Behind the Music - The Monster Squad. The Story so far....

Born under the rising sun of a preacher man, Luke Gribbon had a dream - to play the funk and play it well...

Gifted as a child, Luke persued his dream by joining the North West Academy of Performing Arts, graduating with honours, with a deeper musical knowledge and even more determined to make music his living.

In 2005 Luke formed the band Groovebreaker with original members bassist John Watson, guitarist Gaz Cheatham and drummer Carl Hutchinson.

A few years later and due to work commitments, Cheatham was replaced by Fleetwood guitarist Jon McGloughlin then a year later Jon replaced by music virtuoso and guitarist Chris Hodder. Not long later the band added rocker Tony Blundell on 2nd guitar to give an edge that the band was looking for.

With a radical name change to The Monster Squad in Jan 2012 and drummer Carl Hutchinson being replaced by dep-in drummers Jimmy Dyson and later nutcase Dean Ilsley things took off and the band soon became the gig to go to.

Then disaster happened with Luke discovering he required a throat operation. The band dismantled, took time off and waited for Luke’s recovery.

That day came in December 2011 when the band headlined the Winter Ball at the famous Blackpool Winter Gardens to an ecstatic crowd. Luke was back with somehow more depth and resonance to his vocal then ever before. The boy did good.

Unfortunately in 2012 Tony Blundell decided to bid the lads farewell to persue his own business venture and one more drummer later (Spinal Tap comes to mind), Neal Slater rescued the bands sanity replacing Dean with solid beats and a fresh approach to the numbers.

Now established as THE funk and hip hop band to see, further drummer replacements were in order. Neal had to move out of the North West and a replacement was needed.

Who the hell could fill Neals drum shoes?

Non other than original member and self confessed half-wit Carl Hutchinson. 2013 and back in his old seat Carl evolved the band to what it is today - providing amazing beats and grooves that only Carl has really offered the band.

Now a 4 piece, musical genius Chris Hodder proved his worthiness with incredible performances, wowing the crowds whenever the band played and filling two guitar places easily - allowing him to shine as an individual within the group status.

Then in september 2013, the band performed and recorded their own video version of Robyn S’s classic “I love ya baby” in their recording facility and shared it with Youtube. Unbeknown to them, Band on the Wall, organising a massive gig featuring Craig Charles and UK superstars the Brand New Heavies, saw the video, dropped Luke a line and announced they would like the Monsters to support the band during their tour.

The rest is, as they say, history and with members solid in place and original numbers being introduced into the set, the Monster Squad has plans to become THE band to see throughout the North West and beyond.