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MUSIC
El Monstero plays the Pageant in 2017. | KENNY BAHR
Monster Jam
More than two decades in, the El Monstero experience is bigger and better than ever
Written by STEVE LEFTRIDGE
It’s the holiday season in St. Louis hi h eans a onth fi ed ith usi a rasstra a an as hi i a oo as and anukkah u a a oos. ut no year end tradition quite compares to El Monstero’s December residency at the a eant. su er rou of veteran St. Louis musicians, the band has been staging its popular Pink Floyd tribute concerts since 1999. Now in its 23rd year, the El Monstero experience is bigger than ever — and for thousands of devotees, it’s an essential winter ritua on e ar ou e ard.
El Monstero has, to be sure, pulled off a remarkable feat: It’s not often that a local cover band sells out seven consecutive nights in a 2,000-seat venue, let alone year after year.
Founding bassist Kevin Gagnepain tells the RFT that, when the project started, he could not have imagined the behemoth it would become. “We thought it might be just a one-night thing and that ou d e it ” a ne ain says. fter all, the act sprang from a side project of Stir, the alt-rock trio of Gagne ain sin er uitarist ndy h idt and dru er rad ooker a homegrown favorite that saw some major-label success in the ’90s.
To stay busy between tours, Stir, joined by leather-larynxed singer Mark Thomas Quinn, wore ornate Mardi Gras masks onstage in an all-covers band cheekily billed as onstero os asked en ers under the ry y hony re ise that tir s re ord a e a ito prohibited the band from performin as tir” un ess on an o ia tour . he in o nito outfit s e ia ized in rock classics, including the entirety of side two of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, a well-received segment that eventually expanded into a full night of Pink Floyd covers at Mississippi Nights.
That original show is dwarfed by the El Monstero spectacle of today. The band has grown to o ia e ers a on side dozens of actors, aerialists, pole dancers and other musical guests, surrounded by a technical team that executes the show’s elaborate sound-and-video dazzle and effe ts hea y rodu tion. eyond the inter run the and no fi s o y ood asino hitheatre each summer, complete with massive pyrotechnics and a strategically timed helicopter that buzzes the crowd mid-show. nd hat of that stran e na e? Gagnepain admits that “El Monstero” they dro ed the rest of the name years ago) is an odd name for the act since the moniker has nothing to do with Pink Floyd. o e er e sort of re erse engineered the connection to a yri fro ink oyd s a e a i ar ” a ne ain says. hat ine — ‘It could be a monster if we pull to ether as a tea rea y fits the spirit of the band and our fans.”
Theresa Solsten is one such fan. e ster ro es hairsty ist, Solsten has seen El Monstero over 50 times, attending multiple shows each holiday run dating back to 2002. Even though Solsten lives locally, she often stays at the oonrise ote ne t door to the Pageant, on nights before El Monstero shows to enhance the experience and to make it easier to line u ear y. ordin to o sten her fandom of El Monstero has even eclipsed that of Pink Floyd.
“For me, the holidays are unthinkable without it,” she says. “I am not exaggerating when I say that El Monstero shows are sacred
to me.”
When asked to explain the project’s precipitous popularity, Gagnepain says, “It’s been completely organic. It’s really the fans’ show. They keep spreading the word, and the more people that show up, the more production we are able to provide.”
Key lineup additions over the years, including guitar wizard i y ri n in of the i the Incurables), sly-slapping drum er ohn essoni the r e oe Dirt) and piano ace Jake Elking u s ury ark a so he ed boost the band.
“In the beginning, the audience was mostly Stir and Pink Floyd fans,” Gagnepain remembers. hen so e i y ri n fans a e on oard. hen so e r e fans. It’s all these groups intertwined that has made this thing what it is today.” ri n ho e odies the rototypical ’80s-metal guitar hero and whose goth-pimp cameo on a e a i ar” as a hi h i ht of early El Monstero shows, had recently formed the Led Zeppe in tri ute and e e ration ay with Quinn and Pessoni when he was asked to replace the departin h idt. in e then ri n has also formed local tributes to the o in tones treet i htin and o etty the ard ro ises and a id o ie shes to Stardust), establishing St. Louis as an unparalleled city for tributeband experiences.
“El Monstero can be thanked for that or blamed for that, depending on how you feel about it,” Gagnepain jokes. onstero s e ers rounded out y uitarist ryan reene saxophonist Dave Farver, key oardist i eiter and a ku o a ists r ine annon andra Williams and Kristin Johnson) pride themselves on meticulous recreations of Pink Floyd’s original recordings, playing comprehensive setlists that appeal to both casual fans and hardcore Floydheads.
“There are the hits that we play e ery year ” ri n says. ut e get weirder with the older stuff. This year we’re playing a song we haven’t done in 10 years and one that we’ve never played before.”
Even when the band unearths a dee oyd o s urity ri n says “I can see 20 or 30 people who know every word of these rare songs. That’s why those guys keep coming back to see us.”
Gagnepain says that a unique El Monstero experience each year is key to keeping things fresh for both the band and the audience, pointing out that this year the band is playing at least one song from each of ink oyd s first a u s an onstero first. a h year a so features a different theme that informs everything from the poster art to the stage design. This year’s theme: the Da Vinci drawing Vitruvian Man, which emphasizes the connections between man and nature and, according to Gagnepain, “parallels the interconnectedness between the band and the fans over the years. It’s been a symbiotic relationship from the beginning.”
It all adds up to a formula that has fans passing on the tradition to a new generation.
“We are now at the point where people whose parents brought them to El Monstero shows when they were kids have grown up and are now bringing their own hi dren ” ri n notes. en VID-19 did not stop the show, despite a couple of years that saw scaled-down versions. “This year, everything is back,” says Gagnepain. “It’s going to be the full El Monstero experience.” hate er the aria es ri n promises a powerful evening.
“It’s always an event,” he says. “People know that they’re going to be getting something special. The whole package — the music, the visuals, the crowd, the tradition — makes it something that we can’t wait to give to people.” n
