Cover band rocks the Pink Galleon

St. Louis-based cover band Monsters of Rock performs music from a wide range of decades and from bands such as AC/DC, Nickelback, Shine Down and Guns N' Roses.

Monsters of Rock is made up of five members: Tony Ingracia on lead vocals, Austin Sprague on lead guitar, Kip on rhythm guitar and keyboard, Eric Johnson on bass and Johnny Freedom on drums. Sprague, Kip and Johnson also serve as back-up vocalists.

The members played individually in bands such as Metal Studz, Houses of the Holy and Shooting Star before forming Monsters of Rock in 2008.

"We have been friends for a very long time, and we have been trying to get something like this put together for a while now," Sprague said. "We were finally able to work with everyone's schedules and got this thing rolling."

Monsters of Rock will perform at 8:30 p.m. Oct. 28 at Pink Galleon Billiards & Games on William Street.

The Pink Galleon features a bar and grill and has bands playing every Friday and Saturday night. The performances account for a lot of the crowd that the bar gets.

"Most of the people know and follow the performers that we show," supervising assistant manager Christy Williams said. "There are not a lot of bars here in Cape Girardeau that play live music, and so we really do get a lot of people coming to have a good time and to watch a show."

The members of Monsters of Rock, as well as the staff at the Pink Galleon, hope for a good turnout for this show.

"Monsters of Rock is a band that primarily plays arena rock," Sprague said. "We made this band to have a good time and to play music we enjoy and that we grew up with. It is truly amazing being able to make a living doing something I enjoy and to see how many people like watching us perform."

A lot of work goes into communicating with bands and scheduling live shows at the Pink Galleon.

"It isn't always easy, but it is something people enjoy about the Pink Galleon," Williams said.

The Monsters of Rock are enthusiastic about visiting Cape Girardeau.

"The audience can expect in-your-face and non-stop rock all night," Sprague said. "We plan on coming out swinging and then ending swinging with loud and high energy rock 'n' roll."