El Monstero Returns to The Pageant This December

ST. LOUIS, MO / September 27, 2023 – El Monstero, the definitive U.S. Pink Floyd Experience, is pleased to announce their annual winter shows at The Pageant in The Loop.

The concert dates are December 21-23 and 28-30. Show time is 8 p.m. (Doors at 7 p.m.). Tickets for all six shows are already on sale! Ticket prices range from $32.50 – $57.50 and are available at Ticketmaster. There will also be a VIP Soundcheck Experience for an additional $75 available Fridays and Saturdays only.

El Monstero began its theatrical presentation of the band’s music in 1999. The band is comprised of St. Louis natives Mark Thomas Quinn (lead vocals/guitar/lap steel guitar), Jimmy Griffin (lead vocals/guitar), Kevin Gagnepain (bass/vocals), Bryan Greene (electric and acoustic guitar), John Pessoni (drums/vocals), Bill Reiter (keyboard/vocals), Jake Elking (keyboard), Dave Farver (saxophone), Erminie Cannon, Tandra Williams, and Kirstin Johnson (vocals).  

El Monstero focuses on the Gilmore/Waters era of Pink Floyd, but ventures into albums recorded both before and after that time in the band’s history. El Monstero delivers an audio and visual interactive experience like no other combining pyrotechnics, aerial artists, lasers and innovative technology. Special surprise guest singers appear each night and no two shows are ever the same.

For more information, visit www.thepageant.com or www.elmonstero.com

New Music from St. Louis Dad!

Do you hear that? What’s that sound? It’s new music from St. Louis Dad!

In case you missed me mentioning it in the past, along with the St. Louis Dad blog, I also create music for my production imprint Missouri Mobile Productions. Last year saw the release of two new instrumental albums, JELLY-Fi and The Long Way to Mars EP. With neither reaching critical acclaim, nor receiving barely any streaming numbers, this dad figures why not keep the beats going and release another EP!

Rotting Planets EP

At the start of the summer I started working diligently to release the Rotting Planets EP. Another experimental instrumental album to add to the growing list of albums released through-out the years at MMP. The cover is a mash-up of two drawings completed by my son and daughter. This EP has a length under 20 minutes and is filled with little sounds and moments of “what was that?”.

While many artists release through Spotify, Bandcamp, SoundCloud or other social streaming sites, I would rather not. Some of those sites charge you to post your music, others take a cut from the ad revenue. To keep costs down I have decided to just keep releasing music directly to my listeners at MissouriMobileProductions.com for free. My music isn’t for sale, it’s just for listening. I don’t plan on going on a tour or performing in front of a crowd, so I think my release model works well for what I am doing. The music I produce is an experimentation in creating art by using various sounds, samples, and other weird techniques.

The initial cover for the project was also completely produced by artificial intelligence. It was the first time I have ever used ai to create any sort of artwork for me. The results are pretty incredible and I can see myself using ai to create other pieces of art and incorporating them into the various projects I participate in over time.

The Columbia Sessions

The Columbia Sessions is an odd experimental release I put together sitting late night in a quiet hotel while out of town. Featuring just five tracks, this short 10 minute EP explores the sampled sounds of child making noises, screams, and strawberry bananas. It’s a weird release but a MMP release nonetheless.

So if you are interested in hearing some weird music, head on over to my production / portfolio MissouriMobileProductions.com and start streaming! There’s more than just the Rotting Planets EP and the Columbia Sessions, all of my releases are available for free!

Now that these summer EP(s) have released it is time to start planning the next project! I have a few ideas but I’m not going to announce anything until we’re closer to release. Ya know sometimes things just don’t plan out and I would not like promising something that doesn’t plan out. With that being said be sure to watch this space, along with my various social media channels for all things related to St. Louis Dad and Missouri Mobile Productions.

My Zach Bryan Shirt

It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago that I actually heard of Zach Bryan. I remember my cousin playing the Heading South YouTube video while we were camping. I liked what I heard, wrote down his name and finished off the camping trip telling the kids the greatest story of Biggie and Tupac, being ceremoniously stalked by racoons, and lots and lots of swimming.

When I got back home I looked up Zach and discovered a treasure trove of songs put out by him and each and every one was fantastic. I could probably have a post for each of his songs, to me, they are that good. His lyrics speak to me and the lofi production of the tracks, that just adds to much to them all! Back in the day I would spend hours upon hours searching Napster, Kazaa, and Limewire for acoustic versions of songs and I downloaded some horrible quality tracks, but they were amazing, like where else would I had heard Garth Brooks playing Piano Man, or Jason Mraz busting out a verse from Bell Biv Devo’s Poison? So the quality of Zach’s sound was music to my ears.

With two albums under his belt a couple EPs, and a smorgasbord of unreleased songs, covers, and demos, there was so much to digest, and then not much after that he drops a massive 34 track album, American Heartbreak.

With American Heartbreak released and digging through everything YouTube and Soundcloud had to offer I found that I had just kept Zach on repeat pretty much all the time. I would sprinkle in some Tyler Childers or Morgan Wade to mix it up, but I had this man’s discography on rotation.

Zach’s guitar playing isn’t Hendrix level or anything spectacular to be honest (I’d like to love my lady long and hard, And lay down lines of laymеn guitar), it’s his lyrics. His words are relatable for me in my life. His stories are vivid and paint a picture in my mind that no other songwriter can do. Let’s not forget to mention that singing along to his songs is just as fantastic. His cadence, vocal tone, and rhythm just fit perfectly with one another.

In May 2022, my wife and I were able to attend the Country Music Fest in Chesterfield, MO. There were plenty of storms that day as well as a few tornado sirens, so I wasn’t sure if the show would be cancelled or not. The powers that be ultimately cancelled Charles Wesley Godwin’s set but Zach was able to perform and it was an incredible, muddy mess. I even got a Zach Lane Bryan t-shirt that I have already worn so much that it is fading faster than a 68 fastback getting scrapped for parts. It’s currently my favorite shirt, that is until I put on my All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster shirt.

Zach Bryan is a songwriter like no other. Dropping albums, EP’s, unreleased songs, and still doing everything he can to hate on Ticketmaster, I just can’t complain at all.

WEBER CHEVROLET AND KSHE 95 PRESENT EL MONSTERO AND LIVING COLOUR

El Monstero, the ultimate U.S. Pink Floyd tribute band, is pleased to announce their annual summer show will include none other than GRAMMY award-winning artists Living Colour on Saturday, July 9, 2022 at Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre.

Show time is 7 p.m. Tickets go on sale this Friday, March 25 at 10 a.m. Tickets are available at www.livenation.comwww.ticketmaster.com or at the box office at Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, open Fridays and Mondays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For the first week of sales, lawn and select reserved tickets are only $19.95 (plus fees). Click here for tickets! 

The band is excited to collaborate with Living Colour this summer. Bassist Kevin Gagnepain explains, “We started working on this lineup in 2020 before the pandemic hit. As we navigated the changing landscape of the last two years, this opportunity took a back seat. Thankfully in 2022, we are able to finally get it together, and we cannot wait to give our fans an epic night of music!” 

El Monstero began its theatrical presentation of the band’s music in 1999. The band is comprised of St. Louis natives Mark Thomas Quinn (lead vocals/guitar/lap steel guitar), Jimmy Griffin (lead vocals/guitar), Kevin Gagnepain (bass/vocals), Bryan Greene (electric and acoustic guitar), John Pessoni (drums/vocals), Bill Reiter (keyboard/vocals), Jake Elking (keyboard), Dave Farver (saxophone), Erminie Cannon, Tandra Williams, and Kirstin Johnson (vocals).  

El Monstero focuses on the Gilmore/Waters era of Pink Floyd, but ventures into albums recorded both before and after that time in the band’s history. El Monstero delivers an audio and visual experience like no other combining pyro, massive theatrical props, innovative technology and even fireworks. For more information, visit www.livenation.com or www.elmonstero.com.  

Living Colour was formed in 1984 and is currently comprised of Vernon Reid (guitar), Corey Glover (vocals), Will Calhoun (drums) and Doug Wimbish (bass). Stylistically, their music is a creative fusion of heavy metal, funk, free jazz and hard rock. The band is best known for their signature anthem “Cult of Personality,” which won a GRAMMY Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1990. They were also named Best New Artist at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1989 and won their second GRAMMY Award for their follow-up album “Time’s Up” in 1990. For more information, including tour schedule, visit www.livingcolour.com