THE MOON-RAYS ARE AMERICA’S “SPOOKIEST” HIPSTERS!!!
In late 1999, Scott Mensching was having a conversation with Bill Holtane of SVI studios in Chicago about the 1970’s WGN “spook show” Creature Features. The theme music to Creature Features was Henry Mancini’s “Experiment in Terror” with an overdub of a poem read by then newsman Marty McNeely.
Menching had an old, rusty, reel-to-reel recording of one episode. “We decided to re-record the original opening with the poem as it was done when it aired,” said Menching. The re-recording of the Creature Features opening was shipped out to radio stations around the Chicago area. That Halloween, the Moon-Rays embarked on the road to becoming America’s “Spookiest Hipsters.”
The Creature Features theme was well received by Chicagoans who fondly remembered the show. That same year, SVI studios had the Moon-Rays record a full CD, “Thrills and Chills”.
The first CD only contained two original songs by the band. Moviemaker Paul Scrabo picked up one of the original songs, “1313 Mockingbird Lane,” for his horror spoof “Dr. Horrors Erotic House of Idiots," in 2004, starring horror legend Zacherly and Scream Queen Debbie Rochon.
“1313 Mockingbird Lane” was also named instrumental surf song of the year in 2004 at the JPF Indie Music Awards. In that same year, “Thrills and Chills” won best album in the surf category out of 30,000 submissions. WXRT radio in Chicago also picked “Thrills and Chills” as best new instrumental album for the year in 2004. Quite a start for an unknown Halloween band.
The success of “Thrills and Chills” brought about the second release by the Moon-Rays, “Ghouls Go West”. This time, two of the original songs made it into Hollywood feature films. “Ghouls is my favorite album,” Mensching says. It had all the spooky flavor that we wanted to bring out and terrific artwork by New York artist Elliott Mattice.
Two more releases followed, “Sinister Surf” (2006) and “Swinging at the Séance’ (2008) an album of Halloween music from the 1920’s through 1940’s.
The Best of the Moon-Rays CD will be released in 2011…
(Little known fact- The members of the Moon-Rays also have been known to travel about as their not so spooky alter-ego the Jet Set playing a mixture of early 60’s swanky cocktail. R&B, latin jazz, Mancini-esq, pop and rock.)
Notable milestones in the Moon-Rays career:
2001- they record the theme from WGN’s Creature Features
2002- recording of Thrills and Chills
2004- recording of Ghouls Go West, Thrills and Chills wins best surf album in the JPF Music awards in Santa Anna Ca. over 30,000 submissions with 1313 Mockingbird lane winning best single in the same category through 300,000 submissions.
Dr. Horrors Erotic House of idiots directed by Paul Scrabo featuring 1313 Mockingbird Lane
2006- records Sinister Surf and has two songs in Fred Olen Ray’s Ghost in a Teeny Bikini, Dragula au Go Go and Ghouls Go West. The Moon-Rays appeared as a special guest of the B Movie Film Festival where they were dubbed THE B Movie Band…
2008- Swinging at the Séance is recorded, The band is hired to write and perform the title track for a Paul Bunnell project titled the Ghastly Love of Johnny X . Scott Mensching is put into America;s Whos Who as a film composer. The band also wrote and performed the music for Larry Blameir’s Tales from the Pub series.
2010- They film the video for Skeletons in the Closet, and leave SVI as their main home for recording...
The great musicians who are the Moon-Rays-
Scott (Spooky) Mensching, Greg Griffiths, Andy Blanco, Adam Kraus, Brandon Cochran, Paul Luka, Terry Bernett, Harry Reinhart, Tony DiMichele,
Others who have contributed their talents to the Moon-Rays projects-
Jud Brown, Theresa Villec, Joelle Charbonneau, Vince Clark, John Otto, Marty Bergerud, Patti Miller, Scott Holtz, and a host of horn players that we are indebted to...
