Orchestral Manoeuvres

While You’re Hanging Your Stockings By The Chimney With Care, Trans-Siberian Orchestra Are Criss-crossing The Country With Their Deluxe Yuletide-themed, Prog-rock Extravaganza. In This Exclusive Interview, Guitarists (And Musical Directors) Chris Caffery And Al Pitrelli Talk Tso And Touring Christmas Eve And Other Stories

- Clay Marshall

POP QUIZ, HOTSHOT: Which group has played to more people in North America over the past decade than any other rock act? Most music business observers would likely answer U2 or Metallica, maybe the Stones or the Dave Matthews Band. According to industry trade publication Pollstar, however, the top rock draw in the U.S. during the second decade of the 21st century is a band that tours just seven weeks each year. From every mid-November through late December, though, TransSiberian Orchestra (TSO) perform to approximately a million fans, selling out arenas from coast to coast with a Yuletide-themed show that mixes rock, classical and theater with a state-of-the-art production featuring dazzling lasers, extensive pyrotechnics and a stage that literally transforms before your eyes.

Two-thousand-nineteen marks the 20th anniversary of the group’s first winter tour, and once again, guitarists Chris Caffery and Al Pitrelli will lead the charge. Pitrelli — who has toured with TSO for all but one of the past 20 years — boasts an impressive résumé, as in addition to a brief stint in Megadeth (which caused him to miss TSO’s winter tour in 2000), the Long Island native has toured or recorded with the likes of Alice Cooper, Asia and Blue Oyster Cult. Fellow New Yorker Caffery — who, along with drummer Jeff Plate, is the only musician to take part in every TSO tour over the past two decades — has performed with artists ranging from German metal queen Doro Pesch to Polka king Jimmy Sturr on top of releasing six solo albums. He’s best known, though, for his work with cult favorites Savatage, whose ambitious and theatrical metallic hard rock — think Queen meets Queensrÿche — laid the groundwork for TSO.

Savatage’s 1995 rock opera