Episode title: Wake Up Classy 97 with Josh and Chantel - BONUS - Al Pitrelli from Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Episode summary introduction:
Josh sits down with Al Pitrelli, founding member of the legendary Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Al opens up about his musical journey from Alice Cooper and Michael Bolton to TSO, the legacy of Paul O’Neill, and what fans can expect when TSO brings their electrifying show to Idaho Falls for the very first time. From football talk to guitars with lifelong stories, this conversation gives a rare behind-the-scenes look at the man and the music that helped shape one of the biggest holiday rock experiences in the world.
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Full show transcript:
Hey, it's Josh from Wake Up Classy 97 and I am excited to say that we at Classy 97 are presenting Trans-Siberian Orchestra at the Mountain America Center in Idaho Falls on November 20th. It's their first time in East Idaho, which is going to be super cool to see, and we are doing a ticket giveaway right now in the Classy 97 app. So if you don't have that, search for Classy 97 in your app store and then you'll see in the menu it says Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
You tap on that, you can fill out the form. And we're giving away a whole bunch of tickets, meet and greet passes for the show November 20th. And tickets do go on sale this Friday, so just a couple of days from today at 10 a.m. to the general public at Ticketmaster.com. This is a bonus episode of Wake Up Classy 97, the podcast. It is a conversation that I got to have for about 15 minutes with Al Pitrelli, one of the founding members of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. And so enjoy that conversation and we'll see you on November 20th at the show.
Hey, good morning. It's Al Pitrelli from TSO. Well, I should say good afternoon. How are you? I'm good, brother. How are you doing today?
Hey, really, really good. Yeah, how's everything where you're at?
Um, good. You know, I mean, the kids are back in school, the leaves are turning, football started, I'm on the phone with you. We got a big rock show we're bringing into town pretty soon. So far it's been a great day, dude.
I mean, all right. So let's talk about week one of football then because if you're talking football, who's your go-to? Who's your team right now?
Well, I grew up a Jets fan. I watched Joe Namath win the Super Bowl in 69. Okay. And it's been not the best season since, if you will. So I did become a Kansas City fan during COVID because that was the first football season I got to watch since TSO started touring in the winter because we got shows all weekend.
Sure. And obviously, you know, COVID kind of put the kibosh on that. So I remember sitting on the couch with my wife and my daughters and clicking through and I saw them at Holmes and Kelsey and Pacheco and Andy Reed and all these people doing this. I'm like, this is fun. Yeah. So, you know, civil Jets fan, you know, forever, really like Kansas City a lot. Now, who do you like?
So I'm kind of all over the place. I don't have like a solid. My wife, however, the co-host of the morning show with me, she is a Die Hard Minnesota fan and only over the past couple of years. She watched the quarterback show on Netflix, became a huge fan of Kirk Cousins and his family and then became a big fan for like two seasons of the Minnesota Vikings. And he of course goes to Atlanta, that whole shakeup. And so she's been torn between now being a fan of the Vikings because she really fell in love with them first and she really likes Lamar Jackson and the Ravens. That's kind of where her heads at.
It looks like both great teams. Vikings were great last night.
Eventually looked great. Yeah.
Listen, great job. And listen, Baltimore is like one of those things that like, how do you know, I'm grateful that, you know, the Chiefs won a bunch of Super Bowls and bumped in out of the world. Right. But.
Well, let's get a little more formal introduction here and then we'll kind of dive into some other stuff. Um, cause I got a bunch of questions I want to get to. Obviously we want to talk about TSO a little bit. So, uh, let me kind of rewind a little bit and introduce you and then we'll kind of go through, um, some of the stuff.
So Al Pitrelli, who is a founding member of Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and I want to get a little bit into kind of behind the curtain with you on TSO, but I want to get to know you a little bit. This is kind of like the first time you guys will be in Eastern Idaho in this part of the state. You've been in Salt Lake City, which is right at right down the road. You've been in Boise, which is just a little bit further than Salt Lake. Uh, but this is your first time in East Idaho and I want to get to know you and TSO a little bit. So kind of give me a little bit like a, like a two minute sort of background on you as a musician in your career. Oh my gosh.
Okay. All right. This is the short, the short version of the story. I started in 1964 when I saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. I went through the public school systems in the 60s and 70s and all the large ensembles playing, uh, wind instruments. Um, got my first guitar when I was like three or four years old.
I just fell in love with it. Worked really hard to be a well educated musician, um, very fluent in reading and a lot of different genres. And got my first real job being Alice Cooper's musical director back in the late 80s and got an education and theatrical presentation of rock and roll on an arena level. Unbeknownst to me how that was going to change my life and prepare me for what was to become the trans-Tiberian orchestra. No kidding.
Yeah, dude. And so thousands of gigs over, you know, starting in the 70s, right through the middle 80s through the end of the 80s. And I happened to meet a guy named Paul Neil in 1985. I was playing guitar for a guy named Michael Bolton at the time. Yeah.
All right. I want to talk about that too. Paul was part of the management company that managed him and we got to me and he goes, man, I can't believe like, you know, how you got this gig and I'm real proud of you. And you know, it's good to see another guy from all around.
He was from all around as well. Do well for himself. And he goes, one day we're going to work together. That's fantastic. And I liked the next 10 years from 85 to 95, doing a lot of musical directing, a lot of work for a lot of different artists.
And which again was preparing me for something I didn't know that was on the horizon. But when Paul called me up in winter of nine, five, he said, listen, I'm working on this project.
I've heard a lot of guitar players. It's just missing something. And I'm coming in and put ears on it with me. Do we come up with? And I remember him putting up the faders on what was to become Christmas Eve, Sarajevo 12, 4.
Yeah. He goes, I need an introduction. Now, again, coming through a different upbringing, musically, a lot of shows, a lot of musicals that were on TV, West Side Story, The Sound of Music, Jesus Christ, Superstar.
I was very, very well versed at a young age. He was homecoming. Yeah. And I just looked at Paul's work like it's a film. Now you can't do the film, but I could see the imagery he was trying to create. And I came up with that opening haunting motif before the song kicks in and then played some other theatrical tight pieces through the stone. He goes, no, that's exactly what I needed. Thank you. And I just said, Hey, listen, anytime, dude, he goes, we want to work on some more stuff with him.
Like, absolutely. He goes, he goes, well, I don't really have much money to pay you. I said, buy me cheeseburger and give me gas money to get home.
We'll be good. And he goes, really? And I said, yeah, I'd rather be here with you. You know, this is fun. It's really musical. Remember, it was 1995 and I'm playing guitar like I want to play a guitar in a time where Kurt Cobain and Soundgarden all kind of took over.
And I just loved every minute of working on with him because he was creating really good art. Yeah, right. You know, later that year in 1995, well, the rest is history. That song hit the radio and here we are 30 something years later talking about it. Okay.
So let me, let me kind of rewind a little bit because you mentioned Michael Bolton in there and I was doing some reading and it says it was during his like Red Rocker era. Tell me about like what exactly was Michael Bolton's Red Rocker era for you working with him? And then I want to dive into some of the other acts that you've kind of performed with.
Well, listen, Michael was a rock and roll singer from New York, dry state area, he came from Connecticut and he had like one of those just incredible white blue eyed soul blues voices that when he opened his mouth, he filled the room even without a microphone, you know, and he had a couple minor hits, a fool's game was a good one for him. And I got to work with him. He did soundtracks with Rodney Dangerfield, movie back to school.
Okay. And he had a song called Everybody's Crazy. And you know, on the records was, you know, Bruce Keeler could play guitar, who ended up being in Kistrel a long time, Skyler Deal, who played with a bass ability Joel, Michael Braun was the drummer from Holland and Oaks and so on and so forth. And playing with him, you know, and he was writing songs. So I dig it. So I was like, man, you know, when I grow up, I'll be something like you dude, you know, cause he had it going on.
And then he became Michael Bolton, you know, when he did sit on Dock of the Bay and all those kind of songs. Yeah. But it just showed me that a guy kept his, you know, great work ethic, great human being. nd just never lost focus on what he wanted to accomplish was conquer the world.
Right. I remember watching him do that going, if he could do that, you know, maybe it's possible. And I just said, I'm going to be very well versed in as many styles as I can because I don't know where my breaks are to come from. But, you know, it came, I had a mentor years and years ago who said, you know, playing guitar solos is like one tenth of your occupation. Playing rhythm guitar in a good sight reader is going to serve you much more and concentrate on that. And I took those words apart and I just really have been a student of music, a deep student of music for all my life.
Well, that's awesome. And you've played in so many different genres. You talk about Michael Bowen, you talk about Alice Cooper, Megadeth, Asia, Celine Dion, like the roster is just all over the place.
It is. But first of all, thanks for saying that. Second of all, you know, there's only 12 notes of music.
Oh, of course. Right.
That's it. So not to talk about the category and nerd, but if I can, if I can put those combinations and notes together and the genre of respectful, you know, tone wise, election wise, and serve the song, then it made no difference sitting in a studio with Celine Dion, a Taylor Day, and a Snyder. You know, it really didn't. You know, obviously you're going to play a little bit more aggressively here, a little more subdued here or whatever. But everything is starting to sound and that grew up, you know, again, being a huge Beatles fan, man, the songs are everything.
Right. You know, and I got with Paul O'Neill, I wasn't trying to show him in a guitar hero. It was about, okay, serve the song and bring the song to life or help him, you know, reach his goal musically, sonically.
So what is it about a trans-Siberian orchestra then that keeps you going? Like, what is it about this thing that's like, this is it, this is what I'm going to do. And I'm just going to, I'm going to live in this space for a long time, as long as I can.
Because there was no limit to how far Paul was going to push what he or so was about. You know, one minute I'm recording an acoustic piece like Kat Stevens and Jim Croce or James Taylor. The next minute I'm transcribing, you know, one of the Mozart symphonies or one of Beethoven symphonies or Schafst-Kowicz piece. You know, he tapped into every part of my musical ability and even things I couldn't do that he pushed me to learn how to do. And there was just no limit to what we were going to create together, you know, and help him like have his vision come to fruition.
And I also, you know, I wrote some of the material, I arranged a lot of the material with him, I recorded all the material with him. So it's like, if he was TSO's father, then I was like the crazy uncle, you know, and I have a vested interest in this thing that, you know, I helped rig to life with him. And it's like one of your children going off into the world. I mean, you never let go of the fact that, okay, you know, some of my children are grown and have families of their own and I have two young daughters and it doesn't matter. You love them unconditionally for the rest of their lives. Until I take my last breath, I want to protect them, nurture them and they'll always be my babies, even if they're grown and they're moved out of the house.
Okay. So when you look at younger musicians and crew that are helping out and joining in and being a part of it today, is there hope there? Are you excited about the future? Regarding TSO? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Well, yeah, I mean, we got kids in the band who weren't born when I first recorded this record. Right. I mean, art continues on, you know, and if we go back to the top of our conversation regarding football, you know, I grew up watching Joe Namath when the Super Bowl, you know, back in 69. And then we just chatted about, you know, the Ravens and the Chiefs and Vikings and these younger quarterbacks who grew up probably emulating Tom Brady, who emulated Joe Montana, who emulated, I don't know, Roger Storbach, Bob Greci. You know, it just keeps growing and evolving. And, you know, you're very proud of the next generation because you want them to be better than you.
Awesome. And that's, I think that all art spores everything in life. You know, if you just take from your influences and several influences, not just one, and you try to be better than all of them, then that's how things grow. And, you know, and I watched that occur, you know, globally on the music scene. And also at home in TSO with, I got like a couple of guitar players in the bullpen that they'll come to rehearsals in case one of us gets sick or something happens.
Yeah. You know, they'll jump in and I, how did you do that? You know, I mean, these kids are incredible. I'm very proud of them and I'm very proud to, you know, be part of their mentoring.
Oh, that's very cool, man. If, let's say a trans-Siberian orchestra wasn't necessarily tied so closely to Christmas theme and you could pick like a rock opera theme for a different holiday, is there any that stand out?
Not really. I think we covered a lot of ground. You know, I didn't see any of this on the horizon anyway. This is all Paul and Neil's vision. Okay. Yeah. So I was happy that he wrote these very frank, appraise stories that I was there to help, you know, underscore with him. Um, the Beethoven's last night work that I'm very proud of, which was celebrating 25th anniversary of this year. You know, I mean, if you were to ask me, you know, 50 years ago, would I be sitting down looking at, you know, a Mozart or Beethoven or Chopin score and turning it into rock guitar?
I would have said, no dude, not happen yet. Again, um, you know, being a student of all forms of music, you know, I was very proud to be part of that. I'm pretty happy with what we've done. I just, I just want the work to continue on, you know, pull one of this thing to last forever and that's what we're trying to accomplish.
On, on that note, if you had stayed, uh, and continued just to focus in the, you know, traditional rock band type of, type of area, where do you think you'd be? Not on the phone with you. Well, all right. Okay. That's fair. Yeah.
You know, I mean, listen, every decision you make, every left and right turn, every, uh, mistake you make leads you to where you are in life. Everybody lands exactly where they're supposed to land. Yeah. So if you change one thing in my life or career, albeit professionally or personally, you and I are not having this conversation today.
Yeah. Maybe you'd be having it with somebody different who got involved, but you know, that's why people say you're having any regrets. I'm like, not one. Cause if I did, that means I would have changed something in my life and I don't want to change a second painful ones or jubilant ones. Don't care.
Yeah. No, I get you. That's awesome. It sounds like you've really looked at the legacy of what this is. And, uh, and, and you're celebrating that. And, and we've got a great amount of, of years underneath the belt. Uh, and now we're, we're still talking about a brand new city. We're talking about Idaho Falls coming up in November, a new venue for us in the market, a new show. Uh, there are some people that have traveled to see you guys, but you could imagine that a good majority of the people that are going to be seeing the show are going to be first time audience.
Um, other than lights and Christmas and rock opera, or there's some, some buzzwords or some description that you can give folks that they could, they could look forward to seeing at this show.
No, in closing, what I would say is that whatever you think it is, that's only part of the story. Whatever misconceptions, preconceived ideas you think you're going to see, it's not even close to what you're going to witness.
You know, we're going to celebrate Paul's work together and you're going to witness something that you've never seen before and you won't see again until we come back from town. No, I love it. You know, so, so, you know, hang on to your hats. And I'm so excited to come to your community for the first time and, you know, meet some people, make some new friends and celebrate this work together for the very first time. It's going to be very, very special.
I got one more question for you and then I'll let you go. If you had to put one song from TSO or one piece of gear or anything from, from your own collection into a time capsule for somebody to open a hundred years from today, what would it be?
Probably the less poll that my dad bought for me. When I graduated junior high and went into high school, he kind of gave up and he said, well, obviously you're not going to stop doing this. So let me get you a proper guitar. And that was the guitar that I've had with me my entire life and what I recorded every TSO record with it was Paul and Neil's favorite sounding less ball and it's got my entire life and history in one piece of wood.
Is that, is that travel with you? No, never. Oh, I love it. Well, Al, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me. We're very excited to see you in November at the Mountain America Center in Idaho Falls. Thank you so much.
Are you welcome, brother? Pleasure meeting. I hope to see you soon.
Thanks for listening to Wake Up Classy 97, the podcast. If you enjoy the show, please share, subscribe and rate the podcast. Wake Up Classy 97 is hosted by Josh and Chantel Tielor and is a production of Riverbend Media Group. For more information or to contact the show, visit Riverbendmediagroup.com.