SONG OF THE DAY Cousin Betty - Drone

Words by Anselm Anderson

Cousin Betty presents a common favourite of this writer: A slab of distorted, psychedelic riffs and fervent grunge I cannot ever get tired of. Drone,  is the band's debut single taken from upcoming EP Left. via Golden Robot Records. 

The band is the brainchild of guitarist/songwriter Damien Stoftka, a man responsible for writing many a riff for Molten Universe, Death Mattel etc in his 15-year career. Inspired by the Desert Sessions, Stoftka decided on a project that would centre around guest musicians and performers contributing music live. Stoftka was able to form his band through "Micro-bands" he supported to end up with a core line up of Matt Downey ( Vocals), and a rhythm section of Pat Walker (OHMS), Tom Bambachi, 

( Lime Spiders, Aberration,) Ged and Tom Corben ( Lime Spiders) and Chris Drane ( Cherrywood).

Drone begins with a fuzz- filled riff that builds in tension, as the vocals interject. Downey's lyrics reflect the anger he feels, as the rhythm section and drums retain the mid-tempo throughout. The chorus includes gospel backing singers, adding resentment to Downey's initial disgust. The song finishes with an energetic guitar solo, full of frenzy and attitude. I feel this is a good beginning for Cousin Betty with a message about the negative side of social media. Drone is a riff- heavy taster of what to expect from their new EP.

Matt Downey explains how the song came about,

Damien played me a riff he'd been working on; it was immediately infectious, but I wasn't in the mood. I was upset about some Facebook "friend" just regurgitating some stuff - obvious garbage they'd heard in the media and seemingly verbatim. As I scrolled down their page I realised that their politics, faux ideals and very life's philosophy seemed the be simply illustrated through bad memes; some in direct contradiction to the one prior.

He adds, "While I'm an advocate of independent thought and am pleased that we don't all think the same, this hollow person represented to me that type of fool with no fixed opinion about ANYTHING, opposition for the sake of opposition and seemingly wilful ignorance. Not a problem in itself per se, but this dim prole was also a Dad...a mentor to a developing mind, ensuring further generations of the same. The lyrics spilled out and the entire song, complete with multiple takes and backing vocals was finished in about 40 minutes. On re-listens, I think I was pretty harsh but it's just what I was feeling at the time. This was our first real collaborative effort too. I loved it the second he showed me the opening riff."

Drone is now available on all good music platforms. Left will be available late 2020/ early 2021 via Golden Robot Records

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You can watch the video for " Drone" Below;
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