Music like Jon Oliva's Pain

Jon Oliva's Pain (sometimes referred to as JOP) is the latest project of Savatage co-founder Jon Oliva.

Originally, the project consisted entirely of solo recordings by Oliva, but after several months of work he was joined by former members of Circle II Circle to form a band.

The band's first performance was at the Criss Oliva Memorial Concert in 2003, where Oliva played a set of 6 songs from his solo catalog plus "In the Dream" from Power of the Night, "Hey Bulldog" by The Beatles and a cover of "Wishing Well" by the band Free (which was covered by Savatage on their album Fight for the Rock). Joining Jon on stage that night were Matt LaPorte (guitar), John Zahner (keyboards), Jason Jennings (bass), and Christopher Kinder (drums). Initially, the band went out on tour in December 2003 under the name "The Jon Oliva Project", but this was later changed to "'Tage Mahal". The band's name was changed after discovering the blues musician Taj Mahal. Because of the laws surrounding consumer confusion, Oliva instructed the band's name be changed to Jon Oliva's Pain, "Pain" being the working title of the band's first album. The music and themes bear comparison with the likes of Alice Cooper, focusing as they do on elements of obsession, pain, confusion and insanity. Oliva himself cites The Beatles, Queen and The Who amongst his and hence the band's influences.