BEGINNINGS Work, dedication, willpower and talent have marked Gus Monsanto’s history. From his first bands to the professional projects that allow him now to take his music to the four corners of the planet. He fell in love with music the moment he saw rock band Kiss on TV for the first time, in 1983. The image of four long-haired masked men playing hard rock music on top of a war tank was fascinating and different from everything he had seen that far. His destiny was sealed there and then and he held hands with music. Soon after that, he was given his first guitar, and then he started his first bands bands with childhood friends, throughout teenage years and realized that music was the goal he had set for his life.
ANGEL HEART When he was 16 years old, Gus lived in the United States, where he nurtured the idea of forming his own band and taking it seriously, because, at that point, he had already started writing his own songs with a clear musical identity and direction to follow. Gus put Angel Heart together the moment he got back to Brazil. He led the hard rock band for a few years and in that band, Gus swicthed from the guitar to the microphone, which is his musical tool to this day. During the 90’s, the band recorded two albums, had a video on MTV Brazil and good repercusssion on the specialized media in Brazil and some other countries, having good reviews in magazines and radio play in countries, such as Italy and Japan.
OVERDOSE By the end of the 90’s, Gus was invited to join Overdose, one of Brazil’s most traditional heavy metal bands. Gus had grown up listening to them and his first show with the band was opening for Whitesnake, Queensryche and Megadeth. Gus describes this show as an unique experience, where he got in touch with some of the top bands in the world of heavy metal. Overdose also featured Sepultura’s ex-guitar player Jairo Guedz in the band and had 7 albums released, in addition to worldwide tours. After Overdose broke up, Gus had a brief stint with a heavy metal band from São Paulo called Portrait. He has performed various shows with them, including the first Brazil Metal Union festival, which is nowadays a traditional event in the genre.
TURN OF THE MILLENIUM Back then, Gus was developing the idea of returning to the United States and putting a band together overseas. So it was next step to take. In 2001, Gus got together with guitar player/singer Marc Ferreira, one of his best friends and with the trio Monkey Bite. Several shows were performed throughout the United States, getting to open for bands such as Ratt, traditional hard rock band from that country. Monkey Bite, which is an ongoing project which Gus now and then takes part on – has played Brazil in 2003, having ex-Firehouse bass player Dario Seixas in its line-up In 2002, Gus got proposals from other Brazilian bands, such as AOR band Silent, and from Frontline Records, a record company from São Paulo, which was looking for musicians to put together a band called Astra. The project took two years in the making, generated a CD and a lot of turmoil and disillusion, which were bad enough to make Gus consider quitting the dream of making music altogether.
ADAGIO: When everything seemed to be lost, Gus sees the ad of French band Adagio, which was fronted by one of his favorite singers, David Readman (also of Pink Cream 69 fame). David had just left the band, which needed an imediate replacement for its imminent commitments. Without many expectations, due to geographical and logistical issues, Gus sent his material by e-mail. Soon after, Gus got a message from Adagio management, wanting to know more about him and asking him to learn a couple of Adagio songs to assess whether his voice would fit the band’s vibe. 48 hours later, the mission was accomplished and he sent his singing recorded material to France. The result could not have been better: an invitation to go to France and get together with the band. Only twenty days after the initial invitation, Gus arrives to Paris, where a new and key stage of his career would be about to begin. Immediately he joined the band, which was about to wrap up the “Underworld” tour, throughout the United States, Switzerland, Spain, Holland and France. Adagio played with a lot of success, taking part in a lot of festivals, such as the American and the European versions of Prog Power, one of heavy metal’s top events in the world, sharing the stage with big names such as Edguy, Savatage and Devin Townsend. 2005 was a year devoted to the stage and studios. Gus played 40 shows in the French summer and after intense pré-production, records “Dominate”, his first CD with Adagio, which is being released in December, 2005. Besides this, Gus once again worked with Monkey Bite in 2005, playing many shows in New York and New Jersey The year of 2006 was spent promoting the release of "Dominate", which has been released worldiwde, via Locomotive Records (Europe/North America), Hellion Records (Brazil), Double Vision (France) and Avalon/Marquee (Asia). The first show of the tour had the band going to Africa for the first time, opening for Robert Plant, of Led Zeppelin fame, In Tunisia. The band has shared the stage with legendary guitar player Uli Jon Roth, of Scorpions/Electric Sun fame, Edguy, Mattias Eklundh (Freak Kitchen), Leaves Eyes, Epica and other great bands in Europe.
GUEST APEARANCES/PRODUCTION: Gus has guested in legendary hard rock band Dr.Sin’s new CD,”Bravo” and in drummer Steph Cavanez’s CD “Collectif Tribute”. French hard rock band Lightseekers will also be releasing it’s debut album on June 8th, 2008, where Gus sang the whole album plus helped co-write and co-produce. This involvement with producing led Gus to produce Skyrion’s “Beyond Creation”. Skyrion is a female-fronted Brazilian metal band coming in 2008 too.
GUS AND ADAGIO PART WAYS + NEW BAND. Gus and Adagio split after a successful tour with Kamelot in Europe and almost 4 years together. He continues working on his new baby, “ZYON VEGA”, on mixing stages now; The album has been over one year in the making and the band features Aquaria members Bruno Agra (drums), Alberto Kury (keyboards) and Fernando Giovanetti (bass), along with Atlantida guitar player Alex Macedo, who has been Michael Wagener’s assistant and has been working with Gus in producing.
TAKARA 2008: Gus does a killer album with Takara, to be released 2008. He replaces Jeff Scott Soto in this hard rock band, which is led by guitarrist Neal Grusky and also has Bjorn Englen and Patrick Johansson, from Yngwie Malmsteen's band. THE REVOLUTION HAS BEGUN: Gus has the privilege and honor of joining Timo Tolkki in his post-Stratovarius revolution. Revolution Renaissance is the name of the band, whose debut album, "New Era", came out June 6th, 2008 on Frontiers Records. The band also features Gus' Zyon Vega drummer Bruno Agra plus keyboard wunderkid Michael Khalilov. The band also has new bass player Justin Biggs. REVOLUTION RENAISSANCE SIGNS NEW DEAL WITH SCARLET RECORDS Revolution Renaissance, the new band of the Stratovarius mastermind Timo Tolkki has signed a Worldwide deal for one album with Scarlet Records. The last weeks have kept Tolkki and his band members busy putting finishing touches to the band's first real debut album entitled "AGE OF AQUARIUS". Recorded over 3 months in Finland, it is by far the darkest, heaviest and most symphonic album that Tolkki has ever been involved in. Finding a close connection with his new band members Gus Monsanto and Bruno Agra, the trio locked itself in a cabin in Finland for a month and composed 10 new songs. It is the first time during Tolkki's career that he shared the whole songwriting process with other band members. "I just felt this incredibly fresh vibe with these guys and the songs were just flowing. It was so natural process that it almost felt like the songs were already composed and we just let them be born. It was possible because in Gus and Bruno I finally have found the kindred spirits I have been looking for so long. The results were something that none of us were expecting and yet at the same time, we felt that this record is exactly the way it is supposed to be", comments Tolkki. The release date of "AGE OF AQUARIUS" is 25.3.2009 in South East Asia (JVC) and on 9.3.2009 in the rest of the world. The band also filmed a promotional video in Helsinki for the title track of the album. The tracklisting is: "The Age of Aquarius", "So She Wears Black", "Ixion's Wheel", "Kyrie Eleison", "Revolution Has Begun", "Sins of My Beloved", "Behind the Mask", "Ghost of Fallen Grace", "Children of the Future" and "The Heart of All". The tours are currently been booked to promote "AGE OF AQUARIUS" worldwide and are planned to start from South America.
