I would watch people get stir crazy and be online. And I saw what was going on with Blabbermouth, how they were really releasing a lot of frustration in the one-liners that were happening on that site. And you could see a lot of musicians that were a part of those conversations. They were getting so mad. And I would sit there laughing my butt off at some of these jokes. And I just decided one day to join in.”

Chris continued: “There was one pretty ridiculous statement made at one point by somebody that had said he was the reason why a band or a particular type of guitar metal had started, and I kept putting that person’s name into all these other posts, and the Blabbermouth people knew that I was being them. ‘Cause they would always have Corey (Taylor) from SLIPKNOT — they had their one name that would wind up in every post to be funny. And I was doing it with the one name I was using, and they got pretty hip to it. So, even when I get to the title and the posts come out with me in the Blabbermouth thing, they don’t attack me in it. And I think that what’s pretty cool is I think there’s a respect that happened over the fact that the roots inside of there know that my sense of humor got what they were doing. And I never thought it was anything that was bad. It was something that was so funny in the midst of the weirdest year of my life and I just chimed in with them and it was kind of funny. So look at that and I’m just, like, it’s not a bad thing. I mean, those people are all music fans and they’re having a good time. And I thought it was always funny when I watched the musicians that got so upset.”

Caffery added: “I’ve had plenty of times where people had had their comments about me. Throughout the years with SAVATAGE — I get trashed more on the SAVATAGE sites than I do on Blabbermouth, because there’s always people that aren’t happy about things: ‘As long as Criss Oliva is not alive, it’s not SAVATAGE.’ It’s, like, well, you wouldn’t be talking about Criss Oliva… The reason why you have thousands of people (talking about SAVATAGE alive online) is because we’ve kept the legacy alive. It’s given you the ability to have two thousand people talk shit about me instead of twenty. So your voice of no reason is heard by a lot more. And I appreciate that ’cause you’re advertising the legacy of SAVATAGE. And nobody likes Criss Oliva more than me. And that that’s just a fact. He was a big reason why I am who I am and where I am. So, like I said, I brush it off. And you grow up a lot on that as time goes on.”