The Moon-Rays consist of:
Scott (Spooky) Mensching-
Drums/vibes-
Greg Griffiths-
Keys-
Adam Kraus-
Bass-
Judson Brown-
Guitar -
Andy (the Madman) Blanco-
Sax
Influences
Back in 2000 the Moon-Rays got a hold of an old dusty reel to reel with the opening theme to WGN's Saturday night spookshow Creature Features on it. They decided to re-record the theme (Henry Mancini's Experiment in Terror) along with the poem originall read by newsman Marty McNeely at the beginning of every show. It touched a nerve with thousands of people who grew up in Chicago in the early 70's and launched the recording carreer of the band into full swing. We will always have a special place in our hearts for this and thank everyone who supported our first album because of it.
We'd like to thank John Villec of WHOOZNEXT PRODUCTIONS for putting video to the audio...Thanks John!!!!!
Sounds Like
The Ventures meet Brian Setzer meets Glenn Miller while tripping on Edgar Allan Poe.
The Moon-Rays in the studio recording the theme music for "The Ghastly Love of Johnny X"
WHATS THE BUZZ????
THE MOON-RAYS WILL BE MAKING THEY'RE FIRST FILM APPEARANCE IN JIM WYNORSKI'S RE-MAKE OF THE GIANT GILA MONSTER!!! (see blog above)
KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR THE NEW MOON-RAYS VIDEO "SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET" DIRECTED BY COREY O'BRIEN!!!!!!
">
WHAT FOLKS ARE SAYING ABOUT OUR NEW CD...
This album adds to the wealth of material I have to play here at Nightmare City. I am pleased to promote and play independent artists, especially when it's this good!!
Stevoinyrstereo-WZRD
The Moon-rays have outdone themselves with this CD that celebrates some of the cooest music from the past. Always a fan, and this latest release is superb!
PAUL SCRABO- Film and television producer
From Monsterkid Magazine!
Swingin' at the Séance
The Moon-Rays
It's always been a little hard to describe the music of The Moon-Rays to the uninitiated. It's a blend of so many things that it can't really be categorized unless "cool" is a musical category of its own. Their past releases have been mainly rooted in the sounds of the '60s lounge and surf music, but always with a slant toward the unusual and spooky. Songs with titles like Blues for Vampira, The Grim Creeper, Thrillville, Drag Fink, Mysterion, Sophomore Werewolf in Love and The Devil in Nylons gives you some insight into the thematic direction of the group.
In The Moon-Rays' newest collection of spooky selections titled Swingin' at the Séance, the band trades in their bongos for brass and they explore some of the more macabre pop songs from the '30s and '40s. If you're a fan of Big Band music you might recognize the title song as a piece originally recorded by Glenn Miller and his orchestra in 1941. Other selections were recorded by well-known swing-era artists like Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Louie Armstrong and Bing Crosby.
The complete track list includes You've Got Me Voodoo'd, Mr. Ghost Goes to town, The Headless Horseman, Nightmare, Jack You're Dead, Swingin' at the Séance, Mysterioso, Skeletons in the Closet, The Spooks Jump In, Shuffle of the Damned, Creepy Charlie and Haunted House Blues (the oldest number on the CD with was recorded by Bessie Smith in 1923). Unless you're a devoted fan of old jazz and swing music, you're probably not familiar with these songs. The most well-known of the bunch is probably The Headless Horseman which is featured in Walt Disney's 1947 animated classic ICHABOD AND MR. TOAD and sung by the aforementioned Mr. Crosby.
Thanks to The Moon-Rays, new listeners can now enjoy these forgotten spook songs for the first time. Band member Scott Mersching explains in the liner notes that he became familiar with most of these songs through his father who played in bands during the '40s and recalls them as "Halloween songs" performed by many bands of that era.
Scott says, "This CD is for my dad, his generation of musicians, people that have never heard these songs and the people who both know and embrace the music of their fathers and grandfathers."
Although a stylistic departure from their previous CDs (Thrills and Chills , The Ghouls Go West and Sinister Surf) with more musicians and more vocals than before, Swingin' at the Séance hits the target it strives for dead on and conjures up a crystal ball full of swingin' and spooky listening fun. And special kudos for the CD's packaging. It's beautifully designed and provides some appropriate tricks and treats with its period-style graphics and Halloween images.
You can sample the music at the Moon-Ray's Myspace page and order the disc from the Moon-Rays website. Then grab your ghoul and get ready to hit the dance floor.
Kerry Gammill
Buy Moon-Rays CDs AT AMAZON.COM-CDBABY-CDUNIVERSE
BUY THIS CD NOW!!!!!
Moon-Rays discography-
THRILLS AND CHILLS-2002---THE GHOULS GO WEST-2004---SINISTER SURF-2006...SWINGIN AT THE SEANCE-2008 Compilations- SPOOKY SWINGIN SOUNDS OF KREEPSVILLE MANOR
Filmography- Dr.Horrors Erotic House of Idiots American Scary Ghost in a Teeny Bikini The Ghastly Love of Johnny X Tales From the Pub Monster Cruise Unpunished
This is just brilliant. “Dennis Hopper: The Middle Word in Life” is an attempt to capture the essence of what we think about when we think about Dennis Hopper. This video essay isn’t trying to be a comprehensive biography because the prospect of capturing Hopper in a relatively short running time is too daunting to consider. The piece offers glimpses of Hopper the method actor, Hopper the monologue master and word-jazz babbler, Hopper the scenery-gnawing villain, Hopper the substance abuser and ex-substance abuser, and Hopper the filmmaker (a facet that often gets overlooked because, while Hopper appeared in nearly 60 films and hundreds of hours of TV, he directed just six motion pictures). Other notable aspects of Hopper—the twentysomething enfant terrible briefly blacklisted in Hollywood for arguing with directors; Hopper the photographer and art collector; Hopper the rock ‘n’ roll gadfly; Hopper the Civil Rights-era Democrat who became a Reagan Republican and then switched back late in life; and on and on—aren’t represented here. That’s a job for biographers. The focus here is on Hopper’s life force: his personality, his philosophy; his thrilling, often contradictory, sometimes abrasive or ugly sense of what acting and filmmaking and art and life should be.
