cuttin' heads with Johnny Monaco (Enuff Z'Nuff)!

[Andee Blacksugar]

Johnny played guitar for underrated power-poppers Enuff Z'Nuff for 12 years -- AND was their lead singer, too, for the latter part of that tenure. Completely kicked ass at both jobs, too. Talented cat.

Tune's called "Ides" -- Johnny's on the right, I'm on the left. Yep, it's a totally immature pissing match:

https://soundcloud.com/andeeblacksugar

Also posted a track called "DuckMetalFace" with my Brooklyn buddy Brian Burke. You can check that out right underneath "Ides". It's the only instrumental from this series that was recorded with both guitarists in the same room at the same time, actually improvising back and forth. Since Brian is local, we actually get to jam from time to time.

Both of these cats are GIT grads and really know how to play.

All my sounds are AxeFX Ultra and my trusty Strat. Enjoy!

 

[stephen sawall]

You are getting some interesting clips on that page Andee.

 

[Andee Blacksugar]

You are getting some interesting clips on that page Andee.

thanks Stephen! still more to come...

 

[Mailman1971]

Wow.....thats a band I havent heard of in a long time!

When I was a big guitar collector I owned one of Derek Frigo's Holoflash Nightswans.
What a great band. FLY HIGH MICHELLE!!!

 

[Gainfreak]

You are an awesome player Andee and I am digging the hell out of these clips and ive been burning out your album by listening to it all day lol.

I just just checked out the clip of you and Lee W. going head to head.

I heard Lee at NAMM and I also heard a clip from him years back and I've always wondered why he isnt a household name with guitarists by now. Same can be said about you bro

I left a review of your disc on CD baby days ago but Im not sure it cleared yet.


With that said, for anyone checking this clip out, I cannot say enough great things about Andee's shred CD. It's a great disc

I'm also a fan of Enuff z nuff and they are WAY underated (it's a shame actually )

~Ralph

 

[Chubtone]

Edit: I just got an email from John and he loved my post here and then he said to me that he only talked crap if it was true and he was right. I don't disagree with that. I put an example in here to kind of qualify that.

I went to college with John Monaco in Chicago for a year. We met up pretty early in the year and there was a small group of us that were guitar nuts and all hung out together. One day John invited me over to his parents house to hear him play. We went over there and he plugged his red Kramer Pacer with a Warmoth strat head neck into his JCM800 half stack and put on some tunes and started playing along. He was playing Loudness stuff just dead on note for note and then played some DeMartini stuff and I mean really, really nailing it. Then he just started improvising some really cool stuff with this very slippery, legato feel and this killer phrasing. I am talking killer phrasing. So original and identifiable. I still remember it vividly 25 years later.

We continued hanging out and John was a very fun and funny guy. He was cocky as hell and cool at the same time and would not hesitate to talk crap on you the second you turned your back. The problem with that was that he was a black belt in karate too so if you didn't like it and wanted to say something, you were going to get a high top Nike upside the head. Regardless, we all still liked the guy.

After talking to John just now I want to give an example of what I meant by John's infamous trash talk:

You said what you felt and didn't do it in front of people so as not to hurt their feelings, but you did it in a funny way. And here is one example. You remember at that time that Yngwie was setting us all on our asses. I was taking lessons from Lenny Samczyk, remember him. He told me Yngwie was all about the Phrygian mode and so with me not knowing better, no matter what key my song was in, I was soloing over it with Phrygian, if something should have been e natural minor or e dorian it didn't matter, I was playing e phrygian over it and wondering why I didn't sound like Yngwie besides not having the chops.

So one day when I wasn't around and Sean and Jeff were with you over at Ron's you started talking about me and my not being able to solo in key. You played examples on Ron's guitar but made it funny. They even said you played "Wild Thing" or "Louie, Louie" and then soloed in A Phrygian over it. Well you guys all had a good laugh over it. Then they told me what had happened and I was PISSED. But then it forced me to look at what you had said and you were right. Instead of coming to you and saying, "dude...... help me", which I know you would have done while ridiculing me mercilessly (and deservedly) because of the unspoken competition among guitar players, even friends, I had to figure it out elsewhere. I'm going to go put this into that thread to give it some context.

So basically what I'm saying is that I consider you a friend but you were a dick, but in a good way and sarcastic way and funny way. It was like being friends with Andrew Dice Clay, know what I mean? I'm about as sarcastic as it gets but I can't spinning back kick someone to the head. If I could I could have gone to the next level like you could.

After that year I moved to LA to do the band thing and about a year or two later John moved out here to go to GIT. This was at the height of the Yngwie/Racer X craze and John got heavy into that. His technique became absolutely ridiculous and chops-wise he could have stood with anyone. Part of me though really missed the old way he played because it was so cool. It was flashy and fast but the phrasing like I said remained so melodic and musical. Maybe that wasn't where he really wanted to be as a player but for me and Sean, and Who Flung Poo (John will know) and Ron he was the coolest player in Chicago at 19 years of age. He even snuck Who Flung Poo and I into GIT one day and into an open counseling session with Paul Gilbert.

Years later we went to see him play guitar with Enuff Z'Nuff (Derek Frigo in his Le Mans era is an all time fave of mine) and John was great. The place wasn't packed and everytime John would step away from his pedal board and not paying attention, I would reach out and turn off his boost pedal and step back. He would look at his amp and then walk over to his pedal board and see the light off on his pedal and turn it back on. We were laughing ourselves silly. Then a few minutes later we would do it again. Over and over again and he started getting pissed and freaking STOMPING on his pedal. We could barely contain ourselves with laughing. Finally, we had to let him in on it. As he stood back by his amp probably half crazed wondering if his pedal was on, I walked up slowly to the front of the stage and reached out with my hand and put it on the pedal. He saw my hand and as he came running up to the front of the stage, he saw Jeff and I standing right up there and he almost pissed his pants with laughter.

So yeah, John Monaco...... great player, funny, funny dude and it turns out a great poppy songwriter and singer. And 19 year old John Monaco sitting in his bedroom at his parents house was one of the jaw dropping moments for me in watching great guitar players.

 

[Motorpud]

Awesome chops as usual Andee, you weren't bullshittin' when you said there were going to be a lot of killer tracks coming our way

 

[Digital Jams]

Ah the fire is warm when Curt speaks

 

[Andee Blacksugar]

You are an awesome player Andee and I am digging the hell out of these clips and ive been burning out your album by listening to it all day lol.

I just just checked out the clip of you and Lee W. going head to head.

I heard Lee at NAMM and I also heard a clip from him years back and I've always wondered why he isnt a household name with guitarists by now. Same can be said about you bro

I left a review of your disc on CD baby days ago but Im not sure it cleared yet.


With that said, for anyone checking this clip out, I cannot say enough great things about Andee's shred CD. It's a great disc

I'm also a fan of Enuff z nuff and they are WAY underated (it's a shame actually )

~Ralph

CAN'T THANK YOU ENOUGH, RALPH! Really, much gratitude.

 

[Bob Savage]

Cool jam.

 

[Andee Blacksugar]

I went to college with John Monaco in Chicago for a year. We met up pretty early in the year and there was a small group of us that were guitar nuts and all hung out together. One day John invited me over to his parents house to hear him play. We went over there and he plugged his red Kramer Pacer with a Warmoth strat head neck into his JCM800 half stack and put on some tunes and started playing along. He was playing Loudness stuff just dead on note for note and then played some DeMartini stuff and I mean really, really nailing it. Then he just started improvising some really cool stuff with this very slippery, legato feel and this killer phrasing. I am talking killer phrasing. So original and identifiable. I still remember it vividly 25 years later.

We continued hanging out and John was a very fun and funny guy. He was cocky as hell and cool at the same time and would not hesitate to talk crap on you the second you turned your back. The problem with that was that he was a black belt in karate too so if you didn't like it and wanted to say something, you were going to get a high top Nike upside the head. Regardless, we all still liked the guy.

After that year I moved to LA to do the band thing and about a year or two later John moved out here to go to GIT. This was at the height of the Yngwie/Racer X craze and John got heavy into that. His technique became absolutely ridiculous and chops-wise he could have stood with anyone. Part of me though really missed the old way he played because it was so cool. It was flashy and fast but the phrasing like I said remained so melodic and musical. Maybe that wasn't where he really wanted to be as a player but for me and Sean, and Who Flung Poo (John will know) and Ron he was the coolest player in Chicago at 19 years of age. He even snuck Who Flung Poo and I into GIT one day and into an open counseling session with Paul Gilbert.

Years later we went to see him play guitar with Enuff Z'Nuff (Derek Frigo in his Le Mans era is an all time fave of mine) and John was great. The place wasn't packed and everytime John would step away from his pedal board and not paying attention, I would reach out and turn off his boost pedal and step back. He would look at his amp and then walk over to his pedal board and see the light off on his pedal and turn it back on. We were laughing ourselves silly. Then a few minutes later we would do it again. Over and over again and he started getting pissed and freaking STOMPING on his pedal. We could barely contain ourselves with laughing. Finally, we had to let him in on it. As he stood back by his amp probably half crazed wondering if his pedal was on, I walked up slowly to the front of the stage and reached out with my hand and put it on the pedal. He saw my hand and as he came running up to the front of the stage, he saw Jeff and I standing right up there and he almost pissed his pants with laughter.

So yeah, John Monaco...... great player, funny, funny dude and it turns out a great poppy songwriter and singer. And 19 year old John Monaco sitting in his bedroom at his parents house was one of the jaw dropping moments for me in watching great guitar players.

Wow, great story! That sounds like me -- I used to just jam to albums, dozens of them, one after another. Loudness included.

 

[Anonymous]

That was great - both of you did some great stuff!

Steve

 

[Anonymous]

I went to college with John Monaco in Chicago for a year. We met up pretty early in the year and there was a small group of us that were guitar nuts and all hung out together. One day John invited me over to his parents house to hear him play. We went over there and he plugged his red Kramer Pacer with a Warmoth strat head neck into his JCM800 half stack and put on some tunes and started playing along. He was playing Loudness stuff just dead on note for note and then played some DeMartini stuff and I mean really, really nailing it. Then he just started improvising some really cool stuff with this very slippery, legato feel and this killer phrasing. I am talking killer phrasing. So original and identifiable. I still remember it vividly 25 years later.

We continued hanging out and John was a very fun and funny guy. He was cocky as hell and cool at the same time and would not hesitate to talk crap on you the second you turned your back. The problem with that was that he was a black belt in karate too so if you didn't like it and wanted to say something, you were going to get a high top Nike upside the head. Regardless, we all still liked the guy.

After that year I moved to LA to do the band thing and about a year or two later John moved out here to go to GIT. This was at the height of the Yngwie/Racer X craze and John got heavy into that. His technique became absolutely ridiculous and chops-wise he could have stood with anyone. Part of me though really missed the old way he played because it was so cool. It was flashy and fast but the phrasing like I said remained so melodic and musical. Maybe that wasn't where he really wanted to be as a player but for me and Sean, and Who Flung Poo (John will know) and Ron he was the coolest player in Chicago at 19 years of age. He even snuck Who Flung Poo and I into GIT one day and into an open counseling session with Paul Gilbert.

Years later we went to see him play guitar with Enuff Z'Nuff (Derek Frigo in his Le Mans era is an all time fave of mine) and John was great. The place wasn't packed and everytime John would step away from his pedal board and not paying attention, I would reach out and turn off his boost pedal and step back. He would look at his amp and then walk over to his pedal board and see the light off on his pedal and turn it back on. We were laughing ourselves silly. Then a few minutes later we would do it again. Over and over again and he started getting pissed and freaking STOMPING on his pedal. We could barely contain ourselves with laughing. Finally, we had to let him in on it. As he stood back by his amp probably half crazed wondering if his pedal was on, I walked up slowly to the front of the stage and reached out with my hand and put it on the pedal. He saw my hand and as he came running up to the front of the stage, he saw Jeff and I standing right up there and he almost pissed his pants with laughter.

So yeah, John Monaco...... great player, funny, funny dude and it turns out a great poppy songwriter and singer. And 19 year old John Monaco sitting in his bedroom at his parents house was one of the jaw dropping moments for me in watching great guitar players.

Very cool story, Curt!

If one of my friends had been doing that at one of my shows though, I would have killed them....

Steve

 

[Andee Blacksugar]

Very nice. Just keeps getting better.

Your CD =

thank you thank you thank you!

 

[ZMAN]

Very nice. Just keeps getting better.

Your CD =

thank you thank you thank you!

I Heard your CD at the Fortin Amp fest ... all i can say is ...I QUIT !!!! /thread !!!!!!

AMAZING ANDEE !!!!!!

Joe Z

 

[Andee Blacksugar]

Very nice. Just keeps getting better.

Your CD =

thank you thank you thank you!

I Heard your CD at the Fortin Amp fest ... all i can say is ...I QUIT !!!! /thread !!!!!!

AMAZING ANDEE !!!!!!

Joe Z

really? i gotta be honest, i don't know what that is! apparently someone there had good taste, heheh.

 

[Gainfreak]

You are an awesome player Andee and I am digging the hell out of these clips and ive been burning out your album by listening to it all day lol.

I just just checked out the clip of you and Lee W. going head to head.

I heard Lee at NAMM and I also heard a clip from him years back and I've always wondered why he isnt a household name with guitarists by now. Same can be said about you bro

I left a review of your disc on CD baby days ago but Im not sure it cleared yet.


With that said, for anyone checking this clip out, I cannot say enough great things about Andee's shred CD. It's a great disc

I'm also a fan of Enuff z nuff and they are WAY underated (it's a shame actually )

~Ralph

CAN'T THANK YOU ENOUGH, RALPH! Really, much gratitude.

My Pleasure Andee! I had your music blasting in my truck on the way to work today

 

[Chubtone]

I edited my post above to be a little more accurate where I was talking about John's infamous trash-talking: Here's what I said in my email to John who loved my post above and wasn't whining or complaining about what I said but said to me I only talked trash if it was true.

I replied to John with this:

You said what you felt and didn't do it in front of people so as not to hurt their feelings, but you did it in a funny way. And here is one example. You remember at that time that Yngwie was setting us all on our asses. I was taking lessons from Lenny Samczyk, remember him? He told me Yngwie was all about the Phrygian mode and so with me not knowing better, no matter what key my song was in, I was soloing over it with Phrygian, if something should have been e natural minor or e dorian it didn't matter, I was playing e phrygian over it and wondering why I didn't sound like Yngwie besides not having the chops.

So one day when I wasn't around and Sean and Jeff were with you over at Ron's you started talking about me and my not being able to solo in key. You played examples on Ron's guitar but made it funny. They even said you played "Wild Thing" or "Louie, Louie" and then soloed in A Phrygian over it. Well you guys all had a good laugh over it. Then they told me what had happened and I was PISSED. But then it forced me to look at what you had said and you were right. Instead of coming to you and saying, "dude...... help me", which I know you would have done while ridiculing me mercilessly (and deservedly) because of the unspoken competition among guitar players, even friends, I had to figure it out elsewhere. I'm going to go put this into that thread to give it some context.

So basically what I'm saying is that John is a friend but that he was a dick, but in a good way and sarcastic way and funny way. It was like being friends with Andrew Dice Clay, know what I mean? I'm about as sarcastic as it gets but I can't spinning back kick someone to the head. If I could I could have gone to the next level like John could.