Mest tickets

Mest – The 2016 Tour

Mest consistently deliver one of the most high-energy and deeply felt shows in the pop-punk scene today. They will be performing on some of the most iconic stages across the Southern United States. Whether they are playing at The Orpheum in Tampa, Rocketown in Nashville, Livewire in Scottsdale, or any of the other state-of-the-art venues booked for their reunion tour, Mest pour their hearts and souls into each and every show. Mest have defined a generation of emo, pop-punk, and ska acts, so don't miss out on your chance to see these masterful musicians live and in the flesh. Get your tickets today!

About Mest

Cousins Matt and Tony Lovato grew up on the same street on the south side of Chicago in the Blue Island section. At the age of seven, they started playing music together, borrowing instruments from Tony's dad. Tony picked up the guitar and vocals, and Matt covered bass. In high school, they teamed up with drummer Nick Gigler and guitarist Jeremiah Rangel. Tony thought of calling the band Mest while contemplating a case of Milwaukee's Best. Performing in local punk clubs in Chicago, the band self-released their album debut, Mo' Money, Mo' 40'z. They had their first big break when Tony wrote to John Feldmann, lead singer of Goldfinger, and got a reply. After listening to their demo cassette, Feldmann invited Mest to open for Goldfinger. He also got them a record contract with Maverick and produced Wasting Time, the band's major-label debut, which was released in July of 2000. The following year, Mest came back with a guest-filled, spiky punk album titled Destination Unknown with cameos including Monique Powell of Save Ferris and Young MC. An eponymous third album, which included a guest performance from Benji Madden of Good Charlotte, dropped in June of 2003. A long stretch of Warped Tour performances followed, which ended up in back surgery for Tony and exhaustion for Mest in general. Still, the band soldiered on. In the fall of 2005, they issued their fourth album for Maverick, Photographs. After a decade together, Mest dissolved early in 2006. They concluded their work with a tour in February, aptly titled So Long and Thanx for the Booze, alongside Scary Kids Scaring Kids and Allister. After a reunion show in 2008, Tony decided to rebuild Mest with his brother Steve and Chris Wilson. With Richie Gonzalez and Mike Longworth, Mest toured Europe in 2012. The following year, they released Not What You Expected.

Previous Hits

After Mest's major-label debut met lukewarm reception, their 2001 sophomore Destination Unknown shows that they are treading into less familiar territory. Most strikingly, they pepper their spiky power pop with pseudo hip-hop à là Sugar Ray, even recruiting Young MC for production on their most guilty cuts: Cadillac (the riff-tastic lead single), Reasons (led by electronic percussion and a Sublime sample), and Mother's Prayer (an expansive tear-jerker). A few songs hit on the right three chords, like the sassy Fuct Up Kid, and the lyrics go beyond the pedestrian. In a crowded field, Destination Unknown makes the cut.

For their third release on Maverick, Chicago's Mest have jettisoned the teeny pop experimentations of Destination Unknown, toned down the ska inflections of their earlier work, and fully embraced a dolled-up tween punk approach. Engineered, mixed, and produced by Mest mentor and Goldfinger frontman John Feldmann, the self-titled 2003 album packs every possible pop-punk trick in the book, often recalling the heyday of Feldmann's own band. Like their peers Good Charlotte (Benji Madden has a cameo here), Mest combined the energetic power chords of Green Day with the sweeping string sections, synth programming, and processed vocals that typify all of the decade's mainstream and radio-ready pop. 2000 Miles, Night Along, and Until I Met You are, more or less, pogo-friendly updates of traditional punk in which mohawk meets boy band. The swelling violins and squiggling electronics of Jaded (These Years) and the acoustic dramatics of Chance of a Lifetime suggest Mest is moving from punk rock to pure pop. Although each word, every chord, and all the glossy dynamics of a record are aimed for the mainstream market, the soul of the band still shines through. Mest offer a few stage-diving moments for their audience, and will hopefully survive as the next new trends arrive.

Mest try to shake up their approach on 2005's Photographs, their fourth album, as suggested by the gothic painting of a skull and a pretty girl on the cover and song titles like As His Black Heart Dies (My Mistake), Cursed, and Kiss Me, Kill Me. Sure enough, there are some signs of new new wave, fashionable neo-goth, and emotional bloodletting scattered throughout Photographs, from washes of keyboards to echoing guitars to Tony Lovato's angsty lyrics. All this is window-dressing, however, because underneath all the tortured gloss, the group's breezy pop-punk core comes through as strongly as it did in 2000. There are a few different sounds, such as the power balladry of This Time. Instead of just stretching the band's music, it adds depth to enhance the power the group has. The dirt-free, crystal-clear production makes Mest sound as polished and direct as their nice-punk-next-door vocals. After all, Lovato is known for writing a ream of alienated, angry songs before he thanks his parents for helping him to grow up. This is Mest in a nutshell – the four-piece is obviously trying to work out their sound, and their music is increasingly poignant, experimental, and heavy as it emphasizes their basic emotions. Whether Mest are truly memorable or a guilty pleasure, their songs are rife with hooks. This never changes, whether they're doing goth-punk or ska-punk.

Trivia

The members of Mest are involved in a number of other side projects: The Get Go (Nick Gigler), The Twilight and the Sound (Matt Lovato), and Kisses for Kings (Tony Lovato).

The Mest Concert Experience

Bust out your Converse and your Manic Panic, because Mest are back on tour. You will not want to miss even a second of Mest's driving and energetic live show when they come to your area. From beginning to end, Mest will amaze with their emotive and danceable covers, playing their instruments in a dazzling display of talent, charisma, and soul. Where Mest truly shine is in Tony Lovato's piercing vocals, which alternate between deep melancholy and relentless aggression. Don't miss out on your chance to see Mest live and in the flesh!