Monte Beringer
Monte has been called "The Musical Pride of Cincinnati", which is unfortunate, since he’s never been to Ohio. Monte started his path to the Split Peas on the bass guitar. Monte once won a statewide competition to play bass for one show with one of the greatest drummers of all time – the one and only Buddy Rich. While that alone is impressive, the fact that Monte was just an eighth grader at the time is even more impressive. Monte went on to become a string bass major in college, and even played at Ronald Reagan’s inauguration. So naturally, Monte is not the bass player.
 

Monte plays electric guitar… or drums…depending on which night you see the Cartwright Brothers. Sometimes, in a pinch, he’ll play bass for them, but only if "the booze is right." Monte is a master electrician, which means people bring broken stuff to his house all the time. Says Mark, "One time we blew an amplifier in the middle of a show, and we thought we’d have to quit early. Monte sprung into action. Using nothing but a soldering iron, two extension cords, and some plutonium that was just lying around in the bar, Monte went to work. Not only was he able to fix the amplifier and make it twice as loud as it was before, but we were also responsible for turning Fargo into the global nuclear threat that it is today."