(VIDEO FROM PART ONE ABOVE, PART TWO OF INTERVIEW AT BOTTOM OF ARTICLE)

HORSEHEADS, NY (WENY) -- The hard-hitting music of Trans-Siberian Orchestra has become synonymous with the holiday season. The band has toured the world for almost 25 years, sharing their rock opera with millions of people.

But that the residents of the Southern Tier may not know, is the man at the helm of the drum kit is from Chemung County. Jeff Plate grew up in Horseheads, New York - and knew from a young age he wanted to make playing the drums a career. He began playing at the age of six years old, and by the time he was a teenager, he was playing gigs regularly around town.

"By the time I was 17 years old, I was playing locally almost every weekend. And soon after that, graduated high school. But I also realized at that point, you know, drumming in music was was the path that I was going to follow. That was what I was shooting for. I realized that being in Horseheads not the place to be if I was going to do that," Jeff explained. 

When Jeff was about 13, it was a moment caught on television that cemented his dreams as a musician.

"I was watching television and saw a commercial for "The Midnight Special" and there was a little clip of this band Kiss on there. And I saw this commercial, and I talked my parents into letting me stay up late that Friday night and watch the show. So it was I believe it was April of 1975, and I watched Kiss perform on "The Midnight Special" and it just put me in a different orbit," Jeff recalls.

After graduating from Horseheads High School, Jeff moved to Florida for a few years, playing in the  music scene there. He later returned to Horseheads, but then moved to Boston, where he was playing professionally for about a decade, performing in everything from cover bands, to original rock and metal, to even wedding bands. It was there, he forged relationships with the members of a band called Wicked - Zak Stevens and Matt Leff. Jeff says in the early 1990's, Zak eventually got an offer to sing with a progressive metal band in the Tampa Bay area, called Savatage. 

The rise of grunge in the early 1990's had a major impact on other types of hard rock at the time, and the popularity of metal and progressive rock began to wane. At that time, Jeff said he returned back to Horseheads in 1993, and began playing again locally in a band called Voodoo Rodeo, and trying to figure out the next step in life.

"At that time I was just kind of figuring out what I was going to do, you know? Am I going to stay in Horseheads? Am I going to cut my hair? Am I going to go to college? You know, I was just trying to figure it out. But the band Savatage went through some major member changes. And one of the big, big events that happened in that band was their lead guitarist, Criss Oliva, died in a car accident in 1993. So the following year it was the beginning or actually spring of 1994, I reached out to to Zak Stevens just to check on him, see how I was doing, what was going on with the band. [I asked him] 'Are you okay? Would you like to maybe start doing another project?' So on and so forth. And from that point, my life completely changed because Zak said, 'Well, Jeff, Savatage is going to continue and they would love you to to join the band and be the drummer.'"

Savatage was manged and produced Paul O'Neill, who was an established composer and musician in his own right, with decades of experience in the music business - working with huge names, from Aerosmith to Joan Jett. Jeff said O'Neill had a vision of a band that would integrate rock with storytelling, and brought the concept to the members of Savatage.

Jeff began recording with Savatage in 1994, which produced a concept album called Dead Winter Dead, which included the song Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24), written by O'Neill - an instrumental telling of the Christmas holiday in war-torn Bosnia.

"The idea of inserting this Christmas song into this progressive metal record seemed kind of strange. But Paul had a had an idea for this, and it fit into his story. It fit into his concept. And there was no denying that. When you heard the final version of Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24), that it was awesome. It was so well produced and put together," Jeff said. "It was epic sounding. It was huge. It was like no other Christmas song you'd ever heard before. And lo and behold, when that album was released and in the fall of 1995, that song took off in a completely different direction. Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24) became an instant hit holiday hit [...} when it hit the airwaves. It was Christmas music like nobody had heard before."

Under O'Neill's direction, members of Savatage, including Jeff, became was is now Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and re-released the song on their album, Christmas Eve and Other Stories in 1996.

"To think that that would transform into what I'm doing today, I had no clue in the beginning. Even when we first recorded Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24), you know, nobody had any idea what was what was going to come out of that except probably Paul. I think Paul could see down the road, that if he could get some things to fall in place, this thing was going to be big, or at least he was going to have the opportunity to do this," Jeff said. 

Trans-Siberian Orchestra began touring in 1999, growing in popularity in the years ever since. Almost 25 years later, Jeff and the members of TSO are still at it, currently on a massive, seven-week long winter tour across America. The show is filled with hard rock, orchestra, singing, and narration - along with spectacular lights and pyrotechnics. 

"So I've been here from the first note. So musically, you know, I've been living this for close to 30 years. When we go on tour, everybody realizes that this is really a tour like no other. We are doing a lot of shows in a short amount of time," he explained. Trans-Siberian Orchestra will perform more than 100 shows on its 2023 tour, which runs from November 15th through December 30th.

"There is not a sad face in the house when we get done with these shows. Everybody is on their feet clapping. They absolutely love it. They in turn tell somebody else, [and] they come to see it next year. We've been doing this now for since 1999 and the audiences are growing every year. And it just really is pretty remarkable," said Jeff, who also explained the show wouldn't be what it is, without the hard-working crew behind the scenes.

"We come into town every year with 20 tractor trailers full of lighting and sound. The light show is second to none. Video, it's just amazing. The production is so over the top. It is so well done. In front of that is just this awesome band that I get to sit and play with every night, it's incredible." 

Trans-Siberian Orchestra's tour also gives back to the community at each stop. The band donates one dollar from each ticket sold to charity, as a way to thank fans for their support. 

"So Paul (O'Neill) was one of the most interesting people you will ever meet, but very compassionate. Very generous. He realized, you know, Christmas is a very special time of year for a lot of people. And it's a tough time of year for a lot of other people. And he instituted from the very first ticket we sold, we're going to take $1 per ticket and donate it to a local charity [...] that little amount of money adds up. So we've been doing this ever since we started touring. To date, we've donated over $18 million across the country for everything from children's hospitals, to food banks, to zoos; you name it, everything in between. Breast cancer, a number of breast cancer charities and programs; it really is amazing to sit back and look at that figure. And I'm sure by the end of this tour, it'll be close to $20 million," Jeff said. 

When he's not performing with TSO, Jeff comes back to the Southern Tier, where he lives with his wife Cathy, two cats and their dog, Georgie. He also makes music with other performers, in his own band, Alta Reign.

"The musicians that are in this area that are very, very good. I've known the guitarist/ vocalist Tommy Cook since 1993. Played around here in the band called A.K.A, Kevin McCarthy, who plays bass. He I met him, I think, when I was 18 years old. So these two guys I knew for a long time and a few years ago [...] it was right before COVID, just towards the end of 2019, I got together with Tommy and I said, 'Hey, I have some ideas. Would you mind coming up? And, you know, let's see if we can make some sense out of this?' and immersed myself, jumping into the songwriting," Jeff recalled. "This has become my passion project. Once I got doing this writing, producing this kind of thing, I absolutely found something that I absolute I love doing it. And I have a group of people that really like what I'm thinking. They they like my vocal ideas. Musically, they're all just on board. They bring great ideas to the table. And, you know, we make this we make this thing ours."

Alta Reign released its first album, "Mother's Day", in January of 2021. Since then, they've produced their sophomore studio album, "Upon the Horizon", which released on November 24, 2023, under Rat Pak Records.  

Even after decades of success, playing music all over the world, Jeff said there's no place like home. For him, that's returning to his family's property in Horseheads, New York. 

"Once you get going around the world, and seeing other places, that's all really dramatic and can be romantic, being someplace new. But then you realize coming back here, there really is no no more beautiful place and it's home. I've had family here for years, friends here for years. When when the time came to decide, where are you going to go? Going nowhere was the right answer."

Jeff and the members of Trans-Siberian Orchestra are currently on their 2023 Winter Tour - tour dates and tickets can be found here.

VIDEO: PART TWO: