The symphonic metal stars return to Grand Rapids’ Van Andel Arena for two ‘Ghosts of Christmas Eve’ shows this weekend, with a Detroit stop on Dec. 27. The Local Spins interview with drummer Jeff Plate.
A Spectacle Attracting Multi-Generational Fans: Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s holiday hoopla returns. (Courtesy Photo)
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Jeff Plate had no idea he had stumbled on a lifelong side gig when he joined Savatage in 1994.
But when that band morphed into the holiday colossus Trans-Siberian Orchestra, he went along for the ride. And he’s been there ever since.
The audio-visual extravaganza returns to Grand Rapids for its annual double-header on Sunday (Dec. 7) at Van Andel Arena, with two shows at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena on Dec. 27. Tickets for the Grand Rapids concerts, starting at $55, are available online here. Detroit show tickets can be found here.
Plate will be pounding the skins amidst the dry ice, flash pots, flames, orchestral keyboards and shrieking guitars. He has been with the group since its formation in 1996. It was the brainchild of three members of the metal band Savatage: keyboardist and vocalist Jon Oliva, guitarist Al Pitrelli and engineer/keyboard player Robert Kinkel, spurred on by lyricist, producer and visionary Paul O’Neill.
Top-Shelf Talent: Jeff Plate on stage with TSO. (Courtesy Photo)
But Plate’s first exposure to music was neither metal nor progressive rock. In fact, it wasn’t rock at all. “My parents were big into country,” says the drummer who grew up in rural upstate New York. Exposure to music on the three TV stations they got at the time pretty much limited musical shows to “Hee Haw” as well as “American Bandstand.”
The latter helped familiarize him with other styles. “My first favorite band was probably Chicago. Live at Caribou Ranch (the TV special, ‘Meanwhile Back At The Ranch’) just clicked. ‘Chicago VII’ was the first album I ever bought,” Plate says.
“That got me loving music. A year later, I saw Kiss on the ‘Midnight Special.’ That put me in another orbit,” he says. “They were like aliens. Where did they come from? It was over the top and powerful.”
He found work in a variety of places, including a music store, all the while practicing his drumming. He was eventually drafted into the band Savatage to replace Andy James, and has been a member ever since. When at O’Neill’s behest they formed a symphonic rock side project, Plate signed on as a founding member.
He saw it as a means to capture a different and larger audience. “It wasn’t just a niche project,” he says. Despite the slogging progressive rock had traditionally gotten from the music press, and its near death in the 90s, Plate was optimistic about TSO from the get-go. “Trans-Siberian was such an opportunity.”
A POWERFUL ENDURING SONG, LASERS, LIGHTS, FOG AND FLAMES
Plate says it stemmed in large part from Savatage’s song “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24,” an instrumental medley of “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” and “Carol of the Bells,” from the album “Dead Winter Dead.” “Paul was steering the group into symphonic/progressive rock.
“Putting a Christmas song on a Savatage album was an odd idea,” Plate admits, “but it was a wonderful song. Paul totally believed in this song. To think the song would be so powerful 30 years later … it’s a big driving force.” (Scroll down for the official music video of “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24.”)
Since then the TSO has recorded six studio albums, along with a soundtrack album, a compilation and an EP. Its annual holiday extravaganzas have become so popular there are two touring groups, each including around 17 touring members plus a string section consisting of local players from each stop. It takes around 40 trucks, 20 for each touring version, to haul all the equipment from city to city.
Hair-Tossing Energy: TSO (Courtesy Photo)
Of course, it’s most famous for its 2½-hour shows featuring lasers, thousands of lights, fog, jets of flame and more, more, more. That was the hallmark of O’Neill, who presided over his creation until his death in 2017. Since then the band hasn’t slowed down at all, and continues to tour relentlessly during the holiday season.
“I never met anybody with so much energy and commitment,” says Plate, saying O’Neill believed in always trying to top the previous year’s shows. O’Neill always said he wanted to enable people to leave their cares and any holiday stress at the door and simply enjoy – and be overwhelmed – by the nearly three-hour-long visual and auditory spectacle.
He also believed in keeping it affordable, and in supporting the less fortunate. A portion of each ticket sold goes to a local charity, and since its first tour in 1999, the TSO has raised over $20 million for various non-profits.
Despite the group’s massive success, Plate wasn’t sure it would last past that first tour. “At the first show in Philadelphia, there were (men in) tuxes, women in full dress, kids.” He was sure they’d been misled by the use of the word orchestra in the group’s name, and when an unsuspecting elderly couple sat down in the front row, he turned to bass player Johnny Lee Middleton and said, “We’re doomed.”
Not quite. At the show’s conclusion, “The couple in the front row gave me a high-five. I couldn’t believe what had happened,” Plate says.
Today, the crowds range in age from youngsters to those in their 70s and beyond, sometimes three generations of a family. Plate doesn’t see an end in sight, and he’s happy to keep on keeping on. “It’s so well run. I dreamed of doing this since I was 13,” he says. “The amount of talent I get to work with, fantastic vocalists, everybody’s so good. I love showing up.”
Show times for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s Sunday shows at Van Andel Arena are 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
VIDEO: Trans-Siberian Orchestra, “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo”
VIDEO: Trans-Siberian Orchestra, “Christmas Eve/Sarejevo” (Live)
VIDEO: Trans-Siberian Orchestra, “Christmas Canon Rock” (Live)
VIDEO: Trans-Siberian Orchestra, “Carol of the Bells” (Live)
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