Pop Punk
ABOUT :
Mest is a pop punk band from Blue Island, Illinois. The band's lineup, prior to their breakup in 2006, consisted of vocalist and guitarist Tony Lovato, guitarist Jeremiah Rangel, bassist Matt Lovato, and drummer Nick Gigler. They broke up in 2006 after an eleven year run, but reformed in 2008 with a new lineup, featuring only their singer returning for a final tour for people who missed the last one.
History
Cousins Matt Lovato and Tony Lovato formed the band together in October 1995. The band's last guitarist, Jeremiah Rangel, joined the band in 1998. Their previous guitarist was Steve Lovato, Tony Lovato's brother. Nick Gigler joined the band in 1997 and has been their drummer ever since.
In 1998, the band self-released Mo' Money, Mo' 40z. Their debut album on Maverick Records, Wasting Time, was released in July 2000 and Destination Unknown in 2001. They toured as an opening band for Goldfinger on July 20, 2002 in Las Vegas and then a few months later, released a DVD called The Show Must Go Off! in January 2003. Later that same year, the band released their self-titled album, which featured the single Jaded (These Years), featuring Benji Madden of Good Charlotte.
In 2005, a tour with Social Distortion was cut short when drummer Nick Gigler required surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome in his wrists which was affecting his drumming. The band's last album, Photographs, was released October 18, 2005.
In 2006, the band announced on their MySpace blog that they had decided to cease performing together.
Post-breakup
Fatal stabbing
In 2007, Tony Lovato was jailed on suspicion of murder in Los Angeles after police said he confessed to stabbing his then-current girlfriend's ex-boyfriend. He was held on $1 million bail after telling police that he was assaulted earlier in the day by Wayne Hughes, 25, in the underground parking lot of Archstone Apartments in the suburb of Studio City.
"At some point, Mr. Lovato produced a knife and the victim was stabbed," said Lt. Andrew Neiman of the Los Angeles Police Dept. "He has been booked for criminal homicide."
Neiman said police had been called to the apartment the night before, following an altercation between the two, but no arrests were made.
On Tuesday March 27, 2007, the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office dropped the murder charges, ruling that Lovato had acted in self-defense. He has since broken up with the girlfriend.
Room One Eleven
Steve Lovato aka "Locust", has gone on to assemble a music project called Room One Eleven which includes former Mest lighting engineer and merch salesman, Phil Cirullo aka "Swylla" and hip hop prodigy Damien Ringo. They are a group based out of Chicago's Southside.
This bands first album "Tears Dry Slow" was released in early March 2008.
Kisses For Kings
Tony Lovato has gone on to form a band called Kisses For Kings (formerly called A Permanent Holiday) whose line-up consists of Tony Lovato, Chris Wilson (Good Charlotte, Summer Obsession), Mike Longworth, and Ryan Clayton. They have already performed a few shows including dates at the 2007 Warped Tour.
The Twilight and the Sound
Matt and Jeremiah have recently formed a new band called The Twilight and the Sound, and announced this publicly via Mest's myspace page on Monday, October 27, 2008 "Hey everybody, it's Matt and Jer. We have been working on a new music project sporadically for the past few years. Within the last six months we've finally been able to 'step on the grapes'. We have finally collected the band members and have decided to demo the new songs on Myspace. We just put up the band page tonight and added the first song of the bunch. These songs were recorded directly onto the Garage Band program on Jer's Powerbook, but we plan on getting into the studio within the next few months." Though not much more is known about the band at this point, it is safe to say that they are around to stay.
The Get Go
A side project to spawn from the former Mest band is Chicago-based The Get Go, featuring Nick Gigler on the drums. The band was formed in January 2007, and also features members such as Allister's Scott Murphy on bass & vocals and Kyle Lewis on guitar & vocals, Showoff's Chris Messer on vocals and Nate Thruman on guitar & vocals. The group has posted 3 songs on their myspace and have stated that they may or may not be on the upcoming full length, and that they are available for digital purchase via Snocap.
The A-Gang
The A-Gang is a current project involving Nick Gigler on drums. Based in the Detroit area, it also features former Suicide Machines bassist Rich Tschirhart (on guitar), with Chuck Vroom on bass, Tony Vegas on guitar, and Ben Wixson on vocals.
Reunion
On March 13, 2008, Tony Lovato's MySpace posted a bulletin on his about "Mest's ONE NIGHT STAND," a show that Mest will be playing at the House of Blues in Anaheim, California on April 17, 2008. This was confirmed by Nick Gigler, who then posted a bulletin through his personal MySpace and confirmed that he will not make an appearance and that he had called Jeremiah Rangel, and Matt Lovato who had also confirmed they would not make appearances with Tony either, after Tony announced that his new band Kisses For Kings will be playing all Mest songs along with a few new KFK songs.
Mest have recently announced to be releasing a new free EP, however probably not anytime soon, along with a tour featuring Chris Wilson (Good Charlotte, The Summer Obsession) and one of the original founding members Steve Lovato, now of Room One Eleven. Jeremiah and Matt have been reported to be too busy to join, although Matt was interested but couldn't due to other commitments. Nick is busy with The Get Go and he and Tony have not spoken to each other since the break-up.
On Sunday, October 12, 2008 the band posted the following on their Myspace...
tour and new songs..
Hey everyone so we're all excited to start this tour and see you all soon. Sorry for the delay of releasing new songs but schedules sorta delayed everything. But, they are almost done. I have to go in tomorrow to finish a few vocal parts and the songs will be up. We are so stoked on the songs and i really hope and think all of you will be too. Its definitely a step forward for MEST as i believe all our records have grown from one to the other. Hope to see everyone at the ONE NIGHT STAND tour!!!! keep spreading the word and lets have a great nite!!!! Cheers... Tony
—Tony Lavato
The band's One Night Stand U.S. tour is underway and they have openers Quietdrive, Automatic Loveletter,Rookie of the Year and ISM on the road with them. Steve Lovato has rejoined as bass player for the tour.
Alleged extortion
On July 14, 2009, FSU founding member Elgin James was arrested by the FBI in Los Angeles, California and was charged with federal attempted extortion filed in Chicago. It was later revealed that James had allegedly sanctioned an attack on a member of a popular pop punk band. James is then reported as to have said that the man could avoid further trouble if he made a $5,000 “donation” to FSU. After that incident, the FBI became involved, and after another attack, the victim scheduled a meeting with James to give the $5,000 while the FBI had surveillance on the encounter. Elgin has since been released on bail and has returned to LA. Mest were eventually revealed to be the band in question. Speculation has been raised that Tony Lovato's past personal ties to white power groups, were the reason why they were targeted, given FSU's anti-racist stance, however the individual Mest member that was attacked has yet to be revealed.
Line-up
Tony Lovato - Vocals, Guitar
Jeremiah Rangel - Guitar, Vocals
Matt Lovato - Bass
Nick Gigler - Drums
