I just realized something today about a band I've liked for a long time...the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. It's weird because I usually figure that stuff out right away. This time, it was a surprise. They're a band that's renowned for fusing Rock & Classical music and mostly became famous through their Christmas shows. The reason I enjoyed them is because there are a lot of musicians that play or have played in the band (kind of like The Alan Parsons Project thing) over the years that I listened to growing up and/or still do. Jeff Scott Soto was one of Yngwie Johann Malmsteen's first lead singers (and Malmsteen was nominated for a Grammy for his first solo album which, at the time, was a relatively new genre...Neo-Classical Metal...and one he helped to mold). Vitalij Kuprij, a Ukrainian pianist who plays (excellently) both traditional Classical music and has played in Neo-Classical Metal bands (a bit of a split-personality). Al Pitrelli, who's been around for years playing with Alice Cooper, Asia (band), Megadeth and many others...but what I didn't know is that the founders of TSO were the Producer and Writer of a band I listened to a long time ago that really didn't make it that big. The band was called Savatage and they had one tune that charted pretty high but I guess they didn't have a large enough following to keep them at the top. As it turns out, they drifted away, reformed, reinvented themselves, gained some depth and broadened their scope...and are now known as the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. They have sold 10 million albums worldwide, have 13 million fans and include members from countries all over the planet: Korea, Netherlands, China, Ukraine, Puerto Rico and others. They're playing Dallas next month and I'm debating whether or not to take the wife to go see them. I guess we'll see how things go with the concert I'm taking her to in a couple weeks - it'll be her first! ^_^ (y) Here are a few videos from Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Savatage, Vitalij Kuprij and Yngwie Johann Malmsteen.

I just realized something today about a band I've liked for a long time...the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. It's weird because I usually figure that stuff out right away. This time, it was a surprise. They're a band that's renowned for fusing Rock & Classical music and mostly became famous through their Christmas shows. The reason I enjoyed them is because there are a lot of musicians that play or have played in the band (kind of like The Alan Parsons Project thing) over the years that I listened to growing up and/or still do. Jeff Scott Soto was one of Yngwie Johann Malmsteen's first lead singers (and Malmsteen was nominated for a Grammy for his first solo album which, at the time, was a relatively new genre...Neo-Classical Metal...and one he helped to mold). Vitalij Kuprij, a Ukrainian pianist who plays (excellently) both traditional Classical music and has played in Neo-Classical Metal bands (a bit of a split-personality). Al Pitrelli, who's been around for years playing with Alice Cooper, Asia (band), Megadeth and many others...but what I didn't know is that the founders of TSO were the Producer and Writer of a band I listened to a long time ago that really didn't make it that big. The band was called Savatage and they had one tune that charted pretty high but I guess they didn't have a large enough following to keep them at the top. As it turns out, they drifted away, reformed, reinvented themselves, gained some depth and broadened their scope...and are now known as the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. They have sold 10 million albums worldwide, have 13 million fans and include members from countries all over the planet: Korea, Netherlands, China, Ukraine, Puerto Rico and others. They're playing Dallas next month and I'm debating whether or not to take the wife to go see them. I guess we'll see how things go with the concert I'm taking her to in a couple weeks - it'll be her first! ^_^ (y) Here are a few videos from Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Savatage, Vitalij Kuprij and Yngwie Johann Malmsteen. -