Ryan Monro (born 26 July 1981) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...

, known for playing with Australian ska/jazz band

The Cat Empire The Cat Empire are an Australian jazz/funk band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1999. For most of the band's duration, the core members were Felix Riebl (lead vocals, percussion), Harry James Angus (trumpet, vocals), Will Hull-Brown (drums), ...

. He has been the bassist for The Cat Empire since its inception and also plays in jazz trio "The Genie", which includes fellow Cat Empire members,

Ollie McGill Ollie is a given name and a nickname, often as a shortened form of Oliver, Olive, Olympia, Olga or Olivia. Variants include Olie, Oli, Oly and Olly. People Given name * Ollie Marie Adams (1925–1998), American gospel and R&B singer * Ollie ...

on keyboards and Will Hull Brown on drums. His cousin is Shaun Taylor, a farmer, and chef. Monro originally started playing

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

in grade 9 at

Frankston High School , motto_translation = Best Always , established = , type = Government-funded co-educational secondary day school , students = 1,750 , location = , Melbourne, Victoria , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Australia Mel ...

but soon moved to

electric bass The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck The ...

. He later picked up

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

and after graduating from high school, attended the Victorian College of Arts. In late 1999, Monro met and began playing in a trio with Ollie McGill on keyboards and

Felix Riebl Felix Riebl (born 1 May 1981) is a singer, songwriter, and composer based in Melbourne. He is the co-founder, band leader and principal songwriter of the internationally acclaimed band The Cat Empire, who have made multi-platinum albums, and are ...

on percussion and vocals. Calling themselves "The Cat Empire", they started playing a wide variety of gigs in clubs like Dizzy's and Bennett's Lane in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. The band soon expanded in 2001 adding

Harry James Angus Harry James Angus (born 11 June 1982 Melbourne) is an Australian singer-songwriter, trumpet player and guitarist. He was one of the lead vocalists in the Melbourne band The Cat Empire along with Felix Riebl. He joined the group in early 2000 a ...

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

, Will Hull-Brown on drums and Jamshid "Jumps" Khadiwala as a DJ. With the band, he released eight studio albums. It was announced in March 2021 that Monro was retiring from the band. He was scheduled to play his last show at the

Sidney Myer Music Bowl The Sidney Myer Music Bowl is an outdoor bandshell performance venue in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is located in the lawns and gardens of Kings Domain on Linlithgow Avenue close to the Arts Centre and the Southbank entertainment precinct ...

on 6 March 2021, however he rejoined the band to play their final Melbourne shows in December 2021. He played his final show with the band on 16 December 2021. Since 2021, he has played bass for Melbourne band The Meltdown. He created a recording of

Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...

speaking clock A speaking clock or talking clock is a live or recorded human voice service, usually accessed by telephone, that gives the correct time. The first telephone speaking clock service was introduced in France, in association with the Paris Observato ...

before it went offline in 2019 and used the recording for a new website, .

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monro, Ryan 1981 births Living people Australian bass guitarists Australian double-bassists Male double-bassists 21st-century double-bassists 21st-century bass guitarists 21st-century Australian male musicians 21st-century Australian musicians The Cat Empire members Australian male guitarists