Guitarist Al Pitrelli, known for his work with the TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA, ALICE COOPER and MEGADETH, is featured in a new interview with the New York Hard Rock Examiner. An excerpt is available below:

Examiner: Now you personally have a very impressive resume. Alice Cooper, Savatage, Megadeth, can you pick out a favorite act that you played in?

Pitrelli: "Not really, I mean Alice was certainly an important one because that was my first real role as musical director, that’s where I first cut my teeth. I think each one of those situations I was in helped me be a better player, a better band leader, I learned a lot from everybody. Not all good lessons, some of them were pretty painful, but I think that working with those bands taught me a lot, certainly Dave Mustaine was a massive influence, his work ethic is second to none as far as he’s really focused and really determined with what he’s doing. I think some of the other things I’ve done, working with some of the female singers and solo artists, like Celine Dion and Taylor Dayne, as bizarre as that sounds lumping it in with Savatage and Megadeth, they had quite an influence on me because in the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, at any given time we have four or five young ladies who are singing with us, and it’s a whole different dynamic to deal with a female singer on tour. It’s just, the vernacular, how to speak with these folks, how to lead them, I think working with Taylor certainly helped me with that process a little bit."

Examiner: Speaking of Dave Mustaine, I have to ask the obligatory question: How was it working with him on a personal level?

Pitrelli: "I thought we got along pretty good as long as I always kept in mind that his work was lore, it was his band, his vision, and he’s the boss. You know, it’s like anything else, you go to work, and either you like your boss or you dislike your boss, it doesn’t really matter, it’s whether your boss likes you. I went in there, he pulled me out of a pretty troubled personal life and he helped me get through a lot of things like that, which I was real appreciative of, and he was pretty hard, he’s a hard guy to work for. If you don’t bring your game everyday, you’re gonna catch his wrath, and that’s something that you probably don’t want to do more than once. I had no problem with it, when he was being strict and disciplined me, well dude, it’s your thing, y’know? I mean he got kicked out of Metallica and created the second largest metal band on the planet, so you know, whatever you’re doing seems to be working. I’m all ears, let me learn from you, because you did pretty good for yourself. There were nights we’d get along like two brothers, and there were other nights where he’d want to throw me off the bus, so it is what it is."

Go to this location for the complete interview.