Page 8 - ION Indie Magazine November December 2019 Issue
P. 8
Kiki Plesha: I am talking with Peter Orullian, KP: You trained vocally with David Kyle, aka
musician, author, composer, and lover of "The Maestro," who has helped to cultivate
Christmas. Thank you, Peter, for taking the the magnificent voices of such greats as
time. I know how busy you are as you prepare Geoff Tate (Queensryche), Ann Wilson
to take your Holiday rock opera The Bell (Heart), and Layne Staley (Alice in Chains).
Ringer out on tour. My first question is…what What sort of tips did David give you?
was Christmas like growing up in the Orullian
household? PO: I think all singers have different goals and
have different biological makeups which
Peter Orullian: Christmas was a big deal. We had influence the sound of their voice. For me, I
traditions about where and when we went to get wanted the ability hit those high notes like a Geoff
our Christmas tree, the day we decorated the Tate or James Labrie, with power and sustain. I
house, clipping the TV Christmas specials so we wanted the endurance to sing a vocally athletic
could sit down as family and watch them together. show. That made David the perfect vocal trainer
We also signed up for a program known as Sub- for me. He taught me to sing into the mask of the
for-Santa. Basically, you provide food, clothes, face, but it was the non-technique mentoring that
and gifts for a family who doesn’t have the means helped me the most. He would pause the
to do it for themselves, all anonymous. The exercises and tell me stories. At first, they’d seem
holidays were filled with traditions and I fell in love completely unrelated to my life and my voice.
with both their trappings and the gentler, more Then, he would finish and it would all make
decent ideas of giving to those who need help. sense. There are countless aphorisms he’d
share, but one I return to often is: “Always
My mom read us Christmas stories every year. satisfied, but never content.” He found a way to
Music was an essential part of Christmas help me feel good about my progress, while
storytelling. We had music playing in the house leaving me room and the belief that there was
all through the holidays. What I realized as I got achievable improvement -- that it was okay to feel
older is that there are common themes in the good now with the promise and plan to keep
music and stories we hear at Christmastime. working. David, through teaching voice, he taught
They have to do with selflessness and hope. I dig life. I spent four amazing years with him. I
that for one short month of the year, people seem wouldn’t trade those for the world.
to make a little extra effort to be kind and to look
past any differences they might have. KP: You have served as front man for various
international touring bands, including Heir
KP: You are both an accomplished author and Apparent and Fifth Angel. You had the honor
a musician. Which came first? to share the roster with such bands as Dream
Theater, Symphony X, Sonata Arctica.
PO: I was singing songs in front of crowds before Compare that experience with performing in a
I wrote my first story. But in truth, I was making live rock opera.
up stories at bedtime to tell my little sister to help
her go to sleep. I’d make up songs that told PO: Other than when Dream Theater did their
stories as I weeded the flowerbeds or watered the Astonishing Tour, which was a theater-style
garden. Since the day I was old enough to make experience, these shows were more typical of a
noise, I was doing both. When I graduated high progressive rock or metal show. For the most
school, I got more serious about fiction and part, there was no intent on storytelling. These
music. I joined a band and wrote my first actual shows were electric and filled with top-flight
short story. That same year, I first had the idea to musicianship. By contrast, a rock opera has a
bring my love of music, storytelling, and narrative through-line. Sometimes they’re like a
Christmas together in one artistic endeavor -- a pastiche of the past or a frame story in which you
rock opera. I kept on writing and studying the craft can do what you please in terms of the songs and
of storytelling. I landed in more than a few bands sequence. What I tried to do was ground The Bell
as the years rolled along. Throughout, I liked best Ringer in storytelling principles of character and
when I was able to merge these two things in the interactions of that character with others and
some way, whether it was a single song telling a how those interactions create opposition and
story, or a book or story I wrote in which I change. The hope is to create a connection with
integrated music in some meaningful way. the character and their desires so that you’re
invested in what happens.
