Johnny Green’s ‘Forget About the Blame,”
is hit for Trans-Siberian Orchestra

LEWISTON — Maine native Johnny Green recently teamed up with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra to write the band’s new hit song, “Forget About the Blame,” a big win for Green after years of setbacks in the music industry.

Green’s song is sung twice on the TSO’s recently released “Letters from the Labyrinth,” which is already the No. 1 album on Billboard Magazine’s Top Rock Albums chart.

We recently spoke with Green about the song and his history with music, and how excited he is to see things finally start to come together. 

Paul O’Neil, a founding member of Trans-Siberian Orchestra and music producer, personally reached out to Green after hearing one of his demo tapes. “I got a call from him,” Green said. “He told me I was a strong writer and was excited to work with me.” 

Angie Kosa, Green’s daughter, explained that he recorded a fully produced version of “Forget About the Blame” many years ago. “Paul loved the version, but decided to rerecord it, with some slight differences, with his musicians.” Green was not part of the recording of the song.

Although he didn’t even hear the song until it was released, Green was in contact with O’Neill throughout the process and knew about the two singers and differences in the music.  

The song is currently on rotation at more than 100 different radio stations across the country and, according to Greene, it’s been getting a good response. 

The song is considered “active rock,” but Green’s personal style, according to Kosa, is difficult to describe, “because he doesn’t necessarily write to just one. He writes from the heart. Sometimes it is rock, sometimes contemporary, sometimes alternative.” 

There are two different versions of  “Forget About the Blame,” (on the album) representing the yin and yang of the song,  The “sun” version features Robin Borneman, a TSO musician from the Netherlands. The “moon” version, a bonus track on ‘Labyrinth,’ features rocker Lzzy Hale, a guitarist and front-woman for the band Halestorm.

The band is “loading their guns and firing all their bullets on this one,” Green said.

Green was born in Massachusetts but grew up in Bath, Maine, with a hard working family who always supported his passion for music. “I asked my mom for my first guitar at 4 years old,” Green said. 

“I started writing music when I was 11,” he said, adding with a laugh “or tried to, I should say.”

“I’m 53 years old now. There’s been a lot of years of trying. There’s been a lot of close calls with labels, but things happen, you know … bands break up.”

“I was in and out of bands all through high school,” Green said, “mostly with some older guys. In one band, the drummer had to sign as my legal guardian to get me into the clubs.”

Green worked for a few years at the Shipyard, and played almost every club in Lewiston at that time.  

Green talked about how he tried out boxing for a few years at the Gamache Boxing club. “Joey Gamache — he’s like a father to me. He’s the one who convinced me to get back into music. He heard a demo tape I had made and he said ‘you should be doing this’.” 

Green then moved to New York City for seven or eight years and admitted it was a long struggle. “I could talk for days about the trials and failures. Now, here we are at this point in life.”

After pursuing a music career, he ended up going back to work as an electrician. He currently lives in New Jersey with his day job, but is hoping this break will allow him to finally fulfill his rags-to-riches story. So far, nothing has come from the song, but Green is excited about the future possibilities. 

Green said the only thing he wishes is that “my father John T. Green, brother, Casey Green and two nieces, Cody Green and Erin Kimler were here to share this special moment with me.”

Trans-Siberian Orchestra is considered a mix of genres, depending on the specific album. They are arguably most known for their Christmas albums, but are also called ‘progressive metal’, ‘progressive rock’, and ‘symphonic metal’.

Their new album “Letters from the Labyrinth” dropped on Nov. 13 and the band is currently on tour across the U.S. 

Hear the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTXUp5lbfq8

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6746163/trans-siberian-orchestra-lzzy-hale-forget-about-the-blame-exclusive