Al Pitrelli, renowned for his work with Savatage and as a guitarist and musical director for Trans-Siberian Orchestra, recently spoke about his tenure with Megadeth from 2000 to 2002. In an interview with Are You Ready?, Pitrelli recounted his impromptu first concert with the Dave Mustaine-fronted band and the writing process for the album The World Needs A Hero.
Pitrelli vividly remembers his initial performance with Megadeth: “I do. So [then-Megadeth guitarist] Marty Friedman wanted to leave. And he was an absolute gentleman”, he said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). He stuck around and would continue doing shows and then kind of teach me his guitar parts during the day. And I don’t know how long he planned on staying, but I remember getting to — I don’t remember where the show was, but I remember he didn’t come to the show. And I was in the dressing room, just kind of practicing, learning ‘Holy Wars’, trying to figure all that out. And Dave comes up to me and he goes, ‘Marty ain’t here. You’re playing tonight.’ I’m, like, ‘Okay, here we go.’ Jump in deep end of the pool.”
Despite the suddenness, Pitrelli felt the show went well. “It is like anything else. I mean, I think [the gig] went really well. I don’t know that I would’ve done it that night. I would’ve loved to have waited a little longer to be better prepared, but what are you gonna do?” He added: “I don’t remember what city it was. I remember there was a lot of people in that building. And I didn’t even have time to get scared. It was, like, ‘All right, here we go.’”
Pitrelli‘s role in Megadeth was initially intended to be temporary. He explained, “Well, the interesting thing about that [was] I was only supposed to be there temporarily. I was friends with the drummer, Jimmy DeGrasso, for a long, long, long, long time. He says, ‘Can you just fill in until we find a permanent replacement?’ I was, like, ‘Yeah.’ So I was only supposed to be there a month, two months.”
However, the temporary stint evolved into a creative collaboration. “Dave goes: ‘Hey, listen, why don’t you just stick around for a while and let’s go write some songs.’ And I was, like, ‘Absolutely, man. This is fantastic.’” Pitrelli described their songwriting dynamic: “So, I remember going to his house a couple times and sitting down with a couple guitars and he had a riff. And then he goes, ‘What would you do here?’ And I would throw in a riff. I said, ‘Well, I don’t know. Me being me, I’d do something like this.’ [And he would say], ‘Yeah, I like that.’ And we just developed a really good writing relationship.” He acknowledged Mustaine‘s primary role while appreciating his own input: “I mean, he had I’d say — I don’t know — 90 percent of the stuff done in his head, but he was very kind and courteous to allow me to have some input, which made me feel real good about that. And I learned an extraordinary amount of information — rhythm guitar and sounds, and how he constructed his music. ‘Cause it’s really complex. There’s a lot going on.”
