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 An interview with
Michael Pinnella - Symphony X
Josh:
Hello.
Michael: Hi Josh
Josh: Hi.
Michael: This is Mike Pinnela. How are you?
Josh: I’m doing very good.
Michael: That’s good.
Josh:
Yeah, I got a bunch of questions for you that I’d like to ask
you.
Michael: Excellent!
Josh:
To start out, I wanted to know if you are involved in any
tours or concerts at this time.
Michael: Not right now, no.
Josh:
Okay, is there any plans to do any?
Michael: Yeah, well
right now we are working on our, um, studio album.
Josh:
Okay.
Michael: That we started writing. Hopefully will be
done by the summer. We’ll be out on the road probably late summer, early fall.
Josh: Okay,
talking about the upcoming album, what should fans expect from that?
Michael: Well, we have, we just started, um, they
should expect a lot of the same stuff. I mean, it’s going to sound like us of
course. Every album we try to do something different about ‘em, so we’re hoping to
play something great.
Josh:
Okay. I’ve always been wondering, how did you guys come up
with the name Symphony X?
Michael: {He laughs} When we first started off,
back in ’94, um, we actually were, we didn’t have a name, we were dead already and
we’re on the verge of getting signed and didn’t have a name for the band. So, we
wanted something that, you know, said what we were doing, so, I mean, we had the
symphonic aspect and the X was kind of the unknown, because we weren’t sure, you
know, we had this fusion of metal and classical music, so that’s pretty much where
it came from.
Josh: Okay, and then how
did you actually meet your bandmates?
Michael: Well, let’s see, Jason Rullo, Tom Miller, and
Mike Romeo had, they had known each other playing in previous bands and such and,
uh, I worked at a music store giving, teaching lessons with a friend of Mike Romeo’s
and he’d gotten the call from Jack Neenah. They were going to sign us and they
needed a keyboard player, so this guy Jim introduced us and then that was it.
Josh:
Okay.
Michael: Ten years ago, I believe.
 Josh:
Okay, and about your solo album, I want to talk about that a
little bit.
Michael: Okay.
Josh:
What does the title mean, Enter by the Twelfth Gate? How did
you come up with that?
Michael: Again, it is kind of the unknown, you
know, it’s, uh, about the last chance, um, that’s pretty much it. {we both laugh}
Josh: Okay.
Michael: I write the music first and I always think of
this stuff last, but, um, yeah, last chance, before thirteen, the unlucky thirteen.
Josh:
Okay. I have to say, the album is excellent.
Michael: Thanks.
Josh:
You’ve got such a clever way of arranging the music that you
put into Symphony X. It’s just great to see a solo album from you where it’s focused
on your material.
Michael: Right.
Josh: How did you decide,
you know, that you wanted to do a solo album at this time?
Michael: Yeah, I see, I didn’t plan on doing a solo
album.
Josh: Okay.
Michael: I was, I’m always writing for the band and for
myself. I had so much music, stuff I even forgot about, buried in my computer and on
disks and one night I was just going through everything and there was a lot of good
material there and I probably had maybe two or three complete songs already out of
the stuff that I found and, um, it wasn’t quite suitable for the band though, um,
so, I just decided to do it. I kept working with what I had and I wrote, you know,
six or seven more songs.
Josh: Okay.
Michael: It came pretty easily, you know, it
happened maybe over a six month period.
Josh: Okay. I have to say
that you’ve got a very distinct style. It’s very easy to tell that it’s your work
instantaneously, so you know, it is hard to understand where your influences may
have came from. Can you explain to me who might be your influences?
 Michael: Okay, um, well obviously I have a
classical influence, a lot of the great composers and, um, as far as rock goes, a
lot of the big seventies bands, you know, big progressive bands, uh, Yes, Genesis,
UK, um, ELP, um, mixed with a lot of metal too, Dio, Black Sabbath, Ozzy. I’m into
that, I still listen to that stuff regularly and classical music too, a lot of piano
music
Josh:
Okay, a lot of your compositions are very complex. I was
wondering if you could explain your songwriting process, how you actually come up
with the ideas and put your music together.
Michael: Okay, what I do, I always start with
piano, um, I’ll use an acoustic piano or if I’m in the studio, um, on my keyboards,
but I usually start piano parts to arrange the chord structure, everything, and then
from there it gets layered. I’ll go back and I’ll put in, you know, strings and bass
and the drums and everything. It pretty much starts with piano.
Josh: People always wonder
when they see somebody with your kind of talent, they always wonder, how did he get
involved in music and where did this all begin. So, could you tell me a little bit
about that?
Michael: Sure, well, I come from a musical family and
my mother, all my, I have six older brothers, they all play piano. My mother played
piano and my grandfather was a singer, so I was always around music at an early age
and I probably started lessons at about age four and I stuck with it all the way,
you know, through middle school and high school and all the way through college and
it was focused mainly on classical music. It wasn’t until, you know, my, maybe,
sophomore year in high school that I started to get into metal and chords and stuff
and then really I started to get into it more when I went to college.
Josh:
Okay, we’ve talked about you a little bit, we’ve talked about
your band, just to get an idea of your musical tastes, what’s the last CD that you
purchased?
Michael: {He laughs} You’re going to laugh
when I tell you and I just bought it. It was something that I had a long time ago on
vinyl and I couldn’t find it and I felt like listening to it. It was, um, Abigal by
King Diamond, so it doesn’t kind of mix with, you know, how my album sounds like. {I
laugh}
Josh: Kind of along the
same lines, what’s the last concert that you attended as a fan?
Michael: As a fan?
Josh:
Yeah.
Michael: It was actually two weeks ago.
Josh:
Oh, okay.
Michael: Um, I went to see Kansas.
Josh: Wow!
Michael: They played right in my hometown.
Josh:
That’s convenient.
Michael: Yeah, well, it’s like the next town over, but
it was close, you know, and I got in free and it was very cool growing up listening
to these guys and you actually know them. It’s pretty cool.
Josh:
That’s ironic, because that’s what I’ve been listening to
recently.
Michael: They were great, you know, still have it.
Josh: Okay, can you recall
any Spinal Tap moments, you know, on tour or with your band or recording, just any
Spinal Tap moment?
Michael: {He laughs} Our band kind of is Spinal Tap,
absolutely, um, let’s see there are some good touring ones, there has to be.
Josh: It’s a hard question
to narrow it down just to one.
 Michael: Yeah, you know, but I’ll think of one… Okay,
it was on our first tour, um, actually our second tour, our first tour of Europe,
our first headline and we were in Berlin, okay, small club probably like three
hundred, four hundred people, and we’re up there playing and right in the middle of,
um, oh, what the hell were we playing, I forget what we were playing, but anyway,
the power went out completely and they turned it back on and, you know, Mike hit a
guitar chord and blew the circuit breaker. That happened about three or four times,
so here we are in front of, you know, four hundred people who don’t speak the
language and we’re staying up on stage, so Russ decides to start singing some German
drinking song {I laugh} and they were all into it. They all sang along.
Josh:
That’s funny.
Michael: This went on for about twenty minutes till
they got the power fixed.
Josh:
Oh, wow.
Michael: That was a good Spinal Tap moment.
Josh:
That’s a good one.
Michael: There’s so many more that I can’t even
remember. {I laugh}
Josh: Okay, to start a
thread of what some of your favorites might be, what would you say is your favorite
band?
Michael: My favorite band… of all-time?
Josh:
Yeah, what’s the first one that comes to mind.
Michael: Dio pops into my mind, Dio and Deep Purple.
Josh:
Okay.
Michael: Definitely Deep Purple is one of my, yeah, I
listened to them a lot growing up, so yeah, I’d have to say Deep Purple
Josh:
Okay, and what would you say is your favorite album?
Michael: Favorite album of all-time, um, I have a
couple, phew, hmm, Fragile.
Josh:
Oh yeah, that’s a good choice.
Michael: Yeah, I’ll go with that.
Josh:
Okay, and then to get an idea of what kind of person you are,
some favorites that are not music-related, but what would you say is your favorite
movie?
Michael: My favorite movie, um, I haven’t watched TV or
seen a movie in a long time. My favorite movie, I’d kind of, I’d say it is Star
Wars.
Josh:
Okay, that’s a good safe choice. {We both laugh} What would
you say is your favorite book?
Michael: Favorite book, hmm, Steven King is a good
writer.
Josh:
The Stand?
Michael: Huh?
Josh: The Stand.
Michael: The Stand was great, definitely, um, a lot of
the stuff that he made for TV that wasn’t quite as good as the book like Cujo. That
was a good book. Christine too.
Josh:
Okay, good choices.
Michael: You know, that horror I kind of like.
Josh:
Okay, and I’ve got kind of a quirky question. A lot of my
questions are quirky, but this is the quirkiest of them all. I like to ask it cause
it just lets me know a little bit about the person. It helps me identify with them.
Michael: Okay.
Josh:
Do you have any pets?
Michael: Do I have pets?
Josh: Yeah.
Michael: Yes, I do.
Josh:
What do you have?
Michael: I have two cats and I’m actually going to be
getting a dog for my daughter for Christmas.
Josh: Okay.
Michael: And, that’s enough.
Josh: Yeah.
Michael: I had one cat and my wife had a kitten on the
side of the road, so we have two cats now and a dog on the way.
Josh:
So what kind of dog are you going to get?
Michael: I’m not sure yet. I’m not sure. I’m probably
going to get one from ASPCA.
Josh:
Okay.
Michael: I’ll probably get
a mutt. Those turn out to be the best pets.
Josh:
Sure, well, that’s pretty much all the questions that I have,
but I wanted to give you a chance to say anything you’d like to say to your fans at
this time.
Michael: Oh, I just want
to thank everyone for, um, supporting the band and supporting me on my solo effort
and there will be another one. I don’t know when, but it’ll happen and just thanks
for the support cause without the fans we won’t have, wouldn’t have anything to do.
Josh:
I just want to wish you a lot of luck. I want to let you know
from this fans point of view, you’re a very talented individual with all the work
that you’ve done with Symphony X and the solo album is very impressive.
Michael: Thank you.
Josh:
I would like to see a lot more stuff from you and wish you a
lot of luck in the future.
Michael: Great.
Josh:
That’s all I have right now.
Michael: Okay.
Josh:
Have a good night.
Michael: Alright thanks.
Josh:
Goodbye.
Michael: Bye man.
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