Rock 'n' Roll Christmas

By JOHN BENSON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
Filled with admitted Catholic guilt and worry, Trans-Siberian Orchestra's co-founder Paul O'Neill knows what goes up must come down.
He's seen it happen before as a rock manager/promoter for the likes of Madonna, Michael Bolton, Aerosmith and Bon Jovi. But his current project appears impervious. It all started when music industry veteran O'Neill took a song he wrote for prog rock act Savatage and turned it into a goldmine.
Based on his inspirational holiday-theme tale "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24," Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) combined the bombast of Pink Floyd with the reverence of Charles Dickens and created arguably the biggest Yuletide phenomenon of the past decade.
For years, TSO has been touring the country with two different troupes, selling out arena after arena. Last year alone, the entire operation, which only tours in November and December, was named by Billboard magazine as having sold the second most tickets during the latter part of 2004. Only The Eagles sold more. So, what could possibly be worrying O'Neill in 2005?
"The only thing we worry about is ... I think we have the biggest rock production touring the country, as far as amount of effects," said O'Neill, calling from his home in New York City. "We believe fog it, light it or blow it up, just keep it interesting. The only thing that makes us nervous is how do we make the next album better? How do we make the next tour better?"
Unifying affair
As far as that next album is concerned, we'll get to that in a minute. But just like the "Nutcracker Suite" and any production of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," TSO's holiday run has become a unifying affair, drawing families of all races and classes together to celebrate Christmas in rock-'n'-roll style.
Early on, O'Neill knew exactly what he wanted the TSO experience to be because he'd seen it before in varying forms from various artists.
"When we started TSO, we wanted it to be the biggest band in the world both literally and artistically, able to go anywhere," O'Neill said. "I looked at basically all of the bands that I admired, Queen, Emerson Lake and Palmer because they married classical and rock. The Who because they had stories and Pink Floyd because they had massive shows. And R & amp;B acts too. I remember seeing the Four Tops and Temptations and they had 10 lead singers. And I'm thinking I want a band with a full symphony, a full rock band and at least 10 lead singers. It sounded like an insane idea, but it's taken off beyond our wildest expectations."
Holiday albums
So far, all three of TSO's holiday albums -- 1996's "Christmas Eve and Other Stories," 1998's "The Christmas Attic" and 2004's "The Lost Christmas Eve" -- have sold nearly 4 million copies, with its DVD release, "The Ghosts of Christmas Eve," currently double platinum. Those figures are bound to rise with yet another holiday season around the corner. Plus, the band has performed for more than 1.5 million fans in less than a decade. TSO will peform Sunday at the Youngstown Convocation Center.
If there is one Achilles heel for TSO, it's the band's inability to release albums on a regular schedule. It took six years for the final installment of the holiday trilogy to get in the stores, and the same can be said for its non-holiday albums.
Fans have been desperately waiting for the secular album "Nightcastle," which O'Neill says, with a wink, should be released by late 2006 or early 2007. Perhaps it's TSO's meticulous and perfectionist nature that makes it so special.
"We just want this album to be so great and we have like half the songs recorded and just keep changing things and parts of the story," O'Neill said. "I just want it to be great. I'm a firm believer that an album be delivered very late and be great than be delivered on time and be mediocre."