Mouse and the Traps


Mouse and the Traps is the name of an American garage rock band from Tyler, Texas that released numerous singles between 1965 and 1969, two of which, "A Public Execution" and "Sometimes You Just Can't Win", became large regional hits. The leader of the band, nicknamed "Mouse", was Ronnie Weiss. Two of their best known songs, "A Public Execution" and a cover of "Psychotic Reaction", are not actually credited to this band but, respectively, to simply Mouse and Positively 13 O'Clock instead. Their tangled history also included one single that was released anonymously under the name Chris St. John. The band are not to be confused with the girl group Mousie and The Traps who recorded for Toddlin' Town records around the same time.

Early history

Ronnie Weiss and Dave Stanley were members of a local band named Jerry Vee and the Catalinas in 1964. Weiss had also performed on a regional hit single "Lucky Lips" by Steve Wright and The Catalinas that was later released nationally by Dot Records.
In this time period, they met Bugs Henderson, lead guitarist for a local instrumental band, the Sensors. Weiss and Knox Henderson – no relation to Buddy Henderson - co-wrote "A Public Execution" and brought the song to Robin Hood Brians, who manages Robin Hood Studios that is still in operation in Tyler, Texas today. This song – which strongly resembles Bob Dylan's music in the mid-1960s – was released as the band's first single in 1966 under the name Mouse. Jerry Howell and Ken Murray joined the group shortly thereafter, and most of their remaining music was released under the name Mouse and the Traps. Besides Brians, other musicians that have played in various incarnations of the band over the years include Bobby Delk, Don Garrett and Tim Gillespie.
After releasing several singles on the Fraternity Records label, Mouse and the Traps also recorded two singles for Bell Records that were produced by Dale Hawkins. The band also performed on two of Hawkins' singles and contributed toward his 1966 album on the label, L.A., Memphis and Tyler, Texas. The band broke up in 1969, but all members remained in music except Jerry Howell.
By 1966, the members of Mouse and the Traps – along with Robin Hood Brians and Doug Rhone – were working with singer Jimmy Rabbitt, who was attempting to launch a band under the name Positively 13 O'Clock. Continuing their Dylan connection, the name is an obvious play on Dylan's hit in the same time period, "Positively 4th Street". A Los Angeles studio session at Hanna-Barbera Records in September 1966 resulted in their only recorded single that included a frantic version of Count Five's "Psychotic Reaction". However, a planned album for the band never materialized.

Musical highlights

The first single by Mouse, "A Public Execution" was much more Dylanesque than any of their later music and reached No. 121 on Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart. The single was released on REO Records in Canada as well and became a regional hit in Ottawa, where many local bands frequently covered the song. The song mimicked both the musical and lyrical features of Dylan's songwriting as well as Dylan's singing style to the point of homage or even parody. In the original liner notes of the compilation album, Lenny Kaye states of this song: "There are some who say that Mouse does Dylan's Highway 61 period better than the Master himself". Another reviewer remarked: " is to Dylan what the Knickerbockers' 'Lies' is to the Beatles: one of the few rip-offs so utterly accurate that it could easily fool listeners into mistaking it for the original article".
Their second, punkier single, "Maid of Sugar, Maid of Spice", is regarded by many as being their best recording but did not repeat their earlier chart success. The next single was a novelty song that went in a completely different direction. Titled "Would You Believe", it was a take-off on the running gag of that name by Don Adams on the television sitcom Get Smart. A promo exists that shows the artist of this third single as only Mouse. However, a more subdued, later single "Sometimes You Just Can't Win" spent one week at No. 125 and was a regional hit in Tyler, Texas, Nashville, Tennessee and Louisville, Kentucky.
Allmusic describes Mouse and the Traps as "a fine band who was probably too chameleon-like to find their niche in the national market".
By 1968 Bugs Henderson had formed another band called "The Dream" and was playing night club venues around Dallas.

Post breakup

The band reformed briefly in 1972 but had a genuine reunion in 1986 with the original members during the Texas Sesquicentennial celebration, with a performance at Flag Pole Hill in Dallas before an estimated 7000 people. A videotape of the 1986 reunion concert is reportedly available from Marc Hood Productions.
Weiss formed the country music band Rio Grande, which released a self-titled LP for RCA Victor in 1971; music critic Robert Christgau called it "a perfectly competent-plus mod-country band which has gone virtually unacknowledged in print". Weiss continues to tour and perform regularly, and often with his former bandmates; he is also a writer and is in demand as a session player.
Bugs Henderson had a renowned career as an influential blues/rock guitarist with 8 albums to his credit. His 2004 release on No Guru Records, Stormy Love includes a version of "Maid of Sugar, Maid of Spice". He died from complications of liver cancer on March 8, 2012, four days after a benefit concert in his name.
Dave Stanley and Ken Murray, together with Larry Stanley founded the Lone Star Ramblers. They were featured performers at Dolly Parton's theme park, Dollywood from 1988 to 1996, and also appear annually at the Texas State Fair. They have released 10 albums and several video productions and also perform as the Stanley Murray Stanley Band and the Strolling Santas.
Jimmy Rabbitt has had a long and varied career as a rockabilly musician. He is also a celebrated Dallas and Los Angeles disc jockey who has had an internationally syndicated radio program, The Rabbitt Report since 1971. .
Rabbitt was signed to Capitol Records as Jimmy Rabbitt and Renegade. An album was produced by Waylon Jennings and the band consisted of former Sweathog bass player, David L. Johnson.

Retrospective albums

The music by Mouse and the Traps and the other associated bands has been assembled by two European record labels on retrospective albums. The first was an LP called Public Execution that was released in 1982, which included nearly all of their singles, including the Positively 13 O'Clock record. The LP was re-released on CD by New Rose Blues Records in 1995 with 4 bonus tracks, including both sides of the 45 that was released under the name of Chris St. John. Out of the 25 recordings on their various singles, the only un-reissued tracks are on their final Bell Records single, "Knock on My Door" and "Where's the Little Girl". .
Also, in 1997, a CD was released on Ace Records/Big Beat Records with 7 previously unreleased songs that is still in print. Both retrospective albums are comprehensive overviews of the band's career, although the two albums have several tracks that are not in common. Their recordings are also widely available on numerous compilation albums of garage rock music.

Band members

Mouse ("A Public Execution")

Positively 13 O'Clock was a project by Jimmy Rabbitt, backed by members of Mouse and the Traps. Only the one single "Psychotic Reaction" was released

Retrospective albums

As Mouse

The singles "Where's The Little Girl" b/w "Knock On My Door" and "Woman Or A Girl" b/w "I Can Only Touch You With My Eyes", both credited to "M.O.U.S.E.", are sometimes mistakenly thought to be by Mouse and the Traps; they are in fact by a group from Jacksonville, Florida, who also recorded as Mouse and the Boys.

Compilation albums

"A Public Execution"
  1. '
  2. '
  3. Excerpts from Nuggets
  4. More Nuggets
  5. Nuggets, Volume 6
  6. Texas Music, Volume 3
"Maid of Sugar, Maid of Spice"
  1. '
  2. Nuggets, Volume 12
  3. Acid Dreams Testament
  4. The Complete Acid Dreams
  5. Glimpses, Volume 1
  6. Glimpses, Volumes 1 and 2
  7. Uptight Tonight
"Lie, Beg, Borrow & Steal"
  1. Beat It
  2. '
"Good Times"
  1. Sixties Archives, Volume 2
  2. Texas Punk Groups in the Sixties, Volume 1
  3. Zona de Obros Especial, Volume 3
"I Satisfy"
  1. Sixties Archives, Volume 2
  2. Texas Punk Groups in the Sixties, Volume 1
  3. Psychedelic Unknowns, Volume 4
  4. Psychedelic Unknowns, Volume 4
"Sometimes You Just Can't Win"
  1. Instant Garage
"Psychotic Reaction"
  1. Pebbles, Volume 1
  2. Pebbles Box
  3. Great Pebbles
  4. Trash Box
  5. Songs We Taught The Fuzztones
  6. Psychedelic Archives USA Garage, Volume 1