Steve Wacholz

Steve Wacholz — known as Doc Killdrums — was Savatage's founding drummer, a member from the band's beginning until 1993. Born in the United States in 1962, he was in the line-up that recorded Sirens (1983), Hall of the Mountain King (1987), Gutter Ballet (1989), Streets: A Rock Opera (1991) and Edge of Thorns (1993) — that is, the whole path from the raw heavy metal of the early years to the rock opera that redefined the group. That breadth explains his function. Savatage's drumming had to change in nature midway: on the early records it marks with direct weight; from Gutter Ballet onwards it has to follow arrangements with piano, tempo changes and narrative passages, sustaining structures closer to theatre music than to song. Wacholz crossed that transition without the band having to change drummers. He left Savatage in 1993, in the period following Criss Oliva's death.