Zak Stevens joined his first rock band at eight years old with some fourth grade friends and his brother Nick. In fifth grade, the band they called "Black Diamond" won the talent show at Zak's elementary school, performing songs by KISS and The Doobie Brothers. Music became embedded in Zak's day-to-day activities. Zak went on to be involved as a percussionist in his middle and high school band organizations, as well as the University of South Carolina marching and concert bands. In 1992, Zak joined Savatage and enjoyed a nine-year career with the band that encompassed five studio albums. 1993 found Zak being recognized as one of the Top Five Rock Vocalists in America by the American Vocal Association for his work with Savatage. In 2000, Zak began working as a vocalist and associate producer for Trans-Siberian Orchestra and has appeared on three of their albums.
The polishing of the uncut diamond happened early during his childhood. His ambitions to play drums at an early age led to him joining a Kiss cover band when he was only nine years old. Filling both the drummer and lead vocalist roles, he was light years ahead of any auditioning singers. After recording four outstanding albums with Savatage, Zak left the band rather silently in the fall of 2000. During winter time 2002/2003, the family man started his comeback, logically supported by his musical family Savatage. Songwriting genius Jon Oliva and guitarist Chris Caffery co-wrote with Zak the songs for the brilliant Circle II Circle debut "Watching in Silence". Zak acted as producer of his new band and realized his dreams by hammering away the drum tracks of a long play album for the very first time in his career.
The album earned glorious reviews all over the hard rock and heavy metal planet. It was among the top 3 positions worldwide in most magazine's annual reader polls as "Best Newcomer Act" and even entered the sales charts in several countries. The production of the second Circle II Circle record, "The Middle Of Nowhere", features Zak´s talents even more intensively, taught to him by Jon Oliva and Paul O´Neill´s super-advanced master's school of power composition, 
production and improvisation. This time around Zak was joined by new band members Paul Michael Stewart, Andy Lee, Tom Drennan and Evan Christopher. The album earned glorious reviews all over the hard rock and heavy metal planet once again and topped several magazines 2005 annual readers polls. The sacred atmosphere around the concept album from Circle II Circle "Burden Of Truth" gained more weight than anticipated since its release last year. The conceptual album, inspired by the books "The Da Vinci Code" and "Holy Blood Holy Grail", took on a life of it's own with Zak's powerful and highly expressive vocal-approach placing himself in the middle of the story as the main-character.
Zak Stevens and his band Circle II Circle have returns in 2008 with their new release, 'Delusions Of Grandeur'. We caught up with Zak and talked to him about the new album and what they have planned for 2008. Here is what he shared with us.
AAM: Let's talk about the new album, 'Delusions Of Grandeur', which sounds amazing!
ZAK STEVENS: Thanks guys, the new album is definitely a different animal for us. We've had that mind set with all of our releases, to make each one a separate animal and let them take on their own characteristics.
AAM: What was your mindset going into the studio as far as how you wanted the new album to sound?
ZS: We wanted to be more aggressive on the new album. That was the mindset from all of us on how we wanted to make the album sound.
AAM: Where was the album recorded?
ZS: We had to go to a different studio to record the album to get the vibe that we wanted. We recorded in Tampa and in Orlando. In fact Tampa is where we recorded the first three Circle II Circle albums.
AAM: How long were you in the studio for the new album?
ZS: Not very long, we started December 10th 2007 then turned it in, February 4th 2008. It was mainly, myself and Mitch Stewart our bassist, who also has producing credit along with me on the new album. He was there everyday this time.
AAM: How many songs did you write for the new album?
ZS: We wrote 15 and then chose 13 to put on the album.
AAM: What about the people who say that Circle II Circle sounds like Savatage?
ZS: Yeah, there are still going to be bits and pieces of my music that will remind people of my work with Savatage. It's always going to be there. I don't mind that at all.
AAM: Are you satisfied with how the band's chemistry has come together?
ZS: Most definitely. This line-up is three albums now going on to four strong. So our chemistry is staring to solidify.
AAM: You are going to be pretty busy touring this Summer. Can you talk to us about what's on tap for you, touring wise?
ZS: Mitch and I will be doing the ProgMetal Festival in September, but we changed it from being an acoustic set to a full on electric set. It's going to be a full blown performance from the band. From that we are going straight on to our U.S. Tour. We are going to do a few warm up shows before hitting the road for the big tour in Tampa.
AAM: The big tour, that is with Jon Oliva's Pain right? That is going to be one amazing show.
ZS: I really think so. The tour will feature lots of great music. It’s going to be fun for us as well as for the fans. We looked at it from the perspective of, 'If we were fans, what would we want to hear?'. We'll feature songs from Jon's era as well as my era with Savatage. It’s the first time I’m touring and I need to consult with the band as to ‘hey, what Savatage songs should I play?’ So he’ll be doing the same, ‘now let’s just do these, and I’ll do these, and then we’ll get together later and do these.’ So it’s going to be awesome.
AAM: Are there plans on releasing a DVD for future release?
ZS: Yes, we’re editing it, We’ve got the guy working on editing it right now. It will include stuff from that Progpower live show, and we have a few videos out there with some of that stuff. Put a few more songs on that, plus the making of Delusions Of Grandeur, because we filmed, basically we had a few cameras in there the whole time we were making Delusions Of Grandeur. So a good portion of it will be the making of the new album.
AAM: For someone who hasn't witnessed Circle II Circle live, what can they expect?
ZS: We come out with full blown guitars assault. Full on vocals assault. We have Andy Lee unleashing amazing lead guitar. We take no prisoners when we hit the stage.
AAM: Zak, it has been a blast talking with you. Any parting comments?
ZS: I believe we've recorded an album that will crank a nerve here. We are definitely proud with what we created. Thank you guys for your support. We are excited about the release of the new album and look forward to giving our fans around the world a show that they will remember. See you all soon.
The Rocker and I along with All Access Magazine would like to give a big thank you to Zak Stevens for talking with us. Zak, it was truly a pleasure!
For More Info On Circle II Circle: www.circle2circle.net
