The spooky story of The Mersey Monsters

Shock, horror, and The Beatles- The story of The Mersey Monsters

(Credits: Far Out / Public Domain / Original Press Cuttings / YouTube Still)

Fri 31 October 2025 9:00, UK

Horror has always been in vogue, from the gothic fiction of the Victorian age to the slasher flicks of the 1980s, and the music industry hasn’t always been immune to the influences of ghouls, ghosts, and Halloween spirits, either.

Back in the 1960s, for instance, The Mersey Monsters offered a blood-splattered, spine-chilling alternative to the fresh-faced Merseybeat sounds of The Beatles.

Of all the many things that The Beatles have to answer for within the pages of musical history, the emergence of Merseybeat is probably one of the most important. Liverpool was always integral to the sound of the Fab Four, and performing at now-legendary venues like the Cavern Club was essential in carving out their sound during those early years.

However, the unparalleled success witnessed by those ‘Mop Tops’ quickly led countless other Liverpudlian lads to start bands, and within that increasingly saturated scene, it would take something pretty special to stand out. Enter The Mersey Monsters.

Equipped with copious amounts of face paint and, most probably, an unhealthy obsession with Hammer horror films, The Mersey Monsters emerged from the crypt (Bootle) in around 1963, rebranding from their original name, JJ And The Hi-Lites.

Although little recorded material from the short-lived outfit was ever released, the band adopted the same kind of blues-led rock and roll that had made so many of their Merseyside contemporaries a household name. The key difference, however, was that they presented themselves as creatures of the night.

In one of the only surviving films featuring the group, they can be seen performing a dark cover of Bobby Parker’s earworm track ‘Watch Your Step’ in a corner of St James’ Cemetery, with frontman Alan Grundy carrying a pitchfork and wearing a top hat while his backing band are bedecked in black shawls with Arthur Brown-esque facepaint.

In terms of production value, it is about as good as you can expect for a short-lived, no-budget, mid-1960s garage band, and there doesn’t appear to be much of a narrative behind the band other than unspecified spookiness.

Still, The Mersey Monsters were pioneers in their field, becoming one of the first true shock-rock outfits to grace British soil, coinciding with the rise of Screaming Lord Sutch at around the same time. Clearly, the group took a core part of their influence from the similarly spooky output of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins the decade prior, but listening to a track like ‘Watch Your Step’, the band seem to have predicted the later rise of shock rock psychedelia and even the horror-punk stylings of groups like Misfits, too.

Despite what the band’s B-movie-esque costumes and questionable face paint would have you believe, though, The Mersey Monsters made quite a name for themselves in their native Liverpool. On the orders of their manager, Tony Reuben, the ghoulish garage rockers performed tirelessly over the course of two years, sharing bills with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, among others, and putting on some of the most unique – and presumably bizarre – shows ever seen at the Cavern Club, before ultimately disbanding in 1965.

Today, The Mersey Monsters aren’t often afforded the same notoriety as their Merseyside contemporaries, or even their shock rock comrades like Lord Sutch, and it is easy to see why – namely, a lack of existing material. Still, the band remain one of the intriguing footnotes in the history of Merseybeat, and their haunting version of ‘Watch Your Step’ is well worth revisiting, particularly if you’re in the midst of creating a Halloween playlist.

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