see all Alice's artworks from the November Exhibition Pictures and footage from the mousetrapreplica exhibition and performance series The Frozen Moments CD-R series only one way to find out....... see mousetrapreplica in action contact mousetrapreplica buy mousetrapreplica CDs and Merch here Stuff about my gear!!

mousetrapreplica stop playing shows on a permanent basis

mousetrapreplica have ceased playing shows on a permanent basis.

In a nutshell, the music I have composed for this band was written at a pretty shit time in my life, in which I felt very angry toward the world, and playing this music was away to vent my frustrations. I know that few people out there would describe mousetrapreplica as "angry" music, and yeah, it doesn't really sound angry, even to me.

Nonetheless, this is true. It doesn't make sense to me either. In compositional terms, my idea was to draw people in with soft beautiful sounds and then gradually morph those sounds into something terrifying and brutal. Did it work?
You tell me!

But regardless, I don't want to make music like this anymore, and whilst I could rapidly change artistic direction with the band, I feel I need to sever ties with everything I've done with mousetrap to move on. The music, and all the organisational and music industry bullshit that came with it became baggage I had to cut loose.

I would like everyone to know that there is absolutely no animosity between band members whatsoever, it is my(Ryan's) decision and my decision alone to end the band.

I am focusing my musical attention on Ennis Tola, which I am greatly enjoying.
Gareth is working his arse off on his modern jazz drumming, and Murray is busy building race cars!

Having the 'rhythm section'(and I use the term very loosely!) of Gareth and Murray was a dream come true, their playing, their ideas, their sounds, and commitment was more than I could have ever hoped for.

I also would publicly like to thank Alice Palermo, who worked tirelessly as band painter throughout 2007 culminating with the exhibition at Brunswick Arts Space. She would always be so hard working and did relentless shows with me; I remember in July '07 we did 7 shows together, most at short notice!

All band members are very grateful for everyone who has supported our band over the years, and that very much includes people all over the world who have discovered us through MySpace. We have received so many positive messages from people all over the world and for this we are truly grateful.

I have added 3 songs of the demo drummer Nick Martyn and I recorded in March last year to our player, and have also added a recent demo song, which was never performed, which I recorded at home with sampled drums and a synthesised brass band.

Oh, and thanks a million to everyone who saw our last ever show!!! Holy crap, that was incredible!! I am so glad that after years of playing shows we finally got such a rapturous response from an audience. There is footage of the whole show on YouTube and some sensational photo's taken by Julian Wearne from Red Hymns.
The link to Julian's photo's are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ikaink/4003392235/

We will be recording our album properly in a few months, and will release it for free on the internet for everyone to download, which should happen mid 2010.

much love

Ryan,
and on behalf of Gareth, Murray, Alice and Nella.

August 2 - Gareth Thomson leaves MTR

Gareth Thomson, our drummer for over 12 months will be leaving the band.
His own musical interests are veering too far away from the mousetrap sound and so he has decided to move on. It's all amicable, we're still great mates, and he will be doing some more recording with us to finish off recording our long overdue album/EP.

Personally, I am incredibly indebted to Gareth for getting the band back on it's feet after the departure of Nick Martyn to overseas touring commitments. To call Nick a brilliant musician would be an understatement, and he created enormous shoes to fill that I simply couldn't expect any 18 year old to be able live up to. But he did, adding a fiery jazz inflected style to our sound that never failed to dazzle our audiences.

Give it 10 years, and I honestly believe Gareth will be considered one of the Australia's best drummers. We wish him all the best in his future musical endeavours.

Our final show with Gareth behind the kit will be headlining the Brunswick Hotel on Friday 21 August. If you haven't seen him play with us, then this will be your last chance!

It will also be our last show for the near future, we'll be taking a few months off playing gigs, in which we'll be doing a bit of recording, which will hopefully give us some much needed perspective and some new tunes! Oh and I guess we'll have to find a new drummer.....

I (Ryan) will be doing some solo shows, possibly including a very interesting collaboration with the creator of the Goblincore genre, Tim McMillan!

Cheers folks, thanks for your ongoing support.

Ryan, and on behalf of Murray.

July 6 - New Shows - Getting back in the swing of things.....

Hey Folks, thanks to all who attended the Empress show, it was an excellent night. We've been on a break the last two months for various reasons, but we are getting ourselves back in the swing of things with some improv shows, and new songs in the pipeline.
We will also be finishing this confounded remix soon! Stay tuned....
Upcoming shows.....
Saturday 18 July @ NoiseBar, with dropbunny and others.
Saturday 1 August @ Gertrudes Brown Couch with A Lonely Crowd, Tim McMillan and the Renegades of Goblincore, An Easier Question.

May 3 - Remixing

We are currently working on a remix for our friends band, 'A State of Flux.' The remix is involving the whole band, and will be a fresh take on the concept of what a remix is, we think you'll dig it!

April 13 2009

Howdy, the Hills Are Alive Festival was incredible! Thanks to everyone who attended and made it happen. We are currently writing new material and planning to record our album in the not too distant future.

March 2 2009

Thanks to everyone who came along to our Bar Open CD Launch with Scissor Lock and ii, it was a fantastic night.
Also thanks to y'all who rocked up early on saturday to see us play the Evelyn, and thanks in particular to LAN Party who put in so much effort to make it such a big night.
Our upcoming shows:

Jan 31 2009 New Bassplayer New Shows announced

Hey Folks, I am happy to announce that we have found ourselves a bass player! Murray Pigdon has rejoined the band, after 6 months of looking for a replacement.
I extend a huge thankyou to every single bassist who showed interest, learnt our music, and rehearsed with us. It means so much to us, we are very grateful.
Murray will slot stright back in to the band, which is looking to have a very productive 2009, particularly with the recording of the MTR album.


Thanks to all who came along to the IDGAFF show with Sex On Toast and Cheese Excursion, what a great night!


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