MEST **

Mest was 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

Projects

Room One Eleven

Steve Lovato aka "Locust", went 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 went on to form a band called Kisses For Kings, whose line-up consists of Tony Lovato, Mike Longworth, and Richie Gonzales. They have performed on the 2007 Warped Tour and toured in July 2009 with Hollywood Undead, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and The Sleeping on the "Taking Care of Business Tour" aka TCB Tour. Their first EP was released on May 1, 2010 at the MEST show at the House of Blues, Anaheim.

The Twilight and the Sound

Matt and Jeremiah formed a new band called The Twilight and the Sound, announced 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."

The Get Go

Nick Gigler's first project after Mest was Chicago-based The Get Go. 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 A-Gang

The A-Gang is a current project involving Nick Gigler on drums. Based in Detroit, it also features former Suicide Machines bassist Rich Tschirhart (on guitar), with Nick Jones on bass, Tony Vegas on guitar, and Ben Wixson on vocals.

Reunion

On March 13, 2008, Tony Lovato posted a bulletin on his MySpace about "Mest's ONE NIGHT STAND," a show that Mest would play at the House of Blues in Anaheim, California, on April 17, 2008. In response, Nick Gigler posted a bulletin through his personal MySpace and confirmed that he would not be taking part, and that he had called Jeremiah Rangel and Matt Lovato, who had confirmed that they would not be appearing with Tony either.

After the one-off "ONE NIGHT STAND" show, Tony decided to rebuild Mest and go on a month long tour, with help from Chris Wilson (Good Charlotte, The Summer Obsession), and his brother and founding member, Steve Lovato (at the time in Room One Eleven). Although Matt showed interest, he and Jeremiah were both reported to be too busy with other commitments to join. Nick and Tony haven't been on speaking terms since the band broke up.

Through the Mest MySpace page, Tony announced that they would be releasing a new free EP, with September as the tentative release target.

In a followup post about their activities on Sunday, October 12, 2008, Tony wrote the following on the Mest 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. It's 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

The band's One Night Stand U.S. tour went from October 24, 2008 through November 20, 2008, and included their friend Alex Hayek on backup guitar. Other bands featured on the tour included Quietdrive, Automatic Loveletter, Rookie of the Year, and ISM.

Attempted 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 five years earlier. 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. James 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 targeted has yet to be revealed.