Pitrelli Graduating
Al
Pitrelli
Born: September 26, 1962,
Genres: Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal, Progressive Rock, Symphonic Metal
Occupation(s): Musician, Songwriter
Instruments: Guitar
Years Active: 1982 -
Present
Associated Acts: Danger Danger, Hotshot, Alice Cooper,
Place Called Rage, Savatage,
Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Megadeth, O'2L, Widowmaker (U.S.), Sebastian Bach,
Michael Bolton, T.M.Sevens, Vertex, Blue Öyster Cult, Exposé
Pitrelli Graduating
Pitrelli attended the Berklee
College of Music in Boston
in the early 1980s (where keyboardist Derek
Sherinian was his dorm roommate; they would later work together in the Alice
Cooper band). While at Berklee, Al formed an original 1980s metal band with
classmates that included Venom
guitarist Mike
Hickey. After dropping out of Berklee, Pitrelli worked as a session musician
during his early days, and also taught guitar lessons in Manhattan.
His first major label gig was performing with Michael
Bolton, helping him support his single "Fool's
Game". Pitrelli said of the single, "This was when Michael Bolton
was still trying to be Sammy
Hagar and not Engelbert
Humperdinck."
In the late 1980's/early 1990's, Pitrelli
joined forces with bassist Randy Coven and drummer John Reilly to release two Shrapnel
Records-type albums titled "Sammy Says Ouch" and "CPR". [2]
Pitrelli was Alice
Cooper's guitarist and musical director from 1989 until 1991 on the Trashes
The World tour. He then joined Dee
Snider's band Widowmaker for two albums in the early/mid-1990s, and also
briefly played with Stephen
Pearcy (from the band Ratt)
in a band called Vertex.
Pitrelli also joined Asia,
appearing on their albums Aqua
(1992) and Aria
(1994). He would go on to be featured on many
Al joined Savatage
in 1995, joining at the same time as Chris
Caffery returned to the band; Caffery had previously been part of the band
around the release of Gutter
Ballet in 1989. Pitrelli played guitar on the albums Dead
Winter Dead (1995) and The
Wake of Magellan (1997), and performed some lead guitar work on Poets
and Madmen (2001), despite being a member of Megadeth at the time. On
that album, Pitrelli was responsible for the outro of "Stay with Me a
While", the main solos of "Morphine Child" and "The
Rumor", the first part of the main solo in "Commissar" and its
outro.[3]
During his time with Savatage, he was asked by their producer Paul
O'Neill if he was interested in joining his side project, the Trans-Siberian
Orchestra. Pitrelli agreed and has played a role in all of their albums to
date.
Pitrelli has been a core member of the group
since their first album. As well as being the main lead guitarist, he is also
the live musical director. TSO's 2007 tour program credits his "edgy
playing and vast musical lexicon" with making him a perfect fit for the
band's constant boundary-pushing progressive
rock stylings. Pitrelli's leads are notable on "Tracers" and the
instrumental "Toccatta - Carpimus Nocten",[4]
the latter being a piece he co-wrote. Both songs form part of the group's fifth
rock opera, on their 2009 album Night
Castle.[5]
Pitrelli was a member of Megadeth
from 2000-02, replacing Marty
Friedman. Megadeth bandleader Dave
Mustaine asked him to join after hearing good reviews from their
then-current drummer Jimmy
DeGrasso, with whom Pitrelli played during his days with Alice Cooper in the
early 1990s. Pitrelli joined the band after an impromptu "audition" in
front of a live crowd in
In 1998, Pitrelli was featured on the video
game album Sonic
Adventure Remix, where he played guitar on a remix of the game's theme
song "Open
Your Heart".
1st wife Donna Pitrelli
(Jesse and Jamie) and 2nd wife Jane Mangini. Pitrelli is married to his 3rd wife
Nicole Pitrelli. He is the father of five children: Jesse, Jamie, Zak, Olivia
and Layla.