Rico Monaco & Sol Sons, a red hot Latin rock band from Orlando, Florida won the national championship of "A Shot At Cabo Wabo Band To Band Mexican Standoff" sponsored by Hard Rock Café and Cabo Wabo Tequila. RMSS played the first round on Sept. 5, 2002 at Hard Rock Live Orlando against 3 other bands and won that night by popular vote. They won the Orlando finals on Sept. 19, 2002 by popular vote at HR Live. RMSS then competed against the 11 other winners of cities such as LA, Chicago, Boston, Houston, St. Louis, Atlanta, Miami, Las Vegas, San Diego, etc. via online voting with the voters listening to an MP3 of each band. The 3 bands receiving the most votes were the Final 3 which included bands from Chicago and Houston as well as RMSS. All 3 CD's and presskits were sent to Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony, and 3 music industry execs for their review. They all chose Rico Monaco & Sol Sons (RMSS) as National Champions!
The prize was an all expenses paid trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico to open for the "Mexican Meltown" with Smashmouth on Friday Oct. 4, 2002 at the famous Cabo Wabo Cantina. RMSS would then open for Smashmouth and Sammy Hagar & The Waboritas Saturday Oct. 5, 2002 at Cabo Wabo! Sammy liked the band so much that he requested they play Thursday Oct. 3 night all by themselves in Cabo Wabo!
RMSS arrived in Cabo and were met by one of the owners of the club, Jorge, who took the band to their beautiful 4 bedroom and 2 bedroom houses overlooking the ocean. RMSS performed that night to rave reviews at Cabo Wabo playing (2) one hour and a half long blistering sets. The road manager and some crew of Smashmouth were there to check the band out. The road manager, Scotty, told RMSS that he called his band and informed them that they better be in top form for the next night or they will get their "asses kicked by RMSS." On Friday, the band met Sammy Hagar for the first time at the club for soundcheck and he treated them wonderfully. It's was great to see a rockstar who has his feet planted firmly on the ground. Rico told him that the band had learned a Van Hagar song and a Sammy solo song in case he was interested in jamming with them. He took Rico up on the offer after borrowing the VH and Sammy CD's to re-learn the lyrics. RMSS hit the stage with great anticipation with all the crowd only expecting to see RMSS and Smashmouth that night. At the end of the set, RMSS started the intro of the VH classic from OU812 "Black & Blue." The crowd noise increased and when Sammy came out the roar was deafening. RMSS NAILED the song and added a Latin jam to the end of it, surprising Sammy completely. He got right into the 6/8 Latin groove with a shaker and left the stage on fire screaming the ending to "Black & Blue" in his strong as ever R&R voice! He then toasted the band numerous times backstage emphatically stating, "Here is to the success of this band, right here!" Smashmouth and crew were great also.
The next night all 3 bands played with Sammy and his band, The Waboritas, completely rocking the house! RMSS was scheduled to leave the next morning which they did except for Rico Monaco who was asked to stay for the entire week worth of Sammy's birthday bash festivities and shows. On Tuesday October 8, 2002 Michael Anthony (bass player for Van Halen) came into town with friends and family. Sammy and Michael asked Rico to perform "Black & Blue" with them on Thursday October 10, 2002 with their 3 piece band the "Tres Gusanos." Sammy's band played Oct. 9, 11, and on his birthday Oct. 13 with Michael joining them each night for a bunch of mostly Van Halen material. The big event for Rico was to get onstage with half of Van Halen and play guitar. The introduction by Sammy Hagar was priceless. "This guy is a MotherF-cker on the guitar. His band won the National battle of the bands and he deserves to be here! …..His favorite two guitarists are Carlos Santana and Eddie Van Halen (loud applause) …anybody who likes those guys is good in my book. Let's play a song by one them right now," among other things that Rico couldn't remember because he was so focused on the task at hand, trying to fill EVH's shoes for a song. When the song was over Michael Anthony leaned over to shake Rico's hand and made the comment, "That was BADASS, Rico!" Sammy bear hugged Rico and sent him off to contemplate the amazing event that just took place. The comments Rico heard from many of those in attendance were very similar to, "you looked like you fit right in with them" and "you rocked, dude." WOW! The trip was punctuated with many backstage moments jamming/talking with Michael, Sammy, and the Waboritas. Hanging out with all the family, friends, and production crew was tremendous for Rico personally and business-wise.
Sammy was filming a full length DVD called "The Long Road To Cabo Wabo" which may include Rico onstage and backstage after the final edits. A "live" type video was filmed at the club for the new Sammy song "Things've Changed" with Rico in attendance on Saturday Oct. 12 too. The contacts and friendships established are what made the trip complete for RMSS. The staff of Cabo Wabo especially Jorge, Marco and Roberto were incredible and have asked the band to come back, possibly to perform on New Year's Eve (maybe with Sammy again)! Sammy and Michael's friends and family were extremely pleasant. Sammy was very complimentary to RMSS and promised to help where he could to advance the career of RMSS. One of his ideas was to have the band open for him when he comes back to the southeast on a string of dates. His exact words were, "I'll introduce you to my fans and you introduce me to yours." Rico told him he had a deal.
What a spectacular step for RMSS not to mention achieving a lifelong dream of performing songs with future Rock N Roll Hall Of Famers from one of the greatest rock bands of all time, Van Halen! Can you believe it? Well, we have the pictures and video to prove it. Look out world, here comes Rico Monaco & Sol Sons. www.ricomonaco.com or (407) 298.1787-Ricmon Productions. Cabo Wabo Meets Rico Monaco & Sol Sons.