Status Green might be one of the most important bands in the history of Asbury Park.
This might sound like some journalistic hyperbole to hype up an interview, but let’s all take a minute and flash back to Asbury Park in 2005. This was not the same city by the sea that is home to multi-million dollar high rise condos, or hosts a two-day beachfront music festival that everyone from Bruce to Stevie Nicks to Blink-182 have headlined, nor was it the epicenter of nightlife and entertainment of the Jersey.
No, in 2005 Asbury Park, New Jersey was still in its Walking Dead-era. The Asbury Hotel was an abandoned building. The condos by the boardwalk were broken dreams and promises wrapped in concrete and rebar. Cookman Avenue still had bombed out and boarded up buildings. The beaches were empty, and the boardwalk was haunted by the ghosts of a bygone era of amusement parks and the stuff of Springsteen songs.
However, there was a burgeoning renaissance led by the LGTBQ+ community, and the musicians and artists who found a place to be weird, expressive and most importantly, themselves. One of the bands at the forefront of their rebirth was Status Green. In November of 2005, Howell High School friends Lou Montesano, Chris Marino, Russell Tolas and Mike Montalto played their first show at Club Deep – a nightclub on Ocean Avenue that saw so many future legends, and local heroes perform epic shows that remain forever etched in the hearts and souls of those in attendance.
The boys in the green shirts and black suits kicked the doors in, and became the Asbury Park band. They were headlining The Stone Pony, they were playing the big clubs Jersey Shore, they opened up for Bon Jovi, were on the road playing SXSW and making a name for themselves. Even if you did not care one iota about Asbury Park at the time, you knew Status Green was. If you were a fan they became the center of your universe, and most likely introduced you to the potential that Asbury Park would come to realize 20 years later.
While Status Green did come to an end many years ago, they reunited in 2024, and will be doing so again at The Stone Pony on Friday November 28 along Church and State TM and Yawn Mower.
Recently we caught up with Lou Montesano, frontman for Status Green, to discuss the history of Status Green — from Bon Jovi to break-up, the wild backstory of the band’s 2024 reunion, having Jon Stewart open for them at The Stone Pony (sort of), and what fans can expect from their show this weekend at The Stone Pony.
Lou, we’ve known each other for quite some, yet there’s one thing I always forget to ask you. I remember reading Upstage Magazine, dating myself obviously, and there was a photo of the band with former New York Giant Jeremy Shockey holding one of your albums. I need the story.
Yes, we actually ended up meeting Jeremy Shockey. He was supposed to come to our show at The Pony [at the time], but it didn’t work out. My mom dated this guy who was close with a lot of the inner workings of the New York Giants. It’s funny for me, because I’m not really a football fan [but] I had this weird access to Giants games. My mom’s boyfriend, Timmy, a great guy, he [asked] “Hey, do you want to go to see Eli versus his brother, Peyton Manning?” We got there and asked “You wanna go see where they line up in the tunnel?”
So he walks me to this spot, and it’s me, Adam Sandler, and Kevin James. Just us three standing there. Then Eli Manning comes walking up. Then Peyton Manning comes walking up. I’m like, holy shit. It was funny seeing Adam Sandler and trying to play it cool. I’m like, “Hey, what’s up, man?” I didn’t say, “Hey, oh my god!” I was just like, “What’s up?” to him and Kevin James. It was just such… so weird. I did not belong there.
But, yeah, Shockey did take a photo with the album. I can’t say if he was a fan of the band or not, but there was some connection to him during the early years of Status Green.
This Saturday at the Stone Pony you reunite with Status Green to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the band. One story, I don’t honestly know about the band is, why you all stopped performing. I remember during my early days of working down the Jersey Shore you guys were the hottest band in Asbury Park, then you played places like Bar A and Leggetts… then all of a sudden … poof, it’s over.
We really started like full steam ahead with Status Green in ’05. It was November of ’05, I believe. We played that first show at Club Deep [on Ocean Avenue in Asbury Park] and it was rip-roaring right out of the gate. Then before you know it we’re playing really big shows. We were blessed. We just knew a lot of people, and the band created a lot of excitement very quickly. So when we would show up we were selling out The Pony at our like sixth show. We opened for Bon Jovi, I think our fifth show ever as a band. So it was, like, all these crazy things.
All these crazy things happened, so it was go, go, go, go, go. Then we’re on the road, and we’re at South by Southwest. Then we’re out in LA then we’re in Chicago. It was a lot of fun. To jog around to your question … When you’re at that pace for a while and you’re seeing a lot of, “Oh, you should do this. This is really good exposure for you guys.”
So we would do all these things based on advice that was good exposure. Then after a while you’re trying to hit that upper echelon and I believe it comes down to the old saying … it’s who you know. I do believe in the music business that’s prevalent. It’s who you know, and then we’ll get you to that next rung. We struggled really hard to get to that next rung. As a songwriter once I start fatiguing creatively … I know me. Unfortunately, and this has been a curse for many people who have been connected to me musically, when I start fatiguing creatively now it’s a job for me to keep this project going.
I don’t think it’s fair to anyone involved, I believe if you’re an artist and you stop doing things for the love of the game, and the love of the art … you gotta love the art. If you don’t love art, that’s a job. It’s the last thing you want to do as an artist; to go into that realm where now what you love to do is now work for you. That just comes with creative fatigue. It was frustrating. It was that time in our lives where, I was tired of being broke as fuck all the time, a broke musician, which ironically that hasn’t changed [laughs].
I would say that’s kind of what happened with Status Green. I remember having a talk with the guys maybe a year before we actually officially put a halt to this. I was like, “If we’re not doing anything worth doing come this time next year, then I’m ready to call it quits for this particular project at this particular time.” So, that’s the long, long of what happened with Status Green. I don’t know if the guys would have kept doing it if I was gonna keep doing it. Maybe they felt the same way as me. It’s a shitty thing to have to admit to people who you’ve been so close to for so long that your heart’s not in it. Because it is a family and who the fuck wants to hurt their family?
Well, it’s America and Thanksgiving Weekend, so it’s kinda par for the course. So, let’s fast forward to 2024. Status Green reunites. Take me on the road to the reunion.
The reunion was for The Stone Pony 50th anniversary. There were a few occasions where The Pony had reached out to us. Kyle, of course, reached out, “Yo, Status Lou let’s do it!” (laughs) I would throw a couple dates at the guys, and things wouldn’t work out. Everyone’s got kids now. Russell lives in Vermont. It’s a lot more complicated. But, finally, this show was offered to me, and it was just as simple as I reached out to them, they were all available, and we jumped on that.
Honestly, there will never be a void as far as “You guys want to go rock the fuck out and put on a great show?” We’ll always have that ability, and I think we know that. It turned out that we packed the house. I didn’t think we would. I’m always my own worst critic. I thought 10 years ago was our last show and I don’t know if anyone’s fucking coming to this show.
As soon as I saw the announcement, I knew it would sell out.
Well, dude, I did not, I honestly did not, and I was like…
I’m my own worst critic as well, so I would have thought the same thing.
I was setting myself up because I didn’t want to be disappointed. We set the bar very high. We were very lucky to be able to produce the crowds we did, and have the shows we had, and over the years consecutively. I mean, it’s gotta run out eventually? That’s my brain working against me. I just thought let’s go out there, do our thing, have fun, rock the fuck out, celebrate the Stone Pony. We were a part of its history, we still are, and let’s have some fun, and it turned out to be a great show. This year is cool, because it’s actually our 20th anniversary of Status Green … actually to the day! It’s 20 years to the day.
Alright, let’s discuss Bon Jovi . How, in the name of Richie Sambora, did Status Green open for Bon Jovi on your 5th show. It wasn’t at Bamboozle was it?
No, it was not. It was actually 95.5 WPLJ.
Which is now a Christian radio station.
Is it really?
Yeah, man. It became Christian station a few years ago. They sent Todd Pettengill off into the sunset.
I didn’t know they were Christian, that’s crazy. But, they had a contest, and it was when Bon Jovi came out with their record, Have a Nice Day. So they had a thing called the “Have a Nice Gig” Contest. You could submit your band, and then people would go online and vote to see whose band could play. And we just were like, “Yo, we can do this!” That’s when we came ripping out of the gate and had a nothing’s gonna stop us now type attitude. We just juiced all our friends and family up and we became those annoying, please sign our petition kind of guys. But it ended up working. We crushed the competition and our fifth show on stage together as a new band, we were at the Mohegan Sun Arena, in front of 10,000 people, opening for Bon Jovi and playing for Bon Jovi.
Let’s move on from Bon Jovi, and walk down memory lane about the reunion show. Take me through the night.
So here’s the problem with that night, and there’s a big problem with that night. This is such a stupid story but it’s God’s honest truth, okay? So, the evening before that show, I started to get a toothache. It started to get progressively worse. To the point where it was 11/11:30 at night and I’m holding my face. The pain was so bad that I couldn’t even describe it. It was like this special new pain I’ve never felt before. And I’m buggin’ out, dude.
So, I called Centra State in Freehold, and I’m like — Listen, I know you guys aren’t dentists. I have something going on in my tooth, in my face. I have the biggest show that I’ve had in the last 10 years. My band is reuniting at the Stone Pony tomorrow night. I don’t know what to do. My anxiety was pinned, my pain was at a 20. They said if it hurts that bad, come on down. So I come after midnight with a toothache. I finally get to see someone at 2 a.m. and I ask them what they can give me for the pain. They tell me that they can’t give me anything because … I drove myself in. I was like, I called you first! I’m fucking dying here. I’m like, how am I gonna sleep? I have a show tomorrow. I had the biggest Karen moment I’ve ever had in my life…ever.
And all of a sudden, your hair morphed into Bon Jovi from Have a Nice Day?
So, I stayed up the rest of the night. I drive myself home, stay up the rest of the night. I have no sleep … not a wink of sleep. In the morning I’m calling my dentist, because my sister used to work for the office. I have her cell phone and so I’m calling, I’m texting, I’m calling, I’m texting the office. I think I’m texting her phone. Now it’s 10:30 in the morning and I’m just pale, infected and in pain. I’m freaking out that I have this show. I’m like, it’s gonna suck. How am I gonna play? I can’t play like this. My head’s spinning. Finally, I realize that I’m texting my dentist’s office, not her cell phone.
I finally put two and two together, and I called her. She’s like, “Well, I’m going to move my daughter into college right now and I’m heading up to the Bronx.” But my dentist is a fucking saint, dude. She’s like, “I’ll tell you what, she’s like, where are you right now?” I was at my house. She said get to my office  by 11. I meet her there, she takes the keys, unlocks the door, lets me in, locks the door behind us, and does an emergency root canal on me around noon.
And then I gotta load-in at 2 p.m.!
So I was up all night.  No sleep, got a root canal at 12. I go back to my house, I grab my shit, I go right to the Pony, and that’s how I played that show — on zero sleep, no drugs, fresh root canal … just … the anxiety. The whole time I was playing that show you can actually see it in some of our promo videos, especially on the song called “Juggling Knives.” We have a promo video, it’s live from the show, and you can see the look on my face when I’m playing the keyboard parts. I am just a zombie being like, “Please don’t fuck these easy little keys.” I do three notes and you can see the focus and desperation in my face, and that’s how I played that whole show. We got four songs in, and I looked at the setlist, and it was a long set because we haven’t played in so many years. I was praying for that show to be over. I felt like such shit. I was faking every second of that show, man.
People told me they couldn’t tell the difference, they had a great time, and the music sounded good. Thank God, man, because I was so upset. I was so upset that these series of unfortunate events had happened. I felt like I played terribly. I sang terribly. I was in pain. I couldn’t even enjoy myself afterwards.
So, this show, on the 28th of November. It’s going to be a little bit of redemption for me personally. Knock on wood that I don’t walk into any crazy bad luck. I couldn’t write a worse scenario for a show. I was very, very depressed for days after that show because I couldn’t hang. So, that’s what happened that night.
So how will this show on the 28th differ from the reunion show, besides, you know, your face not exploding?
This is the 20 year. At the reunion we’re like, “Oh, it’s 19 years. It would have been cool if it was 20 years. That would have been a milestone.” I’m just excited to get out, to go in, with good health, clear mind and be focused on the show. Then, like I said, God forbid something happens, and everything goes according to plan — we just go out there and put on an amazing show. We have a horn section this time. They’re coming in from Philly. They’re our boys who have played with us in the past at the old CD release parties, and any big show, Status Green ever did.
CD release parties, wow!Â
I know, right? I was thinking about that the other day. We used to call them CD release parties. That’s so funny. So we got them coming in. Matt Wade is gonna be playing with us on stage. He’s playing keys and it takes a lot of pressure off me. The cool synth parts that I played on the records, it’s hard to do. I used to play them a lot more during shows, but now he’s taken all of that from me. And he’s so good.
We rehearsed the other night and it’s like a whole other thing with him. Then we have my friend Haley Lopez, who plays in the band the Lou Montesano and The Shark Party. She’s gonna be on stage with us; so we have a violin player, too. It’s working out so well with the preparation and the other artists that are involved. I think the show’s just gonna be great. And I’m confident walking into this one that we’re gonna have a really, really fun show.
So you also have Jon Stewart opening up for you. Last time I saw Jon Stewart was at a sold-out Prudential Center with him and John Mulaney and Pete Davidson. Hell of a difference between this and the Stone Pony. I know this is Rick Barry singing and it’s his band (Church and State TM), but it’s kind of wild, right?Â
It is. I’m a huge Jon Stewart fan. I met him at the Asbury Underground. It was when he and Rick played the Asbury Ale House, and I was filming. I did all the filming for the Asbury Underground this past year. It was just so cool. I didn’t fan out on them or whatever, but it was just like, “Hey, man, what’s up? I like your drums.” I think that’s all I gave him. But, I’m a huge, huge Daily Show fan. Huge Jon Stewart fan. I think it’s kind of wild that Rick is playing in this new band with Jon Stewart on drums. It’s like a parallel universe type of situation. I’m so excited that this is his first time playing and he is gonna be on a Status Green bill. I don’t know, it just makes the night a little more special, man. It’s like one of my heroes.
Do you see a future with Status Green? Last year when we were talking about Shark Party you said there’ll always be more Status shows. But do you ever want to take the show back out on the road and create new music again?Â
I actually wrote a new song for Status Green for our last show. It just didn’t materialize in time. I hate having a deadline to write a song. It’s not the way to write a song.
You mentioned The Shark Party earlier. You brought that big ol’ all-star band to Wonder Bar last year. Any word on the future of that band?
I still keep in contact with those guys. I had some things that kind of went down [in his family life] that obviously takes precedence over anything else. Things get halted on account of that especially with The Shark Party. Like I said, I’m still in contact with all those guys, and Matt Wade, a Shark Party guy, he’s jumping on with Status Green at the show. We’re still connected, still playing music, and I’d like to pick that back up because the new songs I’m writing need that band to bring them to life.
So, let’s get back to the main event this weekend at The Stone Pony. What can people expect?
An upbeat, great energy. We have such great musicians joining us. I think it’s gonna be a party and I think everyone’s gonna have a great time, I think the band’s gonna kill it. The lineup is great. We got Yawn Mower, and I love those guys. They’re so sweet. They are good. They’re such good dudes.  I just love their energy. Then we have Rick with his new band, and then Status Green. We got the horns, we got Matt, we got Haley.  I’m really looking forward to just sharing the evening together with the crowd. I want that whole building to vibe that night and I will do everything in my power as the front man to make that happen.
Also, it’s a bit fitting that this is happening on Thanksgiving weekend.
That’s actually a really great point. The timing. Thanksgiving, what a perfect caveat to the whole thing. I am grateful for a lot of things. I am grateful to have this show especially since my shortcomings at the last show, or personally how I felt about it, all the shit that went crazy. I’m grateful for the opportunity to go out there and properly give back to the people  who still want to hear this music and still want to see us play. What’s more humbling than that? People are paying good money to come see me play, and see this band play again. It’s a humbling experience, and I hope I give them their money’s worth that night.
