Tony Lovato


Anthony Cappiello John Lovato, better known as Tony Lovato, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, best known as the vocalist and guitarist of the pop punk band Mest.

Early life

Lovato was born in Blue Island, Illinois. He started getting involved in music at 12 years old and played drums for the White power band Confederate Storm. Lovato later condemned his actions, stating that he left the band at the age of 13 or 14, thinking, "This isn't who I am. I've got Mexican friends and I've got black friends, and I don't dislike them, so how can I be part of this when my true feelings are everything that's not that?" He later became involved in anti-racist activism, drawing on his experience to educate others on issues of race and influence.

Musical career

Mest (1995–2006, 2008–present)

Lovato, his brother Steve Lovato, and their cousin Matt Lovato founded Mest in 1995. He wrote the majority of the lyrics for their self-released debut studio album "Mo' money, Mo' 40z", on April 1, 1998. Their major label debut, "Wasting Time", was released on July 13, 2000. via Maverick Records, their third studio album "Destination Unknown", was released on October 30, 2001. their self-titled Mest was released on June 10, 2003, This album produced by John Feldmann. their fifth album, "Photographs" was released on October 18, 2005.
In 2006, the band announced on their Myspace page that they were disbanding.
In October 2008, Tony staged a reunion tour of Mest, with Steve Lovato taking bass guitar duties, Chris Wilson taking over on drums, and Ryan Clayton covering lead guitar. None of the other former members of Mest took part in the reunion.
A brief reunion a few years later set the stage for the band to get back together, and they toured as well as releasing the sixth studio album "Not What You Expected" on January 21, 2013. their first acoustic album "Broken Down", was released on March 25, 2014. and their second acoustic album "Broken Down 2", was released on October 13, 2017.
On September 13, 2019. their released a single titled "The Upside Down" from the seventh studio album "Masquerade" which will be released on January 17, 2020.

Kisses for Kings (2006–2011)

In 2006, after Tony moved to Los Angeles, He started his new project, A Permanent Holiday, founding members included Jordon "Charlie Scene" Terrell on guitar, who left the band and was replaced by Dave Aguilera. Jorell "J-Dog" Decker on bass and Adam Garbett on drums. Shortly after its launch, he gave a preview of the new project with several demos including "The Thought of You", "A Taste of Honesty", "The Night" and another unmixed demo called "SOS". They have performed on the 2007 Warped Tour and toured in July 2009 with Hollywood Undead, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and The Sleeping on the "Taking Care of Business Tour".
In 2009, the band announced they would be returning with new name Kisses for Kings an entirely new lineup. Lovato as vocals, Mike Longworth as guitar, Ryan Clayton as bass, and Richie Gonzales as Drums. and released five demo tracks titled "Like Always ", "Forgive Me", "Bad Disease", "You Don't Know What I Know", "Risk It All". but all demo tracks did not appear on the upcoming EP.
On May 5, 2010 the band released debut EP "Forget to Remember" which included collaborations with Deuce, Johnny 3 Tears and Craig Mabbitt.
After releasing the EP in 2010, no public updates were made regarding the future of Kisses for Kings.

London Falling (2015–present)

In 2015, Tony Lovato started new project called London Falling and On April 7, 2016 the band released debut single titled "Nightmare" comes off London Falling’s upcoming EP.
Lovato worked with former bassist Falling in Reverse, Ronnie Ficarro, on the song influence from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. When Lovato left town after the summer, he wanted the friend to join him, but he says the friend couldn’t leave.
“They had never left the city they grew up in and were scared of the unknown. After trying to make things work from afar, it just turned more and more into a nightmare,” he says.
"It made me think about how Jack Skellington wanted to explore the unknown and Sally was too scared. The friendship ended around Halloween. Perfect timing to sing about my own 'Nightmare."
In the meantime, they’re opening on the Three-Headed Monstour, where Lovato will perform twice each night once with London Falling and once with Mest.

Other appearances

Lovato appeared in Good Charlotte's music videos for "Festival Song", "The Anthem" and "Like It's Her Birthday". Lovato also made an appearance in Escape the Fate's music video "Something" and "City of Sin", Hollywood Undead's music video "Everywhere I Go" and The Vibrators's music video "One More".

Legal issues

Stabbing incident

On March 27, 2007, Lovato was released from jail and homicide charges against him were dropped. A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles District Attorney's office stated "We determined that the suspect and victim had dated the same girl back-and-forth for over a year. There had been threats, and the victim sent several threatening messages to the suspect. Apparently, there was some mutual combat and Lovato attempted to separate himself from the victim when the victim challenged him to a fight. The victim followed Lovato to an isolated spot in the underground garage and tried to fight him. Lovato defended himself, and there was insufficient evidence to show that it was not a justifiable use of reasonable force in self-defense."
On Monday afternoon March 26, 2007. Good Charlotte's Benji and Joel Madden — expressed their sadness, telling MTV Radio, "We're all praying for him. We're really bummed. We all have faith that it'll all work out for the best."

Discography

;with Mest
;with Kisses for Kings
;with London Falling
;Collaborations