STLtoday.com has issued the following report from Clint Hale:

Al Pitrelli has played guitar with rock icons such as ALICE COOPER and MEGADETH, not to mention MICHAEL BOLTON during his "rock" phase, so it comes as somewhat of a surprise that he now performs in a tuxedo alongside violinists and keyboardists.

Such is life as a member of the TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA, a rock orchestra whose sound can safely be described as symphonic hard rock. The multimember unit is renowned for its classical-meets-rock renditions of traditional holiday songs.

Pitrelli talked with 210SA about the orchestra's success, life on the metal scene and Michael Bolton's days as a headbanger.

Q: Playing with people like Alice Cooper and Megadeth, was there as much debauchery backstage as you expected?

A: "There was. Alice had already gone through his craziness when I played with him but, needless to say, I took it a little too seriously and had too much fun. But that's what you're supposed to do in your 20s. (Cooper) was pretty sedate by that point and just wanted to play golf and do his shows."

Q: (Megadeth singer) Dave Mustaine had some choice words for you when you left the band in 2002 (Mustaine claimed that Pitrelli "wasn't fitting"). Did it bother you?

A: "Dave is a pretty brilliant guy. People used to say he was difficult, but I found that when I was doing the job the right way, he never bothered me. Again, he had his bout with his demons, so he wasn't drinking. I find that at the end of the day, there's nothing better than drinking a beer or a glass of wine, and we didn't see eye to eye on that. There are three sides to that, and the center story is that I'm not into the metal thing. I never was a heavy metal guitar type. I just adapted, and that's how I survived. I loved playing music, and I loved being with the band, but I just didn't like the things that surrounded that."

Read the full story at STLtoday.