Monte
Pittman has long been hailed as a guitar legend, teaching the likes of Guy
Ritchie and Madonna how to play guitar, which landed him a spot as Madonna’s
guitar player. Working with Tommy Victor
in Prong, led to the two of them working with Adam Lambert, before he was ever
given a spot on television’s American Idol.
Pittman is one of those musicians with amazingly fast finger skills.
Though
he has worked with a number of entertainers, he also has his solo career,
allowing him to spread his wings creatively.
Of course, having been around the world and knowing all sorts of
talented musicians, he has cherry picked some of the best to work with for his
solo gig. The culmination of world class
musicians creates a sound that doesn’t just fit into one specific genre, but
depending on the song, he expands beyond one genre, hitting highs and lows,
sprawling through various tempos, telling a musical story.
Jon Dette is known in the scene as
being a fast learner, subbing in for bands on a short moment’s notice, learning
whole sets overnight to fill in when needed.
That in and of itself is a skill that not a lot of people have, and when
you hear him pound on the drums, he has an intensity that not many drummers can
even fathom reaching. Working for bands
like Slayer and Anthrax demands this intensity, and watching him, it is readily
apparent why Monte would want to have him as a first pick on drums.
Eli Santana might be best known for
Holy Grail and Huntress, but he has a band that is an anagram of his name
called Alien Satan. This long,
dark-haired bass player may remind some people of a young Robert Trujillo, and it
will be interesting to see where his career takes him, as he is also known for
his acting skills. Whether seeing him on
screen or on stage, he brings a dark intensity that’s fabulous.
Drummer Bobby Jarzombek is best
known for working in Halford and Riot, but he’s also worked with Fate’s
Warning, Iced Earth, Juggernaut, and others.
It’s funny to watch him battle Jon Dette on stage when they do their
drum solos, as Dette brings the intensity, while Jarzombek brings the
flash. Twirling sticks with the best of
them, audience members stare in awe as Jarzombek does his tricks.
Opening for Monte Pittman and
Sebastian Bach is a Canadian band called One Bad Son. Their first album title was a throwback to
the movie The Big Lewbowski, and the
band took it upon themselves to make themselves known, showing up to radio
stations, demanding that their song “Scarecrows” be played on air. Drummer Kurt Dahl is an entertainment lawyer
in Canada, so he’s probably a good one to have on tour in case of any legal
issues that may come to light when these music legends meld minds.
Though Sarasota was not the original
planned city for the end of tour, things have a way of working out for the
best. Originally, the show was slated
for Tampa, but the original venue closed, providing an opportunity for Kelly
Schaefer, formerly of Atheist and Neurotica, to promote the show at a new
location: The White Buffalo in
Sarasota. It didn’t take long for the
show to sell out, and with Jon Dette having friends and family members in the
area, he even got homemade cookies from his aunt.
Pittman was all excited about his
latest merchandise addition:
panties. Creating something for
the ladies, he put the name of his new album “Between the Space” positioned
cleverly on the undies. Sitting down
with Pittman to discuss more intimate topics for www.jackandjilladult.com, Santana
and Dette joined in on the fun interview, to give their perspective on what
goes on behind closed doors.
In a couple days, the full interview will be found at www.jackandjilladult.com, as well as
on www.youtube.com in a four-part segment
from a couple different cameras. Taken
on “the bus that looks like Nightmare on Elmstreet,” in Pittman’s words, the
green lighting cast an otherworldly glow, but it was not the brightest for the
video camera. Take a look below at a
couple of clips from the guys and their thoughts on sex; on the second video with all three band members, at the end, they read excerpts from a few of my books.
The first time I met Monte was back
in 2002, when I was interviewing Prong.
Specifically, I was interviewing Tommy Victor, and when he first told me
that Monte played with Madonna, I thought they were joking. Who would’ve thought that a guy playing a
song like “Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck” would’ve been teaching one of the
world’s largest pop artists to play guitar, and who would’ve thought at that
point that he would be on stage with her for the halftime show at the Super
Bowl tearing it up?
From the first time I met Prong, to
even this past time, both Tommy and Monte played the same joke. Tommy used large coarse table salt, and Monte
had the upgraded large blue crystals.
They whip out this massive plastic baggie, pretending that it’s meth,
just to get a reaction from people.
Monte laughed and said he wanted the blue to look like it was the stuff
from Breaking Bad, and it does get reactions of the few times I’ve seen the
joke, but I can only imagine how other reactions would’ve been.
The very first Prong interview I
did, they had been playing with Danzig, a band that Tommy would later play
guitar in, while Monte toured with Madonna.
It had been in the early stages of my career, and I remember being asked
what I wanted to do in regards to music.
Back then, I said that I had wanted to go on tour, and was questioned
why; I said I kept hearing people talk about it, but I wanted to experience it
for myself, just to see what it was really like, as hearing is one thing, but experience…
To my surprise, less than two weeks
later, I was pulled on stage by Rob Zombie and offered a job on tour. I got to tour the country with Ozzfest and
experience the not so glamourous side of touring, like showering at random
truck stops when lucky enough to be able to stop. Or not being able to stop to shower for a few days, as the schedule is too tight to get from one side of the country to the
other to stop.
Before I got that experience, I was
able to interview another musician, the same one who wrapped up the evening: Sebastian
Bach. Not expecting him to even be
there, as I was called by a sister newspaper to cover a local band in a battle
of the bands in Detroit, the club owners asked me if I wanted to interview the
guest announcer, who was Sebastian Bach of Skid Row. There was no way to prepare myself, as I
never would’ve guessed that it would happen, but it was the first time I was star
struck (the only other time was Tom Petty, and I never expected it to happen either time).
For some reason, words failed
me. It was as if my brain and mouth had
a disconnect. No matter if my brain
thought of things to say, my mouth would not process the commands to form the
words.
He must’ve been in this scenario
before, as he simply looked at me and asked, “how about if I just talk, and you
just write?” Having all I could I could
do to nod, I picked up my pen and started doing dictation, as he talked about
getting his start in Detroit. Detailing
how he had the “Youth Gone Wild” tour with Guns ‘N Roses, which was a major
tour back in the day, he explained how they had sold out a show, and when he
got off stage, with adrenaline flowing through his veins, a guy asked if he
wanted a line, and he feebly warned him that the line was a bit speedy, which
Sebastian ignored, snorting it up.
This resulted in him being legally
dead for a few minutes. The adrenaline
of being on stage, combined with the speediness of the line, resulted in an
overdose that he almost didn’t live through.
This was an early warning message from a major rock star about how the music
scene could be.
Of course, let’s be honest: drugs
are not only in the music scene. Fast
forward a decade and a half, and the country has found itself in a major
epidemic. Though it was not speed, it
was actually on the opposite end of the spectrum of downers, we actually had to
leave the concert a few songs early when we got word that a girl we knew had
overdosed, and not that there was much we could do.
She was found dead. We didn’t know the details yet. We thought we would see her again.
It’s not that we wanted to
leave. We had another after show segment
planned for Jack and Jill with Monte and Vicky, an adult film star who was at the Sarasota show,
but we thought that our friend was simply being taken to a hospital. We thought by leaving that we would be able to
see her at least one last time.
Nope. Dead on arrival. No second chance for her.
While the glitz and the glam of the
rock and roll lifestyle looks so amazing from the outside, there’s also the
reality. Sebastian Bach is 50 and still
rocking songs that he produced in his 20's.
Even Monte Pittman, though he has toured with Madonna, Adam Lambert,
Prong, and others, still hopes to have his music be the main focus of his career, as
opposed for being known for playing someone else’s songs.
Not everyone who has a hit song is
a millionaire. That’s just reality. There’s plenty of musicians that are still
struggling in the scene, so be sure and try to support the musicians that you
enjoy.