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Gagnepain plays in multiple bands and joins forces biannually with El Monstero, the beloved Pink Floyd tribute band that has captured the hearts of St. Louisans for 27 years. The band brings its summer tribute show to the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre for the 15th year on Aug. 2.

“You’re going to get the lights, you’re going to get the explosions and you’re going to get the fire,� Gagnepain says. “It’s a big rock concert, and all the stuff that comes along with that.�

Music and technology have evolved since El Monstero was founded in 1999. The band has rolled with the changes, incorporating fresh advancements in sound, lighting and on-stage effects to deliver the Pink Floyd songs in a new way every summer for their loyal fans.

“We try to create a new and unique experience every time so that when they walk out, they’re like, ‘I can’t believe that just happened,’� he says.

Gagnepain says El Monstero has become masters of bringing fresh flair to classic records because they know their audience is comprised of “repeat customers.� These are people who love the band, its members and the setlist selections, sometimes traveling from out of town to reunite with old friends and family at El Montero’s summer show.

It’s become a tradition for many St. Louisans as adult fans bring their children to live shows. For some local youth, an El Monstero show was their introduction to the music of Pink Floyd.

“We’re incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to introduce this music that meant something to us when we were younger, to newer generations and expose them to our ideas about what a big rock concert should look like and what it feels like,� he says.

El Monstero has been producing big rock shows since its start. The tribute band began when members of the band Stir, which included Gagnepain, Andy Schmit and Brad Booker, cut a record in the late 1990s and had to wait for its release. Gagnepain says they still wanted to perform live, so the trio snagged vocalist Mark Thomas Quinn to sing lead so they could discreetly play around St. Louis.

They’d conclude each show with a song from Pink Floyd’s 1973 “The Dark Side of the Moon� album and bonded through the admiration they shared for a band they’d fallen in love with as children. Their love for Pink Floyd records was the catalyst for El Monstero, beginning with a Thanksgiving cover show in 1999 that led to nearly three decades of successful shows in St. Louis.

“We played that Pink Floyd show and that just became a tradition for us, for a lot of our fans and a lot of the singing community,� he says.

Today, El Monstero has morphed into a St. Louis supergroup made up of familiar faces from a slew of other bands. In addition to Gagnepain and Quinn, the group includes lead guitarist Jimmy Griffin, electric and acoustic guitarist Bryan Greene, drummer John Pessoni, keyboardists Bill Reiter and Jake Elking, saxophonist Dave Farver and background vocalists Erminie Cannon, Tandra Williams and Kirstin Johnson.

Every year, they reunite to perform twice, once in the summer and again for a series of Christmas shows that sell out the Pageant every holiday season. Beyond the music, Gagnepain says El Monstero is united through mutual respect. They can rely on one another, not just on stage but in their personal lives. He describes the band as college friends that you don’t see for years after graduation, but when you reconnect, it’s like you’d never been away from them.

“At the end of the day, we’ve got to all hang out and love each other and …have that friendship that goes along with doing something for as long as we’ve been doing it,� he says.

The band didn’t miss a beat as it rehearsed for the upcoming amphitheater show. Mood-setting strobe lights cast their shadows around the walls of a warehouse space in south St. Louis as they ran through the setlist. There were piles of road cases stacked on top of one another and string lights dangled from the ceiling as an industrial fan blew Griffin’s hair back as he strummed the guitar.

Colored lights danced across their faces as Reiter tapped the keys with soft yet impactful touches. Greene ragged on the electric guitar as Quinn yelled the Pink Floyd lyrics “Mother, should I run for president? Mother, should I trust the government?� into the microphone.

Together, El Monstero represents the best of live rock n’ roll performances. Although they’ve been performing live for years, Gagnepain says music is a fountain of youth for the St. Louis rockers.

“Nothing keeps you young like music,� he says.

Gagnepain, who started playing the piano in the fourth grade, says he’s a lover of all genres of music and even dabbled in a few blues and country bands. He found his niche in rock n’ roll and finds joy in showcasing the beauty of the genre to younger audiences. In doing so, it returns him to the joys of his own youth.

“It’s longing for our youth in a way, and to be able to share that with young people and turn them on to some music,� he says.

He also says El Monstero has no intention of retiring anytime soon. As long as the fans keep showing up, El Monstero will continue rocking out.

“We’re lucky that it is popular,� he says. “We try not to take that for granted and really deliver every time we play. “

After all, Gagnepain realized the power of Pink Floyd’s music decades ago. The lyrics are full of truth and bring people together.

“When that happens, you can feel the room become not a thousand or ten thousand individual people, it becomes one entity that’s kind of moving and breathing as a group,� he says.