#mouseatouille

Fear of a Black Planet

Artist: Public Enemy

Release: 1990

Note: The title is making fun of the concept of a fear of Black people gaining increasing influence in white society, with a potential to take over.

Out of the Hospital and Into the Morgue

Artist: Mouseatouille

Release: 2019

Out of the Hospital and Into the Morgue

Artist: Mouseatouille

Release: 2019

Note: This is a play on the saying "out of the frying pan and into the fire."

Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying?

Artist: Megadeth

Out of the Hospital and Into the Morgue

Artist: Mouseatouille

Release: 2019

You Think It's Like This But Really It's Like This

Artist: Mirah

Out of the Hospital and Into the Morgue

Artist: Mouseatouille

Release: 2019

Note: This is a play on the saying "out of the frying pan and into the fire."

Under Heaven Over Hell

Artist: Florence + The Machine

**alternative title under poll

Out of the Hospital and Into the Morgue

Artist: Mouseatouille

Release: 2019

Campfire Songs

Alternative title: Campfire Songs: The Popular, Obscure and Unknown Recordings of 10,000 Maniacs

Artist: 10,000 Maniacs

Release: 2004

Mouseatouille. Photo credit: Edward Dean

Mouseatouille are one of Melbourne’s brightest stars in a populated scene. The 9-piece band has returned ahead of the release of their first album in 6 years, DJ Set out September 19, with new singles ‘Harry and the Jets’ and ‘Dogshow’. The band’s mix of passionate and cathartic passages evoke some powerful emotions and provide an excellent presence in the local Melbourne scene. With a plethora of influences audible in their sound, from slacker rock to folk and even hints of noise pop, their music holds a special place in many hearts. Their return has been very well received and are sure to continue to capture hearts and ears ahead of the new record.

Before the interview began, Harry and I were catching up about when Mouseatouille opened for Black Country, New Road in Brisbane.

Harry: Just to finish what we were literally just talking about off the record or whatever. Yeah, I remember that. I remember seeing you guys at the front because our hotel was down the road from the venue.

Kade: I was there early to meet the band. And I got there at like, I think 10 in the morning? Yeah. And I got my record signed, which is pretty sick. 

Harry: They are so hospitable to that sort of thing. It's really awesome. And Brisbane, the crowd in Brisbane, like I know someone in the band took a picture just before we started playing. And it's crazy. Like, before we had started, it's like packed literally. 

Kade: I remember I remember I was looking at that photo a little while ago because you can see my mates and I in the photo. 

Harry: Oh, really? [laughs]

Kade: Yeah. Like, it's our faces pixelated as hell [laughs]. But yeah, no, I was just thinking about how crazy it is that I'm now in a position where I'm able to have the opportunity to interview and talk to you guys when you know, I've seen you guys perform live. I've loved your music and I've actively listened to it.

Kade: Thanks for joining me tonight, who am I here with?

Harry: I’m Harry, guitarist of Mouseatouille.

Chloe: I’m Chloe, I play synths for Mouseatouille.

Fergus: I’m Fergus and I play piano and trumpet, among other things for Mouseatouille.

Kade: The first thing I wanted to ask about was your recent single release show for ‘Harry and the Jets’ at Thornbury Bowls Club. What made you pick that venue and how was the show?

Harry: Yeah, we deliberately picked that venue because they don't have a stage. It's all a one flat sort of plan. The vibe of it is incredibly community… sort of cosy… And the booker is very awesome and very hospitable to us. When Your Arms Are My Cocoon came, we played there as well, which was so cool to see Your Arms Are My Cocoon playing in a bowls club. Because we hadn't played a headlining show or really any show in a long time, we knew that we would feel comfortable there and we were right. I mean, I'm speaking just for myself, but I think everyone agrees, we just felt kind of like we were playing in our living room and it was a good vibe. 

Chloe: I think we also like to play in places where we know our audience is going to enjoy the show as well. I think that's a part of it.

Harry: Yeah. Kade, you would probably be familiar with The Brave Little Abacus, I assume?

Kade: Yeah. Yeah. I was actually going to bring it up later.

Harry: Oh okay [laughs]. Well, whenever someone talks to me about the Thornbury Bowls Club, I always think about, there's a video on YouTube of their final gig and it has a very similar sort of aesthetic, you know, that's sort of a long running tradition in that sort of emo DIY things to do shows in kind of somewhat strange locales.

Fergus: My dad was saying to me, Fugazi, famously, played at… I think it's called Fireside Bowling in Chicago? They played this bowling alley and I might be getting that wrong. But yeah, there's  the tradition of playing, especially in bowling alleys… [laughs] it's like the Australian equivalent playing in a bowls club.

Kade: I guess while we're on the topic of opening for Your Arms Are My Cocoon for their Melbourne and Sydney shows. What was that experience like, both watching them and also the other bands playing that night, Blind Equation and Katie Dey, considering it was at a bowls club of all places? 

Harry: Yeah, I mean, we played twice with Your Arms Are My Cocoon two nights in a row. The first night was in Sydney at this venue called The Chippo Hotel, which is a very much a normal sort of rock pub sort of thing. I remember we were all really exhausted. We sort of barely made it to the gig from Melbourne. My flight arrived after we'd already sound checked and I sort of rushed to the venue. When we had settled down and played our set, it was all very high adrenaline. Watching Your Arms Are My Cocoon play from the side of the stage, I know Fergus kind of turned to me. I was just, wow, it's getting to see sort of Cap’n Jazz or something back in the day. Like it's just, they do have this… Especially the way they kick their set off, you know, it's so just… from the jump, incredibly high energy. And they're also proficient at their instruments and all that sort of thing. And there's so much passion and emotion. There is just this feeling of, wow, you're really experiencing a moment. And there was this really, really complimentary and beautiful article written for, I think it's called Fargo? The Melbourne Uni student newsletter thing about that Melbourne gig, that really summed that whole feeling up well about, you know… In Australia, I guess we're not as fortunate in terms of having those sorts of bands come through. Like a band  Your Arms Like a Cocoon realistically would normally never make it over here. But it was sort of through Tyler, the front person's sheer force of will that they've come here twice, because they know that they've got fans out here. It was very special. And, you know, obviously I'd been speaking to Tyler on the internet for a long time, when I was told that they were coming, I was just so surprised. Like it was such a nice surprise. And I hope that more bands take that risk and come over here because I mean, I think it paid off. Like Your Arms Are My Cocoon just came through again, the other month and the shows were all sold out and it was, it seemed like a really big tour.

Kade: Yeah with Godfuck as well. 

Harry: Yeah and Blind Equation. I mean, incredible. Like I wasn't as familiar with them. Obviously, I'd listened to some of their stuff, but I wasn't personally familiar with them before. They're the nicest guys ever and it was so cool to hang out with those people and to have the scene come to town for a weekend. It was very exciting.

Chloe: I think also with that type of music, even if you're not very familiar with it, and you go to see it, it's so enjoyable regardless, because of how you can just see how much passion is on stage. Like they just go so full out and it's so cool to see. Harry: I should talk about Katie as well. I mean, Katie, you know, we were all such massive, massive fans of her music before we sort of became personal friends with her. And she's such a genius. It was interesting, Your Arms Are My Cocoon was sort of genuinely chuffed, at least I mean, I'm speaking for them, but I believe they were to be playing with Katie Dey. Like, you know, Katie Dey is quite well regarded in that scene. So it seemed to me that the lineup together made complete sense, a perfect match and I think it worked really well. 

Fergus: I feel like Katie… Especially as the years go on, it seems like more and more of her early work especially was a precursor to so much music. Fifth Wave Emo and all this stuff that came after, it predated by years and years and years. And I think it's crazy because even if Your Arms Are My Cocoon or those guys hadn't known Katie Day, they definitely would have listened to music that was influenced by her. And it's kind of a cyclical, you know, lineup. It's cool that she's from Melbourne as well. 

Kade: I wanted to ask specifically about the tracks Theme From 2021 and Today Will Be The Greatest Day of Our Lives, as both of them feel really cathartic and grand in a way that wasn't really seen on your last album. I was wondering where the inspiration for the sonic direction and lyrics came from?

Harry: So Theme From 2021 was written by our guitarist, Dan. And it was written by him a long, long, long time ago. He performed a couple of times on Out of the Hospital, but I think, and this could be news to him even, it was off the strength of me hearing that song that I was like okay, well you should be in Mouseatouille for real. And we should immediately take that song and arrange it for the band. I kind of stole it from him [laughs].The lyrics on that song blow me away and it feels nice to be able to say that about a Mouseatouille song because I didn't write it. So I don't feel sort of conceited talking about that [laughs], but they really do blow me away. They're great lyrics. 

In terms of the big build sort of thing, I think we had tried to do that on the last album, but it was one of those things where now we're a bit older, a little wiser and we sort of finally, you know, have figured out how to arrange stuff like that. I think that was when we sort of felt the most accomplished. Well… In a way. On this new album is when we had something where everyone is playing and it does not sound overbearing or, or at least to us, it doesn't sound confused or overwhelming. I think a lot of composing this album was a learning experience in sort of figuring out the balance between, you know… These are all quite minimal compositions, minimalist compositions and it's all about sort of the interlocking nature of all these little parts, you know? 

I think those two songs are a prime example of that, the arrangement in the chorus of Today Will Be, is my, and when I say the chorus, I don't mean the, the big ending part, the chorus of the first section… Chloe wrote that when we were coming back from practicing that song for the first time and she sort of just grabbed my phone and hummed all the parts into different voice notes. And then we sort of figured it out and decided who was going to play it. But, you know, again, it was an experiment in, you know, figuring out what can everyone… What's a little thing that everybody can be doing that will contribute towards this big, BIG sound without anyone stepping on one another's toes, basically. 

Fergus: Yeah. I think that that ethos is really… Because I sort of joined Mouse in this transitional phase, but the Out Of The Hospital period, as I understand it, was very much like let's sort of get as many instruments as possible and as many people as possible and sort of just have this big cacophony in essence. Then I feel with this album, we transitioned into having a set amount of members and a set amount of instruments. And it wasn't like “let's use all of the instruments that we have”, but let's figure out how we can perfectly fit them together. And it felt like we were making very… Especially, yeah, composing Theme From 2021. It's… like I love Chloe's synth line on that song because it's very simple. It's just, you know, it's notes changing with the chords basically. But that felt… I remember when we added that or Chloe wrote that, like it felt really like “oh, this is the new album. This is how it's going to sound”. It's going to be really simple and really considered rather than on the previous album or in previous Mouse stuff, it would have just been like “oh, whatever. We will throw something in…”

Harry: Yeah [laughs] Fergus: “And if that works, it works”. But it felt like, no, we were really focusing on individual single notes even, just for the synth, um, you know, that felt like a big step up, you know?

Kade: I guess that kind of leads into another question that I had, which is about the size of the band. So currently there's nine of you and that's the reduced number coming down from your previous album. [laughs] So I guess one thing that I've always been curious about is how do you even begin to start to balance your creative outputs without being overwhelmed? Chloe: Yeah, sure. Um, yeah, I think that just, um, with, we've got a pretty tight rehearsal schedule. We rehearse every Wednesday night now. Um, and I think that being together so much kind of has made it so we kind of understand how to approach it when someone brings a new idea to the band. 

Harry: And it's also defined... Oh, you go Fergus.

Fergus: [laughs] I was just going to add, I do think that there is also, especially in the beginning, there's a lot of like trickery that goes on where it's like if someone, someone writes a song and Harry's like yeah, we should use that… We'll hide it from like half the band until it's at a point where it's ready to go, you know? Because with so many people, it's so easy to, if you just brought a really unfinished song, everyone would be like, no, that's not good. There's almost an element of the democracy of the band works by you hiding something until it's good enough, or you get a few people to work on a song and then bring it to the rest of the band. And it's kind of like, we don't always do everything all together. It's almost like we only come together at the end and then finish it off. 

Harry: I think we've also relaxed sort of into different roles. It's become way more, um, democratic and even a distribution of… It used to be really… I would arrange, I would then command everyone to sort of do stuff. But now it is a lot more even. We're all participating. We're all writing our own parts. We're all writing parts for other people. A lot of composition on this album was subtractive. We always get to a point where we have lots and lots and lots of parts. And then we go, well, we probably don't need a fair few of these. And then also, someone will write a part and… Obviously if you wrote a part, you're very attached to it and then I could say, “well, I think that would sound better on a different instrument” or something. And I think everyone has gotten incredibly good at letting go of their ideas and being , “sure. Like it probably would”, or at least trying things out without getting confused. Cause you know, when you're  really in the middle of it, it's hard to sort of hear if you're actually are onto something or if it's just, kind of, you know, you're kind of wasting your time. I think we recorded, we recorded a lot of our rehearsals on our phones and then combed through them because sometimes we would be like, “oh, we've got a new song” and then we'd listen to it and be like “oh, that was, you know, misguided” and then sometimes, you know, there would be a happy accident where we would not be trying to do anything at all. And we would be like, “that now has to be part of that composition”. You know what I mean? Like, so I think it was just, everyone has to listen and everyone has to really think and listen to each other. 

Chloe: I think we also try to bring a somewhat complete idea to the band as well. We don't just bring something small and be like, oh, can we try and make something of this? If one of us wants to do a song, we try to make it somewhat of a listenable thing before we bring it to the band. Harry: Yeah. You've got to sort of pitch ideas, you know.

Fergus: That's the problem, everyone in the band has a really good music taste. So if you don't do a good enough job on your song, no one's even going to consider it [laughs].

Harry: We also do have a bit of a thing about locking things in where we will almost arbitrarily just be like, “nope” that's how it goes. Cause with nine people who are very considerate of all the ideas that are happening, it's quite easy to iterate on things forever. And a lot of that is the trap we have fallen into now twice on our last two albums in terms of it taking years and years to get something done. But, you know, at some point you have to just be like, “no, too bad. This is, this is done”, you know? [laughs].

Kade: Yeah and I wanted to ask Chloe and Fergus something. Something that Harry mentioned was how he described the process of writing DJ Set as more diplomatic as opposed to Out of the Hospital where he wrote every song except, Cadaver, which you wrote Chloe. So I was curious, how has that experience been different for you with the process being more  diplomatic rather than Harry running the show?

Chloe: The last album, yeah, Harry kind of did most of the writing of the songs and stuff. And I think that it kind of made me feel a bit disconnected from the band. Like I would just kind of come in and record the parts that Harry had for me, but with this new album, it really feels like we're a full band now and we come in and we make our own parts as any band would. I think it's only made us a lot closer with each other and a lot stronger musicians. 

Fergus: Yeah, I agree with Chloe. And I think it's definitely improved everything and our relationships within the band, but also I think it's kind of streamlined the process a lot more. I think where, you know, , and I've had this experience as well, trying to write songs, you can get really trapped, like trying to fix everything. And, um, but I remember Harry, a lot of the time he'd be like, “all right, we have to fix this string part” and then he would just send me or Erinna, who's our violinist or Soph who plays clarinet or anyone really, he'd be like, “all right, race to write the best string part. Whoever has the best string part, that's what we're going with”. And that, yeah, we kind of get meted out to people. And, um, it's good. Cause yeah, it's, once you start delineating the different roles, it's all of a sudden we can all, we can get everyone to write all the parts and be done with it more quickly. I mean, obviously the album still took five years, but maybe it would have taken 10 years if it was just Harry [laughs]. We've got a bit faster. 

Kade: Circling back to the live shows, you opened last March for Black Country, New Road and I wanted to ask about your experience of running into the band in America.

Chloe: Oh, yeah. I mean, we met them through our mutual friends, Horsegirl. We kind of went to the show with them and then they organised to have drinks afterwards, which we went to. But yeah, it was just so chill hanging out with them, it was just like getting drinks with anyone really.  They're all very nice [laughs].

Fergus: I feel like it was really random because I had decided to go to New York for three months and I'd never been to America before. And during that time, Black Country New Road were playing and then Harry and Chloe were like we want to come with you to New York. And I was like “oh, you should come then, cause I think I'm going to try and see Black Country New Road play”. I don't think anyone, any of us has seen them, well, I'd seen them one time in France. It was completely random that Horsegirl had this connection with them and we ended up going to that bar in Brooklyn. 

Harry: What was more astounding to us three about it was, you know, cause we had a very amicable, nice sort of fun. We had actually not even, it wasn't amicable, it was really fun. Like we had a really massive night with them. I think, you know, it was a fun meeting and exciting for us cause we were fans and they're very good and they were really nice and music as, as is always the case, I think with hanging out with musicians is music does not really get discussed, because, you know, I think they're touring, they're sick of talking about music, you know? [laughs] It was just a bar full of musicians. So none of us wanted to speak about music. We don't speak about anything. So, you know, it wasn't even mentioned at all that we were in a band. Um, cause we're not the kind of people to, you know, go around telling people that we're in a band…

Fergus: And we were on holiday. 

Harry: Exactly. In many ways us going to America had been an attempt to escape from this sort of ever growing stress that was making the album because it was at that point, we hadn't gotten over the hump yet, you know? So I think we've sort of, we're really not thinking or talking about music and to our surprise, basically it was Lewis, I think it was Lewis in Black Country New Road had sort of done his own independent research, found our music, listened to it, liked it and then even more of a surprise sort of put himself out there and asked if we would play. It is a testament to how passionate they are about music in general and we were obviously wrapped with it. Because, at that time we hadn't done anything in ages.  Like we'd barely been playing shows. We were sort of working on it…

Fergus: I don't think we ever, we certainly wouldn't have connected, hanging out with Black Country on the Road with playing a show with them. It was like… I didn't think we were playing shows in general. Like this is over. We're retired, you know? [laughs]

Harry: Yeah, exactly. But yeah, it was brilliant. It was obviously a massive tour. And also it didn't feel because, because of the way that they are, it didn't feel like, you know, this big thing. It just felt, I mean, probably a bit because of the way we are as well. Most of the tour, we sort of would just catch up with the shows and hang out and, you know, occasionally get a bite to eat or we went to the beach once. So it was very much, yeah, just  an extension of that night in New York, sort of, you know, but also we would play a massive gig every night [laughs]. 

Kade: Speaking of other music and artist friends that you guys have, you've mentioned before, Asian Glow and Weatherday, who are legends and trailblazers in their own right. I was wondering if you could tell me a little more about your relationship with them?

Harry: Yeah, I mean, I would say it's just the classic internet thing where…Yeah, it's a bit like Your Arms Are My Cocoon. I think there was this feeling at the tail end of 2019 and sort of into 2020 and 2021… There was this sort of thing in the air with all these sort of concept-y, indie rock albums, which had sort of not actually been in vogue for a while. Like it was all very reminiscent of stuff like Death Consciousness by Have a Nice Life. And, I don't know, In the Airplane Over the Sea and Twin Fantasy, sort of albums that set out inherently with the very ambitious task of being an internet landmark album. I think the connecting thread between us, Asian glow, Weatherday, You Arms Are My Cocoon, is an interest in pursuing that type of thing. Or more  paying homage to it, you know,  being the sort of the bedroom masterpiece, pursuing that. And I guess as sort of more naive teenagers, that was what we really wanted Out Of The Hospital to be. We didn't have any expectations of it to have any success. We didn't really think anyone would listen to it, but we sort of wanted to do our version of like a big internet, like, Topster core sort of album, you know? [laughs] And I think that was just like a feeling in the air. And when we had Come In, I think Come In came out before Out of the Hospital, um, and then Cull Ficle might've come out a little bit after, but not very long after and same with the self-titled album.

Well, yeah, those, you know, those four albums, or I mean those three albums, not including ours, we were like, “oh my God, these guys sort of trying to do like a similar thing to us” and then I think through Discord, people would hear their music and say, “have you heard Mouseatouille?” And then I don't know, somehow they got sort of put onto us. I know I connected with Weatherday through this compilation that we were both on called Through the Soil which is this anomaly incredibly stacked charity compilation tape. I don't know if you've even… it kind of was like a thing very briefly and I haven't heard anyone talk about it basically since it came out.

Kade: Yeah that was the one where you had Song For Growth, Pt 2? 

Harry: Yeah! But you know, that whole moment we were incredibly fortunate to be considered by even a couple of people to be part of that sort of thing and I think that was the basis for those connections. 

Fergus: I feel like as well, one of the nice things about the internet is that we kind of would struggle, I guess in Melbourne, we would struggle to find artists or fellow bands who shared our idea of wanting to make the big internet album and wanting to be kind of 5th wave emo adjacent or whatever. And so the nice thing about being on the internet is that they get to be our surrogate scene members. You know, we get to have a scene online, cause we love all of those bands. It kind of makes sense that you would talk to them and establish a connection with them or just be friends with them.

Kade: Yeah awesome. Pivoting back to DJ Set, something that I wanted to ask about was the artwork that's both on the cover and the vinyl art. I was wondering if there is a deeper meaning there for the items on the vinyl art and then for the design for the cover?

Harry: I think it all kind of, I mean, Chloe and Fergus may have their own opinions on this. It wasn't something we ever discussed in the band. So it's very, it'd be interesting to hear what their opinions sort of are. The artwork was done by our friend, Brayden van Meurs, who's a really amazing local artist. He's going to now do all of our sort of visual stuff and we're very lucky that he's agreeing to sort of do that because he's very talented. Chloe was doing fine arts at uni and one of the things she was interested in was basically creating some sort of image on a surface using a crystal that diffracts light into a certain sort of pattern. And she’d looked into other artists that did that and then she showed me this guy who sort of sent light through these like different colored sort of lens sort of things that diffracted the light and created these sort of rainbow strip patterns that look sort of like what we sort of tried to recreate there on the front cover. And I think it was just as simple as we were thinking about the visuals that would best accompany a title like DJ Set and the implications of that. We thought like bright lights, light show, but then also sort of with our interest in like sort of arts and stuff that were sort of connected to this artist, I wish I can remember his name. I might try and find it later. And if I remember, I'll, I'll send it to you. Then you know, the stars and the typeface there was just something Brayden came up with. He had these old sort of stamp things that you like apply one by one and he just like made that.

Fergus: It’s because, night, that's when people go to watch DJ sets. I think, yeah. [laughs].

Harry: [Laughs] I mean, it could be that simple. We intentionally didn't want to have the title of the album on the cover because it is a bit of an intentionally confusing album title, but, you know not to get too pretentious into the deep meaning behind such like a simple album title, but it's like a DJ Set at the end of the day, it's sort of a collage or a curation of like things. And I guess because we'd spent five years recording this album, to us, it sounded at times quite disparate and collated in a way that DJ Set would. So it was as simple as just sort of like tipping out, like sort of nodding to that and maybe excusing it in a way because we were worried, especially before we'd had the album mixed properly, that it was going to be jarring hearing like us in 2021 and then us in 2023 and then us a couple of weeks ago sort of thing. 

Chloe: The album cover is also like a very stripped back version of something else that we tried to do with it, or I should say Harry and Brayden tried to do with it. 

Fergus: The evil version [laughs]. 

Chloe: Yeah, the evil version where it was very like maximal and warm and like we had lots of different things. It was like a light bulb and like an applique that a friend of ours had made that said DJ Set on it and the light show that's on the current album cover. So it's kind of like, again, this less is more sort of approach to it. 

Harry: I haven't thought about that, but that's exactly, I think, very true. I think it's when we pivoted in direction from making another Out of the Hospital, Into the Morgue, which was going to be grand and overbearing and sort of hot. When we sort of pivoted more to like minimal compositions and removing things and removing songs. I think that's probably when this new album cover started coming to fruition. We definitely didn't have a conversation about what anything on that cover would represent. It was just sort of, you know, making something visually that, uh, you know, was a good representation of the sounds of the album.

Fergus: I feel like we did the album cover like maybe a few weeks before it was submitted to be like printed by the… For the record or something [laughs].

Harry: It was very last minute. And it's, and you know, it is that kind of thing, like where, uh, Brayden is like work super closely with us and he plays on the album as well. He plays organ at the end of one of the songs. Um, and he's very involved and he talks to me all the time. And so he knows basically, he knows what we're all thinking about this album. So it kind of was a natural fit for him to do it. And, you know, when we were talking to the guy who Ned Shannon, who's awesome, who laid out the record and sort of like that collage that like the kind of guitar looking collage on the insert is another thing Brayden had made that wasn't made for us. I just saw it at his house and was like, can we steal that? That's very cool. And then I sort of made him use it. But you know, when Ned was looking at the album cover for the first time, he was like, oh, it's inverse colors and inverse sort of placement of the out of the hospital one. And it has some of the same kind of anomalies like how it's laid out. And like, and that obviously was not intentional. Like it was just, but it was a nice coincidence sort of spoke to like some sort of like visual, like consistent visual language or whatever, which was cool. But I think maybe he was giving us too much credit, but yeah, I think like, you know, hearing that stuff is cool. And it is interesting how people think about album artwork, it is very important. It's going to convince people to click on the album on the internet. Oh, that I will say what, like what I guess, like, uh, utility focused. I was like, we have to have the name of the band big enough so that if someone was to put this in a Topster, you can see the name of the band. Cause I hate when people make Topster and you like have no idea what the album is and people kind of gatekeep their topster album. And if you're like, what is that album? They'll be like, “bro, like you don't even know?” So I was like, okay, we're going to have to have something Google-able on this so people can, if you know, someone put it in a topster, identify it. That's as much thought as I put into it basically. 

Kade: While we're still on the topic of DJ Set, do you guys have any plans for shows leading up to the album or after the album's release? 

Harry: We're, we're sort of booking a tour now for the record when it's, um, which, which will be in October, which we're very excited about. Um, Oh, and then before then, I mean, the next show we're playing is this, we're playing a sort of like, have you ever Sore Horse? It's like an indie, DIY label in Melbourne…

Kade: Yeah. Yeah. Yes, they’ve got awesome acts like Freezer.

Harry: Yeah. Yeah. And Garage Sale. Well, they're, they've been kind enough to invite us to play a festival at the tote that they're doing, which will be really cool. Uh, there's some great bands in that lineup. We haven't played the tote before. I don't think like we've all played The Tote in other bands, but I think it'll be our first time playing The Tote, um, in Mouseatouille, which is pretty long overdue, I'd say. then, you know, there, there will be like, uh, yeah, tour dates at some point.

Kade: And finally one thing I'd like to ask all of you is if you could accomplish any three things over the next 365 days, what would they be? 

Fergus: Well, my one is I hope that the album comes out [laughs]. I think that we're still about hmm 80% sure [laughs]. But no, I mean, like, I do think this whole experience has been very like… we're kind of sort of pinching ourselves saying like is this actually going to happen or is it all just like hearsay? So yeah, I mean, I hope, I hope the album comes out [laughs].

Chloe: I would love to write and complete another album with Mouseatouille in the next 365 days. I think it would be cool to challenge ourselves. 

Harry: Yeah, that would be cool. Um, I don't know. I would just like to sort of still be doing what we're doing. I think it feels very comfortable and it feels very natural and I have no reservations. I have no doubts that we will still be doing what we're doing, but, I hope that things are pretty similar in a year's time in terms of how we're all feeling and how we're going and stuff like that, cause it's going well. 

Kade: Awesome. Well, thank you so much guys for your time. 

Harry: Oh, thank you. It was great.

Chloe: Thanks for talking to us.