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For over two decades the Christmas season meant one thing for music fans, the return of Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Much like everything else in 2020, this beloved tradition was in danger of missing a year. However, it will live on thanks to the saving grace of 2020 – the live stream. Founding member, guitarist, and musical director Al Pitrelli recently took some time to talk about this event and more.
Please press the PLAY icon below for the MisplacedStraws.com Conversation with Al Pitrelli –
On deciding to do a live stream – It took absolutely no convincing once the decision was made by the O’Neill family and our managers. They had to cancel the tour, I would say it was mid-August when we finally had to pull the plug on this thing. We’ve been kind of holding our breath, watching the news, listening to what’s going on and by August they said, “Listen, this is not going to happen this year”. Needless to say, everybody was heartbroken. This is something I’ve been doing for twenty-five, twenty-six years now. This is my tradition. This is what my children grew up knowing. This is just who I am. So it kind of really put me back on my heels to say, “Oh my God, we’ve never canceled the show”. We’ve never been late to a show. I broke my leg in the middle of a show and I kept playing with a broken leg and a torn ACL. But so anyway, not long after the conversation, the cancellation occurred, the O’Neill family and our management said, “Well, going to do live stream”, I was like, “Absolutely. I have no idea what that means but count me in. Where do I plug in? Just give me a band to play with”. On December 18th, 8:00 p.m. East Coast time for the first time ever, we’re going to bring Christmas Eve and Other Stories to everyone’s living room. 1:00
On choosing the lineup – Well, I think some of it was a no-brainer. You just said that you were there at The Beacon show in ’99 right? So you were there to see myself, Chris Caffery, Jeff Plate, and Johnny Lee Middleton, the original band. So for the first time, literally in twenty-one years the four of us get to play this music again together. So I’m stoked, so excited to walk on stage with these guys, whether it’s in front of fifteen thousand people or 15 HD cameras. I get to play with these guys again, So, we’re all psyched about that. Derek Weiland on keyboards is the musical director for the East Coast, so it’s a no-brainer to have Derek come in and we divvy up the task to get the band ready. Then it was a matter of if each lead singer of either coast is available and willing to do this, let’s go with them. This way we can cover for each other. Once it’s in-house, once we get into the bubble of our rehearsal and our production facility down in Nashville, that’s it. We’re not leaving, you can’t come and go. And we’ve got to be able to go watch each other’s backs, cover for each other. So I’m really proud of the lineup. I’m really excited because it gives me the opportunity to work with Jeff and Chris for the first time in decades, but also some of the things from the other side. I’m just a huge fan of theirs as well. So this is going to be great across the board as far as that goes. 2:56
On what a Musical Director does – Well, I’ve been Paul’s MD from the jump. My job has always been to protect his musical integrity in the realms of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. When I get a band together, my job is to make sure the band replicates the music in the correct fashion. And if we want to add something to the live excitement of it, to come up with parts that would be genre-specific and responsible to this type of music. Paul trusted me to take his band out. He said, “You just go do it and go crush it, and I’ll see you in January.” 4:33
“Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24”
On whether the band is aware of how many people will be tuning in – It always amazes me, but to be honest with you, I don’t read into any of that. I don’t go on Facebook or any of that. I just refuse to pay attention to it because my task at hand is to make sure that the band is better than it was last year, which is a hard thing to do because they crushed it last year. If I start reading into the popularity and subscribers, that’s going to take my focus away from what I need to do…A lot of these people have been looking at it, they’re excited and that’s awesome. I can’t think of that. What I’m thinking about is every note being executed perfectly. And then when we’re done, somebody tell me how many people watch us. I don’t know how many people show up to the shows. Somebody emails me a Billboard thing saying we sold a million tickets. 6:40
“First Snow”
On production for the show – Well, it’s going to be a different version of the same thing, different is all we have right now. A lot of the production will be there, there’s lasers, video content, cool lighting effects, Brian Hartley, has been out LD for decades now. And again, you adapt to overcome and improvise. That’s what Paul O’Neill taught all of us. You figure out a way to make it the best it can be. 8:00
“A Mad Russian’s Christmas”
On whether he felt that band could use the break after the devastating losses of Paul O’Neill and David Z – Hell no. Oh hell no, dude. Did we need a break? No. Bad things happen, stuff happens. That’s what life is. OK, but again, going back to Paul’s mantra, you adapt, you overcome, you improvise. It’s not Skittles and rainbows from sunrise to sunset for everybody all the time. And you have to learn to deal with adversity. You have to learn to when you get knocked down in the ring to stand back up, everybody can lay down because that hurt, of course, it hurt. Get up. So losing Paul? I mean, on a personal level, he was my best friend, he’s my big brother, he’s my boss, he was my mentor. I watched him create a universe and was just proud to be a guest in his world. For his wife and his child. I couldn’t imagine what that loss is. Losing David Z., again, what a horrible, senseless tragedy. But this is what happens in life. Everybody’s going to mourn these losses forever. There will always be an empty hole in my heart. I will miss Paul. I miss Paul every moment, every day. I walk around my house, everything’s a reminder of him. I look at my children who loved him and he loved them. When my father died forty years ago, never get it. You still got to get up in the morning and go to work and live your life now. As we know in this pandemic, now there’s no guarantee for tomorrow. Did we need a break? No. Were we given a break? Yeah. I’m going to take as many valuable life lessons from this as I can to make myself a better parent, a better husband, a better guitar player, a better human. 9:49
“Wizards In Winter”
On adjusting to being home during this time – Well, my wife is ready to kill me. For decades, usually by mid-October, I’m out, and then I get home around New Year’s Eve or whatever it is and whatever. Right now, she’s like, “OK, stop cleaning the house, stop fingerpainting with the kids, go away.” Everything is an adjustment. You’re used to doing one thing and then they take it away from you. But it took me several months to kind of get my head around what was going on and once I did I’m just wanting to enjoy every moment. I have a nine-year-old daughter and a four-year-old daughter. Every day there’s something going on, we’re talking, we’re doing crafts, if I’m not practicing my guitar, I’m playing a lot of Disney songs on piano with the kids. These are things that I’d never, ever, ever would have the time or the mental capacity to do because I’m constantly multi-tasking and doing a thousand other things. This is the first year I’ll ever be under my own roof with my children for the holidays. I’ll look at it as half-full and this is a one-shot deal for me because next year we’re planning on touring again. I’m going to enjoy this year. Do I miss touring? Of course, I miss touring. This is the hand that we all got dealt. So we’re going to do an incredible show and once that show’s done I’m going to go home and I’m going to be in my living room in front of my fireplace with my children and my wife and whatever family can get here. And that’s going to be the first-ever for me. 12:23
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