Guitarist and vocalist John Mondin was born in Hillsboro and raised in Alton, Illinois. Growing up in a family with eight children, John was the kid who was into everything. His mother can tell all kinds of stories about the many ways that baby John figured out how to escape from his crib, and how, as he got older, he took apart all of his older brother's Tonka toys and liked to dive into the racks of clothes at the discount store; he even played hooky from kindergarten!  John's harried mom was looking for a way to channel his energy into something positive, and he had expressed interest in music, so at age seven John was given a guitar and a few lessons to get him started. Forty-six years later, John's mom's investment is still paying off.

John met his first fellow musicians in the fifth grade summer band program. By age thirteen, John and his pals had rehearsed and rehearsed and finally had their debut gig at a local roller skating rink. Through junior high and high school John played with various conglomerations of teenaged musicians, forming bands called Tinley Park and Zebulon Pike.

On to college, where John was a student by day and a musician at night and on weekends. He majored in music at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville back before there was a jazz program, so John ended up studying classical guitar and string bass. That education, combined with the practical knowledge John gained in gig after gig after gig with Crosswind and the Golden Harvest Band and Toots LaRue, made him into the very versatile player he is known to be.

John played sporadically right after college. He was in demand as a substitute player, but couldn't find the right combination of musicians to work with on a regular basis. It was around this time that John met and performed some great " Allman Brothers-inspired-dual-guitar-type" gigs with the late Bobby Nickeson and drummer Carey Aye. Through Bobby and Carey, John met and played jobs with Paul Graves and Bob Werner. This was the seed that years later grew to become Eat A Peach and, finally, Mondin Band.

To fill in his schedule, John joined the Lenny Klinger organization and performed with Galaxy all over the St. Louis area, the United States and Canada. The most unique and enjoyable aspect of working for Lenny was the fact that John could literally play with a different lineup of musicians at each Galaxy engagement. This kept things fresh musically and pushed John to remain versatile.

In the late 90's John had the opportunity to end his long-time "day job" at Dale's Music as service manager and play music full time. He spent two years with the Rhythm Rockers and then Art Dwyer of the Soulard Blues Band called. John performed with Soulard as guitarist and later became the lead vocalist as well. While with Soulard, John toured Germany and the band recorded one CD.

Towards the end of 2005, the Eat A Peach band had been playing together every Sunday night in downtown Alton for years. John had always made an effort to make time for "the Peach", no matter what other band he was working for, simply because Eat A Peach was.... well.... it was a good group and a really good time! Over the years, Eat A Peach had changed personnel a few times and evolved to the point that it became obvious that the band deserved more than "side project" status. So, John said a fond good-bye to the Soulard Blues Band, Eat A Peach changed its name to Mondin Band and now this bio has reached the present day.