What does it mean to you to have 23 Studio Albums ?
JIM : I don ’ t know , it just seemed like it was completely natural to do , and you know , the music was in most cases , coming out fairly easily . So it ’ s trying to make it as fun and as edgy as it could be and it ’ s fresh as it could be . Sometimes we nailed it and sometimes we were close and sometimes we did things people didn ’ t like , but it was still , like you said , there ’ s 23 of them .
You guys broke at the right time in ‘ 82 along with Asia and Rush with Moving Pictures .
Where did you guys get constant inspiration from ? Nobody sounds like Saga .
JIM : Well , that was kind of the thing , and I think when I was growing up it was different than now . It was really important to have your own sound . I remember going to see festivals and you ’ d have Jimi Hendrix and then you ’ d have Chicago play which is a horn band , then a guitar band , a metal band , or reggae band . You know , it ’ s just everybody , nobody was trying to copy anybody or the whole idea was to be different . I always thought that ’ s what you ’ re supposed to do . And when we were working on the first album , I think anytime we thought we had a part that sounded like somebody else , we ’ d kick it out of the song . I think we got rid of quite a few cool bits , but we were concerned that they may remind you of some other band . In doing that , we discovered a few things that I think we do that most bands don ’ t do . We kind of were searching for something that made it unique .
The band was always able to craft a touching song . Was contrast important ?
JIM : I think having contrast was a huge , important thing to me . If I went and saw a band that were amazing players , and they just played fast all night , it was kind of like , after about 10
“ It was really important to have your own sound and I remember going to see festivals and you ’ d have Jimi Hendrix and then you ’ d have Chicago play which is a horn band , then a guitar band , a metal band , or reggae band .“