So I have the 'logo' of the band Mest tattooed on my ankle. Twice.

For those who don't know, Mest was a band that formed during the mid-nineties in Blue Island, a suburb of Chicago. The band consisted of Tony Lovato, his brother Steve Lovato, cousin Matt Lovato, and friend Nick Gigler. In 1997, Steve Lovato was swapped for Jeremiah Rangel, and thus formed the combination of the band that provided the main anthem music for my pre-teen angst, teen frustrations, and alcohol influenced early 20s.

From 2000's Wasting Time, to 2005's Photographs, here was a band that constantly toured throughout the country providing some of the best live performances I'd ever seen on a stage. Pure energy. Lots of uses of the word 'Fuck'. After shows, if you stuck around to get a ticket stub signed you were also shown that this was a band that was accessible and honest. It wasn't an act or gimmick. Frontman, Tony Lovato, only wrote songs about what he knew. Within the lyric booklets you were provided an inside perspective into exactly what he was going through at the time of his song writing process, whether it was a break up, frustrations, nostalgia, near death experiences, or a really crappy trip on a Greyhound Bus. The four releases Mest provided off Maverick are practically a fucking biography (with the exception of the of the occasional track by Jeremiah Rangel)

At the age of 16 I was a smiley, young, high school drop out - who decided it was in her best interest to get the Mest logo tattooed above her left ankle. To many, getting tattooed at the age of 16 would be seen as a mistake, but I knew I had my whole future ahead of me to make stupid choices. ..(losing virginity, enrolling in college, working 9-5 jobs...) This to me was a smart investment because it would provide years of joy and inspiration.

To me, and probably a lot of other fans of this band - it was more than a band, more than a silly monkey head tattoo, it was symbol. It represented a really important message of honesty to ones self. Most music I listened to (and still do) was from a genre of music that provided the message 'Fuck what people think' aka, "Be yourself". I found that great and all, but it was rare to find an example that wasn't flawed. A lot of things, and bands are fake or flawed. Some even scared the shit out of me by being overly outrageous.

With Mest, I found an example of someone being bold enough to express and portray their own personal life through lyrics for all the world to see. There was a lack of care or shame in whatever attitude was to be expressed at any time. For example, if a rude person in the audience yelled out "you suck"- you would usualy see the band pussy out in fear of repercussions or setting a bad example to young fans... at a Mest show, you saw that rude audience member called out on it by Lovato himself, usually something along the lines of "If I suck why am I up here and you're down there" or possibly even a burning insult against their looks/mother, resulting in applause from the crowd (and in the banter kid feeling like a complete tool). This was a band that went against the grain with examples of how a typical kid should/would/could approach life. Right in the lyric booklet of 2001's Destination Unknown, you knew if you were a fucked up kid, you could still make the best of it ( Fuct up visions in my head / I'm a fuct up kid is what they said / But at least I know all the things that I want / And it's all the things I've got ). When something is real, kids finally can relate to it.

I bet sitting here long enough, I could honestly ramble on forever. I could probably argue that given a chance, Mest's music could somehow save the world and that we should all be writing "Tony Lovato" in the voters ballets..haha...but my point is..that for kids like me, Mest was one of the most comforting and inspiring things you could ask for. Even if it wasn't fitting to your exact situation lyrically, it provided a stability to hold onto. You knew it as coming from an honest and sincere perspective. For fans, what was written and expressed was ways some couldn't communicate to anyone else, including themselves at times.

So, I had this tattoo. Two actually. Two Mestheads.

In 2006, this band did break up - but that was ok. Regrets were never, ever an issue. At the age of 21 now, and even the age of 30, and even at the age of 40 (where I lie and say I'm 29) I'll be able to look at my tattoo that to me, will always represent, for lack of better words, what some would call "having balls" about life's situations.

I will always remember that life was about remaining tough. No matter what fucked up shit was going to be dealt to me throughout life, it would work out or I could survive it. For I will always know that there was solid proof of someone who had always put it all out there through music. Life can be genuinely apeshit at you, and quite challenging at times. You could have a really rough relationship, or possibly a near death experience (that makes you miss doing the Warped Tour!)...yet find a bright side. You can survive. (Or, for example, turn it into really good melodic rock songs).

Everyone has their person to look up to, and their persons have persons they look up to. Just unlike most people I choose someone actually cool.

Currently, you can find Mest on tour with frontman Tony Lovato and an entirely new line up providing the "One Night Stand Tour", giving old fans who miss the band or missed out on Mest's last tour a final chance to see the songs performed. I was absolutely balls-out excited to attend the Irving Plaza and the Stone Pony show in NJ tonight. I will be providing my review, some photos, and some other really awesome stuff about this tour...along with great information about Tony Lovato's new band, Kisses for Kings.