Interview with Monster

CLEARWATER - With their highly anticipated live debut coming up this Friday at the Banana Boat Too in Clearwater, newly formed Tampa Bay cover band, Monster, have already been generating a lot of buzz recently.

Monster consists of the following musicians:

View slideshow: Monster

Rob Kustes (Den of Thieves) - Lead Vocals
Brian "Bangus" Dwyer (Tampa Bay Music Network's "Favorite Male Guitarist Of 2010" award winner) - Guitar
Mike May (Kilo, Bad Neighbors) - Guitar
Steve Farneyand (Den of Thieves, Chrome) - Bass
Jeff "Drum Hammer" Wilkinson - Drums

I recently had the opportunity to interview all five members of Monster, here is what the five musicians had to say...

Keith Wilkins -

“First of all, I would like to thank all of you for taking the time and agreeing to do this interview.”

Mike May -

“Sure thing Keith.”

Jeff "Drum Hammer" Wilkinson -

“Thank you for having us.”

Brian “Bangus” Dwyer -

“Thanks for asking.”

Keith Wilkins -

“I’d like to start out by getting a little background on the band first. Can you tell me how and when did Monster form?”

Rob Kustes -

“Monster had been in the works before I joined the group. I met Brian Dwyer at shows and Benefits my other project was performing at a few years back and we got together in just the last few months and started the final carving and molding of the Monster band."

Mike May -

“I'll let Jeff and Brian take this one.”

Brian “Bangus” Dwyer -

“I've been looking for a more local band because my main gig was in Orlando. I got Jeff's name from a friend.... We jammed.”

Jeff "Drum Hammer" Wilkinson -

“There are 2 members left from the original Monster line up. Brian “Bangus” Dwyer and [I] began talking and jamming after a common friend passed along each others numbers about a year and a half ago. It’s been a rough ride playing with just about everyone in the area all the while never giving up hope in finding the right pieces. About 2 months ago the stars seemed to have finally aligned by adding Mike May, Rob Kustes and Steve Farney. The band seemed to have found its groove and from there it was full steam ahead.”

Keith Wilkins -

“Can you give me a little musical background on each member of the band? Before Monster, where did each of you come from...what other bands did you all play in before Monster, etc.”

Rob Kustes -

“I started singing in 1988. Villian, Xanthia, Alloyd Witch, Inner Sanctum were a few of my original bands, I never sang covers at local bars back then. After 7 years trying to get signed to a record deal with no success and the overwhelming negative part of local musicians and the local scene, I left the music business in 1995. In 2007 at one of the old stomps... The Brass Mug... I bumped into an old band mate who was currently in the studio recording... The Red Room... and needed some lyrics, arrangements and vocals on a track... It turned into 3 tracks. The band was UnEarthed, “Imposition of Faith” [was] the cd [ex-Purgatory/Iced Earth members]. This was the first vocal work I had done in 12 years, and that’s what lead me here to today, singing covers for the band Monster!”

Mike May -

“I'm from Springfield Massachusetts. There wasn't much of a scene there, so in the late '80's I relocated to Tampa Bay. My first band was an original project called Eyes Wide Open. After that I co-founded Bad Neighbors. My current bands are Monster and Kilo.”

Jeff "Drum Hammer" Wilkinson -

"Youngstown, Ohio born and raised. Been playing drums now for roughly 33 years. Starting off playing in grade school, studied many forms of percussion through the years such as rock, jazz and funk etc. etc. etc. Played most of the venues strecthing from Illinois to Maryland all the way down to Florida. Just to name a few bands [I have] played for are Twin Fusion, Presence and Prowler, with Twin Fusion getting some label attention in 1989. Unfortunately nothing ever materialized and the band eventually broke up in 91’ with the music scene beginning to change and gear more towards grunge.”

Steve Farney -

“I am originally from Michigan and spent years in "A" circuit cover bands such as UnnKutt. After moving to Florida in the 90's, I have played in all the local venues with the bands Relentless, The Chosen and Krossfyre... Am currently working with Den of Thieves, Chrome, and now Monster.”

Brian “Bangus” Dwyer -

“I've been playing ac/dc for 6 years. I played in a few bands in Maryland... High Strung, Criminals, Sentinel, Dorian Grey... before I moved to Florida 10 years ago. Florida bands i've played in... Sin City, substitute for Stiff Upper Lip & Highway to Hell.”

Keith Wilkins -

“Who were all of your individual musical influences?”

Rob Kustes -

“I'm a trained singer... By Al Koehn... So I'm able to manipulate my voice to sound just like many different artist. Singing music from my personal vocal hero's when I was growing up is right up my alley. I started in the early 70's listening to bands like Uriah Heep,3 Dog Night, Bad Company, Aerosmith, Zeppelin, Sabbath... gravitated to those vocal haromines and bands with great singers and ended up right at Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath's door. These 3 bands, and a few other great vocalist, molded my vocal destination for the years ahead, and I love to perform them today.”

Mike May -

“Beatles, CCR, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Rush.”

Jeff "Drum Hammer" Wilkinson -

“Band wise it’s always been all about Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, Cinderella, Journey, Ozzy, Ratt etc... I’m sure you can see where this is heading. As far as drum influences, off course Alex Van Halen, Steve Smith, Buddy Rich, Dave Weckl, Teddy Campbell, Phil Collins the list goes on and on.”

Steve Farney -

“I have loved playing bass since I was 15, and spent a lot of time playing Hard Rock and learning from the styles of Steve Harris of Iron Maiden and Geddy Lee of Rush. I presently keep up with new bands along the lines of Disturbed and Seether.”

Brian “Bangus” Dwyer -

“I've listened to a lot of people... So many are so good.”

Keith Wilkins -

“Does Monster plan on working on any original music? If so, do you have any plans on eventually recording and releasing a CD in the future?”

Mike May -

“Not at the moment, but soon.”

Steve Farney -

“I would love to work on any original aspirations of this group.”

Brian “Bangus” Dwyer -

“I want to do something original.”

Jeff "Drum Hammer" Wilkinson -

“Monster’s plans on working on a CD in the future is just that... Hey as a musician you have to have that burning desire to want to hear yourself doing something that you can call your own. There’s not a guy in this band that don’t have that. We want to 1st of all get the name of the band out there so people will be able to recognize us and say those guys are pretty good, that’s when you put your originals together, play them at the shows and put them on a CD. That’s when hopefully we’ll have the full support of the fans to help us along and play our tunes as loud as they can stand it so their neighbors will ask them when they see them outside... what was the name of that awesome song you were blasting and where can I buy the CD?”

Keith Wilkins -

“How exactly would you describe your style of music? What can someone expect to hear on your setlist?”

Rob Kustes -

“Monster will play rock and metal radio hits from the 70's to 2000's. We do classic rock to modern rock to classic metal to 80's metal to today’s top rock radio & metal heavy hitters.”

Mike May -

“Hard rock... Ratt, La Guns, Warrant, Judas Priest.”

Brian “Bangus” Dwyer -

“Some newer stuff, some older stuff... I like rock!”

Jeff "Drum Hammer" Wilkinson -

“I would describe our style of music [as] happy toe tapping, edgy, easy to dance to, in your face, a little outrages, very contagious, rock for the ages! As far as what to expect from our set list, you’ll just have to come check us out for yourself and come to your own conclusions.”

Steve Farney -

“I take the time to correctly cover the style of the bassist’s in our music.”

Keith Wilkins -

“Your debut show is coming up on November 11th at the Banana Boat Too, what could someone expect to experience at your debut show, and any other future show for that matter?”

Mike May -

“A good time!”

Brian “Bangus” Dwyer -

“Hopefully a good time.”

Steve Farney -

“An energy filled musical blitz!”

Jeff "Drum Hammer" Wilkinson -

“What to expect from a Monster show is for your feet to hurt like hell the next day because you’ll be on them all night long! I guess you can call it good clean fun if your into hot and raunchy and tasty things!. I would say we should have a goal about what people are about to experience at a Monster show but to be honest with you, having a goal kinda reminds me of going [to] school, and I was really never very good at school. I can remember once for about 6 to 8 months I carried around a little briefcase when I was in highschool it even contained a legal tablet, and the one time I brought that little briefcase home my father looked inside and said what’s that for and I said it’s to remember stuff. He said there’s nothing on the paper, I said I forgot the pencil!”

Rob Kustes -

“Monster is put together with some of the Bays best musicians, and are ready to give you 110% of the monsters inside each one of us... Unleash the Monsters!”

Keith Wilkins -

“Thank you once again for taking the time and agreeing to do this interview, It’s been a pleasure.”

Mike May -

“Thank you Keith.”

Jeff "Drum Hammer" Wilkinson -

“Thanks for your time Keith”

Brian “Bangus” Dwyer -

“Thanks for asking.”

Monster’s Debut:

Monster’s debut performance will take place this Friday, November 11th at the Banana Boat Too in Clearwater. The show will also feature special guest appearances by Kick Lucy and Chrome. Show starts at 10:00pm. The Banana Boat Too is located in Clearwater at 5858 Roosevelt Boulevard.

Keith Wilkins is a syndicated music columnist living in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. Keith's syndicated St. Petersburg Live music Bar Scene column originates on the Examiner and was the "2010 Most Read Examiner Column" in the St. Petersburg (Tampa Bay) market. Keith's #1 rated column is also syndicated on The Bay Buzz website, World News America, and several others as well. Aside from Keith's syndicated Examiner music column, Keith also writes for Tampa Bay's Mayhem Magazine as well.

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Want to learn more about Examiner.com Columnist Keith Wilkins? Read part 1 & part 2 of an interview with Keith Wilkins that was published in the San Antonio Single Parenting Examiner Column on October 4th & October 6th, 2010.