Led Zeppelin tribute band? Sure.
Rush tribute band? Why not?
Pink Floyd tribute band? Of course.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra tribute band? That’s a little strange.
But that was the original concept of The Wizards of Winter, a holiday ensemble from the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut area that takes the name of a TSO classic. There was a good, charitable reason behind the idea.
Where: Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall, Munhall.
When: 8 p.m. Sunday.
Tickets: $25-$45; ticketfly.com.
“The thing sort of started as a lark, quite frankly,” says keyboardist and musical director Scott Kelly. “In the winter of 2009 the local food pantry in my hometown was really suffering at the height of the recession and there were a lot of people in line for food and there wasn’t a lot of food in there. So, I talked to some friends and said, ‘Is there something we could do to help?’ We said, ’Let’s learn some music of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and do some benefit concerts.’ ”
They had the show up and going for the fall of 2010, playing benefits for the food pantry and other charities using the TSO’s “Christmas Eve and Other Stories” libretto. To their surprise, people came up to them wanting to buy their record.
“We said, ‘Well, we don’t have a record,’” Mr. Kelly says. “We had no plans to do this beyond a few shows, but said, ‘Well, let’s give this a go.’ ”
Since then, they’ve composed and recorded two of their own rock operas, much in the TSO hard-rock holiday vein, and picked up various former members of the TSO along the way. Tony Gaynor and Guy Lemonnier are part of the current lineup, as is Ted Nugent bassist Greg Smith.
“We developed our first album and took out some of the TSO material, and this year with our second album, there’s another 10 originals,” the keyboardist says, “so our show is like 80 percent original material now. There’s a couple TSO songs to pay tribute to our roots.”
He sees a Wizards show falling somewhere between TSO and Mannheim Steamroller.
“We’re very different from TSO not only in the production size, because they're in arenas. They’re more about fire and the lasers and the like, and our whole show is Christmas material,” he says. “We’re going to give you that rock production but more on a theater level.”
First Published: December 10, 2015, 5:00 a.m.
