Al Pitrelli—guitar wizard for SAVATAGE, maestro of the TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA, and temporary shredder for MEGADETH back in the early 2000s—sat down with Are You Ready? to spill some tea. When asked about his first gig with MEGADETH (cough replacing guitar legend Marty Friedman cough), Al served up this gem (via BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Oh, I remember. So Marty, being the saint he is, stuck around to teach me his guitar parts before peacing out. Then one day, Dave Mustaine strolls into the dressing room like, ‘Marty’s gone. You’re up tonight.’ Thanks for the heads-up, Dave! Guess I’ll just… learn ‘Holy Wars’ in 10 minutes. NBD.”
(Fun fact: Marty Friedman later became a J-pop icon in Japan, hosting TV shows and casually dropping truth bombs about how “metalheads need more sushi.”)
Al admitted the gig went “okay, I guess,” but added, “Could’ve used a few more practice sessions, but when Dave says jump, you cannonball into the deep end. Yeah, there were like a zillion people there, but adrenaline’s one hell of a drug.”
On recording MEGADETH’s The World Needs A Hero, Al dished: “I was supposed to be a temp! Just filling in for Jimmy DeGrasso’s buddy. But Dave suddenly goes, ‘Hey, wanna write riffs instead?’ So there I was, chilling at Mustaine’s house, swapping ideas. Dude had 90% of the album in his skull, but let me toss in a riff or two. Shockingly, he didn’t throw my coffee at the wall.”
Flash to last October, when Detroit’s WRIF asked how Al even landed the MEGADETH gig: “Jimmy DeGrasso hooked me up. Dave and I had crossed paths at festivals—SAVATAGE opened for MEGADETH once, and Alice Cooper’s ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy’ cover for that Wes Craven movie? Yeah, Dave totally nailed it. Wait, what movie was that again…?”
(Fun fact: Alice Cooper plays more golf than your dad. Seriously, the man owns a putting green next to his horror-movie dungeon.)
Al confirmed he was always a “temp-turned-perm” hire: “Marty bounced mid-tour, I stepped in for ‘a few weeks,’ then suddenly we’re headlining Korea. Next thing I know, Dave’s like, ‘Cool, you’re in the band.’ Then 9/11 happened, the world imploded, and poof—I dipped back to TSO.”
Speaking of TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA: When Dave rebooted MEGADETH in 2004, he didn’t call Al. “He knew I was already married to TSO,” Al said. “Paul O’Neill—RIP, legend—let me go make rent money with Megadeth but demanded I come home after. And home I went, just in time for pyro-filled Christmas symphonies.”
(Fun fact: TSO’s holiday tours involve enough lasers to guide Santa’s sleigh through a blizzard. Also, they’ve sold more albums than your mom’s Mariah Carey Christmas CD.)
In a 2010 interview, Al summed up working with Mustaine: “Dave’s the boss. You either nail it or catch his wrath. But hey, the dude got fired from METALLICA and built a metal empire. I’d take notes too. Some nights we’d vibe like brothers, others he’d wanna chuck me off the tour bus. Typical Tuesday.”
As for Dave’s old jab that Al “wasn’t fitting” MEGADETH? Al shrugged: “Metal wasn’t my scene. I adapted—like a jazz cat trapped in a mosh pit. Also, Dave didn’t drink. I missed my post-show beers. Fight me.”
