The newest Anthemic

Bassist Monty Anderson came into our lives in a different way that the others.

David Cook fans were sort of introduced to Neal Tiemann and Andy Skib before they were band members. They were David's friends, possibly best friends, and because of that, fans loved them too.

By Fall 2008 the band had been rounded out with a Drummer- Kyle Peek, and a bassist Joey Clement. That was the band. they promoted the album together, made videos and blogs together. They were the guys who performed in the Middle East and the five faces we all saw on The Declaration Tour. Then came Monday, July 27, 2009


It seemed so simple and innocent really, musician Phil Marshal posted a blog that ended up being heard across all of David Cook fandom:

Congratulations to Monty Anderson - best wishes playing bass with David Cook
A big congrats goes out to my dear friend Monty Anderson, who will be out on the road playing bass in David Cook's band for the next 6 weeks! Monty is an incredible bass player, a great friend and I wish him all the luck in the world in the coming weeks!

Px

And just like that Joey was gone. Nobody knew why, nobody still does to our knowledge, all we knew was that he was gone.
There really isn't a lot that we know even today about the 45 yr old bassist other than that he seems to fit right in. The six weeks came and went and Monty stayed so my question to you is, Does anyone not love Monty?

Hey how did you find out how old Monty is? A friend and I were searching all over the internet trying to figure it out, and had no luck! LOL

I think Monty was a friend of one of the guys? Don't quote me on that though. Not sure. I like him. I think it's sort of odd to see an Older guy with a bunch of "young 'uns" (well, much younger than me) but from what I've seen I like his style. Like most bassists I've seen, very laid back, cool, doin' his thing. Wish there was more info. we could know. I know his sense of humor is pretty funny..this from his tweets.

some fans asked his sister or cousin at a show his age.
and yes they were friends before David went on idol. fun fact, if you watch David on idol there is an episode where they show him performing in the Tulsa bars and monty is bopping around behind him while he sings.

Monty is the "DTMB" who played bass on Analog Heart. He was playing with Phil Marshall prior to joining The Anthemic.

Thanks, Annie

i think he also thanked him on DCTR, actually before the rest of the band b/c he did friends first

I'm so happy to see people showing some love for Monty! To be honest, when I first found out Joey was leaving the band I was really bummed since he seemed to fit so well with the other guys. Then Monty showed up and seemed like the odd-man-out. However, having gotten the pleasure to see Monty live and meet him at the Hammond show, he sold me! He was so gracious to us for waiting an hour to see him and was genuinely surprised that we were there for him. We got a chance to talk with him and asked whether the band would be involved in writing/recording on the new album. He told us that if the guys get their way, the five of them will be together for a really long time.

*fingers crossed* TPTB allow that to happen. All of these guys seem to really care about each other!

I love Monty. He is the cutest bass player ever. I call him the band's teddy bear. Not sure if he would appreciate that or not, lol, but I don't know, it just seems to fit.

I, too, was sad when Joey left, because he was a lot of fun (and I assume he was a good player, I have a terrible ear for these things). Plus everybody (by that I mean the band) was sad when he left, and I don't like seeing the boys sad. But anyway, he also worked well on stage since he kept Dave from being the only goof up there, so I was a bit worried when Monty showed up. But then Monty just seemed to fit (plus he did that h-i-larious Thriller "dance" when Dave challenged him to, so obviously not afraid of being a goof on stage, lol), and he even brought Andy out of his shell a bit, so how could I not love him?

I admit, though, it was the dance that sold me completely. It was both adorable and utterly hilarious.

He told us that if the guys get their way, the five of them will be together for a really long time.

squee. Do eeet, RCA.

I too was bummed when Joey left, because I had this wild idea that all the original band members would be together forever. And then for one to leave so soon was really surprising to me.

At first I thought Monty was just temporary, so I didn't let myself get "attached" to him. It wasn't until the rumors started flying that he was actually going to stay with the band that I decided to go ahead and "accept" him as a band member. I saw nine shows during the tour, but eight of them were before Joey left the band. So I only saw one show with Monty. He seems to be a cool guy, and I like that he knew David, Neal, and Andy prior to Idol. And he seems more than willing to talk to the fans after the shows, which is definitely a plus

I will admit, though, that I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea of a band being made up of guys of the ages of 21, 24, 27, 27....and 45. It's just odd to me. I'm thinking long-term, here, I guess. Twenty years from now, the others will still be going strong in their 40's, but Monty will be retirement age. And I'm concerned that at some point Monty may have to leave the band (or at least stop touring with them), simply because his age has caught up with him. And then after 20+ years together, they'll have to find a new bass player.

I know it's probably stupid for me to be thinking *that* far ahead....but that's what I do. I'm always focusing on the far future instead of the here and now. lol

bruce springsteen is 60 as is paul mcartney so maybe he can hold out

ROFLMHO!!! Good point Admin!!! I'd love to see all the boys together forever too!! I know that's probably wishful thinking, but hey, I rank them up there with the greats..who don't change bandmates all that much (well, I don't think they do anyway!!!)

Oh yeah I know some folks are still playing into their 60's. But what if David and the other guys are still playing music into *their* 60's? If Monty is still doing his thing when he's in his 80's, he'll set a Guinness World Record...

And that's me looking *way* too far into the future. lol

I don't think he's as old as you guys think he is. My guess he's like 35. But don't quote me I have no idea when he was born.

there is a lot of Monty in this video and there togetherness is just really cute

http://www.vimeo.com/6151040

I believe Monty is older (40ish) and a person his age could be a good influence on the other younger band members. David knew Monty from when he lived in Tulsa.

I had the opportunity to chat with him at a bar shortly after he joined the band. At that time it was up in the air if he was going to be temporary or permenant, but I would be very happy to have him stay with the band. He really is a super guy and I have wonderful memories of the time spent getting to know him.

I do believe that he's 40-ish. I remember one day I was extremely bored and was at this "search for a person" website. Searched David Cook, couldn't find him. Searched Andy Skib (actually Andrew Skib), found him. Relatives Robert, Carol, Alexis, blablahblah... I pretty sure that's him. Found Neal. Searched up Joey Clement, there were no results. BUT there was Joseph Clair Clement. Pretty sure that was him (Rapid City, South Dakota; Age 27 blahblah) Couldn't find Kyle. Oh look! Found Monty! Monty Blaine Anderson. Age 45. Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Oops. Ended up talking about all of them. Is that ok?

that is fine-lol
what is that website? also it is kind of really funny that all of this time the joey-claire thing was his actual name and not a joke

Oh nice! Yeah I like stalking that website sometime lol I think it's funny even Neal is Neal Andrew on there but it is that way because of credit bureau reports it that way. Since I work for a bank I know this stuff. lol

I love the Gabe video!!! I wish the guys would've put out more stuff like this: just them goofing around. I think they're all so great in it ~ really gives us a chance to see them acting "normal."

As far as the age controversy surrounding Monty, I guess I have to agree that it's a little strange to have an older guy in there, but like I said before, he's just such a sweet guy and the whole band just gets along so well. I guess from an 'image' standpoint, it might not work, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Eryn2607 wrote:

I love the Gabe video!!! I wish the guys would've put out more stuff like this: just them goofing around. I think they're all so great in it ~ really gives us a chance to see them acting "normal."

As far as the age controversy surrounding Monty, I guess I have to agree that it's a little strange to have an older guy in there, but like I said before, he's just such a sweet guy and the whole band just gets along so well. I guess from an 'image' standpoint, it might not work, but we'll just have to wait and see.

I know, I hope they make some vids while they are making then new album! I think the fans really like Monty so hopefully the label will let him stick around, and the guys certain;y seem to love having him around as well.

I wouldn't be surprised if there was some resistance from the label because of Monty's age. But David is really good at getting what he wants when it's important, so I'm also not surprised Monty is staying for the foreseeable future. Go David!

I actually like Monty a lot, both for himself because he seems like such a fun guy, and for David and the guys because he was a friend pre-Idol. In this crazy fame mobile, the more folks David can surround himself with, that knew him before, the better. IMO, etc.

So is he really staying? A comment on a Pechanga YouTube video says he's staying, but I don't know where his/her source material is. I'd love it if he stayed.

I'm 45 myself so that would be cool if Monty was too! We don't all have one foot in the grave!

Like most of you I was sad when Joey left, but Monty really grew on me. (And the Thriller dance really did help.) He and David seem like really good friends and golfing buddies. I've enjoyed watching Monty come out of his shell over the summer and fall. And Andy's tweets about Monty just kill me.

(If I could have read this exact message two years ago today I would have thought it was in a foreign language!)

First of all, HI GUYS!!

I had the opportunity to meet Monty on a street corner (gutter thoughts be gone!!) in Providence. I was talking to 2 other ladies and Monty just happened to walk by. We all said "Hey Monty!" and he stopped and talked to us for like 15 minutes. This was shortly after they had returned to tour after a 2 week break, so I asked him if he was all rested up now. He said he was happy to be back on tour because when he's home, his family and friends keep him running 24/7 and he got more rest on the bus than being at home! Had to laugh at that. I asked him if the tour was really going to end in early December, and he said he hoped it never ended because he was having a blast! The look on his face confirmed that. I said he really looked very comfortable on stage, I had seen them the night before in Clifton Park, and he said he knew all the guys for several years. I had helped MWK in some of their recordings, he worked with David on AH and the unreleased album. I said, why didn't they incorporate more AH songs in the setlists if they all knew the songs instead of making him stress out over learning all new songs? He said he didn't know, but it would have been a lot easier for him if they'd done that (dammit! Figures!) He told us about his cell phone woes - his cell phone died 2 days before this, and he was out to get another phone. He couldn't stand NOT having his phone! lol Yea, he's a technology junkie! We talked about how unbearably HOT it had been in the Clifton Park venue. Several ppl in the audience passed out during the show. He said they knew before they went on stage how hot it was going to be because Ryan opened for them and told them how hot it was, so they were prepared. We talked about how cool Providence was - none of us had ever been there, and we all agreed that we would like to come back in investigate it a little further. The venue, Lupo's, was a really cool place, and he said it was one of the better set-ups that he's seen.

Anyway, it was just a very casual shoot the breeze kind of convo. I thanked him for taking the time to stop and talk to us, and we told him we couldn't wait to see him on stage! We wished him good luck with the phone issues, and we all went our separate ways.

Jist of all this is, he didn't HAVE to talk to us, or tell us any of the stuff he did. He was very chatty, very nice, very funny, and just a regular guy, like the rest of the band. Hope this makes him seem a little more human to those that haven't met him.