- December 20, 2024
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Nickoloff. Photo by Michele Meyers
Nickoloff lead singer John Nickoloff (left) and guitarist Reg Mansanto (right). Photo by Michele Meyers
Nickoloff lead singer John Nickoloff (left) encourages lead guitarist Reg Monsanto (right) as engineer Matt McKeown directs the recording session. Photo by Michele Meyers
Nickoloff lead guitarist Reg Monsanto. Photo by Michele Meyers
Nickoloff lead singer John Nickoloff. Photo by Michele Meyers
Nickoloff lead singer John Nickoloff (left) talks with engineer Matt McKeown about the new songs as guitarist Reg Monsanto (center) works in the background. Photo by Michele Meyers
John Nickoloff sings during a recording session with Matt McKeown and Reg Monsanto at Sound Mind Studios in Holly Hill. Photo by Michele Meyers
Nickoloff lead singer John Nickoloff. Photo by Michele Meyers
Music engineer Matt McKeown focuses on the computer screens during a recording session for Nickoloff. He is also a pastor at UBIC Holly Hill. Photo by Michele Meyers
Nickoloff guitarist Reg Monsanto and lead singer John Nickoloff discuss the fine nuances of their new songs at Sound Mind Studios with music engineer Matt McKeown. Photo by Michele Meyers
Nickoloff will kickoff their tour at Main Street Station in Datyona Beach during Bike Week. Photo by Michele Meyers
Nickoloff lead guitarist Reg Monsanto (left) and lead singer John Nickoloff perform at Main Street Station in Daytona Beach. Photo by Michele Meyers
Nickoloff lead guitarist Reg Monsanto (left) and lead singer John Nickoloff perform at Main Street Station in Daytona Beach. Photo by Michele Meyers
Nickoloff performs at Main Street Station in Daytona Beach. Photo by Michele Meyers
Singer-guitarist Reg Monsanto performs with Nickoloff at Main Street Station in Daytona Beach. Photo by Michele Meyers
Local rock band Nickoloff was scheduled to release its new album titled “Envy” on Feb. 14 before taking the stage at Main Street Station in Daytona Beach during Bike Week on March 2.
The band of five, consisting of members John Nickoloff, Reg Monsanto, John Bigwood, Kevin Smith and Mark McManus, signed with the independent label Kivel Records on Dec. 29, 2023. The deal came 25 years after Nickoloff and Monsanto submitted tracks from their band RainLord to Kivel in 1998 with no results.
This time was different.
“We both knew — including Matt McKeown (music engineer) — that the new songs were kind of special,” Monsanto said. “We wanted to throw them out there just to see what everybody else thought. Not to monetize it. Monetize it would be nice but that wasn’t the goal. The goal was to see if we were doing the right thing. We thought we were but we wanted to find out from other people.”
It all started with a message to drummer and music producer Matt Starr who has worked with Ace Frehley (Kiss), Mr. Big and Kix, to name a few. Nickoloff asked if he could redesign their logo. He said he was surprised when Starr answered yes and listened to a few of their songs to get the gist of the band’s vibe. Starr liked what he heard and opted to produce the new album. Alessandro Del Vecchio mixed and mastered the production.
With Kivel Records, it’s just going to push us out to a whole different venue of people than what we would have reached on our own. It’s exciting. I was asked, 'Are you ready for what could happen?' I don’t know. I want to say yes. We’ve worked our whole lives to get to a point where somebody could ask us that question. I’d like to think the answer’s yes. I’m sure as hell ready to find out." - John Nickoloff, lead singer and co-founder of Nickoloff
“We had record labels that we sent stuff to and we were always turned down for one reason or another,” Nickoloff said. “My belief is either the music or production wasn’t of the quality that was needed or it was timing. My wife Stephanie and I both say this all the time, that everything happens for a reason and when it’s supposed to happen, it happens.”
Nickoloff and Monsanto agree that their chemistry and similarities in different areas of their lives have been the key to their current success and longevity as bandmates. Both have been married for over thirty years to their respective wives, are passionate about sports and share a musical bond.
Even though Nickoloff was raised just miles from the Indianapolis Raceway Park and Monsanto grew up in Queens, New York, the musicians began their musical careers as alter boys. In the fifth grade, Monsanto was taught how to play guitar by a nun — Sister Judith. He said his addiction to the thrill of being on stage began when he performed during a school dance in the ninth grade. Nickoloff said it began for him when he sang in a talent show in front of his freshman class at Cardinal Ritter High School.
“It was a Catholic school and I sang, of all things, ‘All Hell’s Breakin’ Loose’ by Kiss,” he said. “I was thinking something’s wrong with me. That was my first foray into live entertainment.”
Monsanto grew up in a music and soccer-loving family. His dad Ray, who had played for the Suriname National Team, was his first coach and his mom Sonja was his biggest fan. In high school, instead of choosing to pursue one or the other, he chose both.
“I had a lot of athletic friends and a lot of musical friends and I didn’t want to give one up for the other so I picked both groups,” he said. “You know, in high school you’re either a greaser, a rocker or weed head, a geek or a jock. I was part of the jocks and the musicians. It was awesome.”
He went on to be the goalkeeper for Queens College and play semi-professionally. In 1992, Monsanto and his wife Katie moved to Palm Coast after buying his family’s vacation home. At the time, he worked for the city of Port Orange where a coworker asked about the Smurf band figurine that was sitting on his desk. Monsanto revealed that he played guitar and the two met up with other musicians to jam. That was where he met Nickoloff.
“It’s that team thing that’s really made this thing special for me—probably for both of us,” Nickoloff said. “We came from 30 years of trying to do this together and you get to a certain age and think ‘Well, we’re as far as we’re going to go, we might as well enjoy it’ and then something like this happens. It’s pretty cool.”
As the single “Back Where I Belong” gets playtime on online stations Digital Revolution Radio and All About Rock, YouTube channel Eonian Records and podcast RadioBypass, Nickoloff and Monsanto work day jobs and hold nighttime and weekend rehearsals. Nickoloff operates heavy machinery — bulldozers, skid steers and loaders — for Robin Linsley Building Contractors.
Monsanto works from his Ormond Beach home as an IT manager who oversees a 24/7 response team for Skillable. He continues to be involved with soccer as the assistant coach and statistician for Matanzas High School following an eight year run as the head soccer coach for Flagler Palm Coast High School.
“I’m a soccer junkie so I still love coaching,” Monsanto said. “In soccer, I get to be an influencer, where as, with music, I get to be a participant so they scratch two different itches.”
Nickoloff said he was compared to Mick Jagger at their 2024 New Year’s Eve show. The 54-year-old said he would like to run and dance across a big stage at 70 or 80 years old.
“With Kivel Records, it’s just going to push us out to a whole different venue of people than what we would have reached on our own,” Nickoloff said. “It’s exciting. I was asked, ‘Are you ready for what could happen?’ I don’t know. I want to say yes. We’ve worked our whole lives to get to a point where somebody could ask us that question. I’d like to think the answer’s yes. I’m ... ready to find out."
