Well Monticello was started in January or 2003. Here's the history on each member.
John Moga:
Alex Bettinger:
Jeff Barden:
Started playing guitar at the age of 14. He never really got into it too much at first...but after a while he did. While playing with the band Psychosis in 10th grade...his drummer just left the band. With 2 weeks before a show...they had a problem. So Jeff quickly learned the drums and filled in. Well...he liked the drums better...so he stayed with it. Jeff met John his Junior year in high school through a friend. They practiced together once with a kid named Cole and things went pretty well. So that formed the band 909...and a few weeks later they got bass player Jason Ander. John and Cole didn't get along too well so Jeff decided to say goodbye to Cole and 909 was then a trio. Well after the first show Jeff and John lost contact and 2 weeks before a show...again they had nobody to play with. So Jeff called Cole and with 2 weeks or practice they played the show. Well it was good that way...so they kept it that way. In September or 2001 Cole and Jason started not getting along and so eventually Cole kicked Jason out and got replacement Charlie Gilb. Things were going great for 909. The had sponsor Target Market and the started getting a huge fan base. In January 2002 Cole and Charlie started to not get along (Notice a pattern?). So Charlie got mad and quit the band...but left on good terms with the band. 909 got Jeff's good pal Brandon Kunimura to play bass and with only 3 weeks practice...they rocked The Lab on February 2nd. 909 stayed that way up until the end. With things getting better...gaining more fans every show...and geining Dirtbag Clothing out of California as a sponsor...they were finally getting somewhere. Things started going downhill when Jeff and Cole started to get into small arguments. In April at a Jeff grabbed Cole by his shirt collar and pulled himoutside and yelled into his face for 5 min about how Cole gave a band permission to borrow Jeffs drums and that band fucked the drums up. After that incident 909 shattered to pieces. In May of 2002, 909 was done for good. Cole wanted to ditch all fans and take their money. Jeff quit and that was the end. But 909 still had shows booked for the next 3 months. So Jeff got friends Alex Bettinger and Eric Gasior to start a new band and with only few weeks practice they finished all the shows. Well things just didn't seem to work out with that band...so they just gave up. Well now Jeff and Alex wanted to start a new side band for fun...and they called up John Moga to get in on it...and now you have Monticello!
The Official Monticello Website