News :: Monsterus NAMM It Up

The last week of July the guys took a break from mixing and left for their yearly check-up and appearance at the NAMM Summer Session in Nashville. NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) is a bi-annual, international exposition for companies who manufacture music gear (guitars, drums, you name it) to debut and showcase some of their latest and greatest creations. Monsterus are guests to this "closed to the public" event courtesy of those companies who endorse and support them. Here the guys enjoy getting to hang out and catch up with those in the business who have stood behind them from the band's conception and for the opportunity to establish new friendships and relationships.

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	Mars preparing to enter the Nashville Arena for NAMM Summer Session. Let's get it on!
	Don & Mars with Monsterus endorser Ben Cole of GHS Strings. Ben has supported and believed in the Monsterus vision for several years and the guys couldn't be more excited to have him and everyone at GHS part of this growing Monsterus family!
	Ronzilla with Don Lombardi, co-founder of DW Drums. Although it had only been a few months since Ron had seen Don and been out to visit the DW factory in California, there was a lot to discuss with all the latest developments with Monsterus and the new album. See the feature on Ron's visit to DW Drums in the MONSTER NEWS section.
	Ron with long time Monsterus endorser Vic Firth, President/Founder of Vic Firth Drumsticks The Perfect Pair. Vic and his family have endorsed and been behind Ron since about 1990 and it's within the past couple years that Vic Firth began producing a signature stick to Ron's specs and imprinted with Ron's autograph...very cool! See the NEW Ronzilla/Vic Firth Ad here first!!!
	Don with Dean Guitars Founder, Dean Zelinsky. Don has been working with Dean over the last year to develop a brand new never before built bass. Although in the planning for sometime, the concept design will have to wait to be seen...it is extremely unique and definitely has a monsterous roar!
	Vic Firth, Ron, and Marco Soccoli of Vic Firth Drumsticks. Marco is head of Artist Relations for Vic Firth and is Ron's liaison with the company. Marco recently invited Ron to take part on an upcoming drum CD to be released by Vic Firth. This is part of the Vic Firth Artist Series and will feature Ronzilla along with 6 other drummers and will include the Monsterus song Supernatural from the new album along with a secondary mix that excludes all the drum parts. Vic Firth will produce 25,000 copies and distribute this CD to young drummers all over the country via music stores, schools etc. The purpose is for young drummers to listen to the songs then go to the Vic Firth website to download the drum tablature for whatever song they want to learn to play. Once their back behind their drumkit they can throw their headphones on, cue up the secondary mix of Supernatural, and for the next few minutes they can be laying the groove for Monsterus...pretty cool idea, Ron's very excited about this opportunity.
	Ron with the legendary Arndt Anderson who came out of Shark retirement just to build Zilla's NEW Shark Trigger Pedals for his electronic effects setup. Arndt is one of the key masterminds behind getting Rick Allen (Def Leppard) back behind the drums after losing his arm in a near fatal car crash. It was through this event that this musician/engineer left working with 80's music sensation Missing Persons to develop this legendary, long out of production trigger pedal.