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Biography
References|date=May 2012Other uses|MEST (disambiguation)!MESTInfobox musical artist | name = Mest| image =| caption = Left to right: Tony Lovato, Matt Lovato, Jeremiah Rangel, Nick Diddler| image_size = 300| background = group_or_band| alias =| origin = Blue Island, Illinois , United States | instrument =| genre = Pop punk , alternative rock | occupation =| years_active = 1995 - 2006, 2008-present| label = Maverick Records|Maverick | associated_acts = Good Charlotte , The Twilight and the Sound, The Get Go, Kisses For Kings, Room One Eleven, The A-Gang| website =| current_members = Tony Lovato Steve Lovato Richie Gonzales Mike Longworth | past_members = Jeremiah Rangel Matt Lovato Nick Gigler| notable_instruments = 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 (album)|Wasting Time , was released in July 2000 and DestinationUnknown (Mest album)|Destination Unknown in 2001. They toured as an opening band for Goldfinger (band)|Goldfinger on July 20, 2002 in Las Vegas, Nevada|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 (Mest album)|Photographs , was released October 18, 2005.
In 2006, the band announced on their MySpace blog that they had decided to cease performing together.
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 have not been on speaking terms since the band broke up.
Mest released the single, "Almost" on February 14, 2012. In 2012 Mest toured with the Austrian pop-punk band From Dawn to Fall through Europe. Tony Lovato announced on Twitter that the new Mest album Not What You Expected will be released on April 24, 2012. However two days before the release date, Lovato announced that the new album is delayed due to mixing and mastering.
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 band's 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.
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.
Quote|"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 .
Members
; Current
Tony Lovato - lead vocals, guitars (1995–2006, 2008–present)
Steve Lovato - bass (2008–present), lead guitar (1995–1998)
