Mouse Art was an instrumental piece written on guitar by the multi-talented Graham and was one of several interesting guitar pieces he composed around 1985-6 along with Stone, Temptation and Speeding With The Starlight. It was a piece that the original Ug Brothers attempted although no recording of it seems to exist.
Graham had a small mouse tattooed on his body around the time this piece was written and we believe that this tune is dedicated to his tattoo (this is speculation and may be utter nonsense). He liked the tattoo but not the conecpt and later had another tattoo put on top of it to hide it ("Can you find my hidden tattoo?").
On the full recording you can hear George announce "Mouse Art" just before the Ug Brothers launch into the piece. In the original edit of the recordings, the first part of the Mou in Mouse Art is deleted and it sounded as if the announcement was Arse Art, which made us giggle. How silly.
Despite the very best efforts of the band, this piece and its various subtle nuances was never quite performed to Graham's satisfaction and never made it to a live performance although this version is arguably reasonable in some parts.
These recordings of instrumentals – or Ugstrumentals – by The Ug Brothers were made at Graham’s flat in Fore Street, Exeter, above the Real McCoy Arcade during the late winter of 1994/5. They are most of the set of The Ug Brothers, including various pieces that were never performed live due to having had no lyrics written for them.
There are no vocals as Natalie was not there on the occasions that these Ugstrumentals were recorded. The idea was to have something to listen to and work on with a view to creating lyrics, and also as a karaoke tape for Natalie to sing along to when practising. Few further lyrics were forthcoming as things turned out. These Ugstrumental pieces still sound wonderful and full of interesting musical ideas. The concept of Ugstrumental pieces such as these was later developed by the Flicker project.
Music: G.Barbe
Arrangement: The Ug Brothers
Copyright (c) Wud Records 1995, (p) Ug Music/Explicit Music 1995
