COUSIN BETTY are back with a brand new single ‘New Dimensions’, which is out now via GoldenRobot Records. The single is another chunky stoner / desert rock feast.
Cousin Betty’s latest single is taken from their upcoming sophomore EP Overs. With heavy guitars and crashing cymbals, ‘New Dimensions’ is an exploration and analysis of the diabolical sci-fi death cult, Heaven’s Gate.
Overs will be released digitally on the 16th of October. Following the success of their debut EP Left, and the success of singles ‘Drone’, ‘Tape Hiss’ and ‘AWOL’, this EP will sit in the happy middle ground of a band finding its way from the solo project (of guitarist Damien Stofka), to the collective of Sydney stalwarts that now complete the band’s physical line-up.
Featuring members of Nitocris, Madame Fatale, Death Mattel, LITTER and Spurs for Jesus (and Lime Spiders on this EP), the future seems bright for this band whose roots in garage psyche are far less apparent in their broader set than this EP.
Do you like songs about suicide cults, voodoo magic and witches that would be most at home on a Pebbles compilation?… Look no further.
After releasing 2 highly regarded singles ‘Drone’ and ‘Tape Hiss’, COUSIN BETTY have released their debut EP LEFT via Golden Robot Records, it is now available on all digital platforms. COUSIN BETTY’s sound is a mesh of distorted and psychedelic influenced indie desert rock with some grungy garage infused overtones.
To celebrate the release ofLEFT, Cousin Betty have today released a video for the track ‘AWOL’.
ABOUT ‘AWOL’ – ‘’Damien had recorded this one and ‘Loan Sharks of Love’ in their entirety before I heard them, at the time we’d been toying with the notion of compiling songs themed around war and battles. It prompted me to write about my Grandfather, a great man and a WW2 vet. Young tough and full of misplaced patriotic verve – like most of the boys his age, he left to fight whichever enemy Churchill deemed worthy of throwing troops at. In addition to being brave, he was also a bit of a renegade and spent quite a bit of time in various prison cells; some of which he’d been forced to build himself. A side of my Grandfather few new, was his profound romantic streak; a characteristic perfectly demonstrated by going AWOL before deployment just so he could marry his sweetheart. They married, he returned for court martial, served a brief sentence for going AWOL and then deployed to the sands of Egypt to shoot at bad guys. The tragedy of this romantic gesture, is that my Grandma once told me that the man who came home to her, wasn’t the same man she married. The horrors of the all he’d seen and lost had left substantial scars. Still, beyond his occasional irritability and, rarer still, displays of rage, the spontaneity of his wedding and heroism of knowing how much trouble he’d be in, is the story that best serves my memory of him’’ – Matt
Cousin Betty is the brainchild of Australia’s Damien Stofka a guitarist/songwriter, who has created riffs and written songs for Molten Universe, Death Mattel, LITTER and various other projects for the last 15 years.
After releasing 2 highly regarded singles ‘Drone’ and ‘Tape Hiss’, COUSIN BETTY are set to release their debut EP LEFT via Golden Robot Records on 26th March. COUSIN BETTY’s sound is a mesh of distorted and psychedelic influenced indie desert rock with some grungy garage infused overtones.
Cousin Betty is the brainchild of Australia’s Damien Stofka a guitarist/songwriter, who has created riffs and written songs for Molten Universe, Death Mattel, LITTER and various other projects for the last 15 years.
About LEFT During the strictest period of the pandemic lockdown, Damien began communicating with other artists and was inspired to try and make something more consistent of his vision. A friend from Canada; equally bored and in want of inspiration, asked Damien for some of the files from his old sessions to re-mix and produce. The tones and richness of these efforts were the motivation Damien needed. As the restriction lifted on local travel, he took some recording equipment to Frontman Matt Downey’s house. There, while their 6-year-olds entertained themselves on computer games, Matt, his partner Katie Jane and Damien finished ‘Lizard Queen’ and 4 other songs in mere hours. Gone now was the restrictive concept of theming and it meant that songs could tackle any topic. While that meant a slight direction change for his initial vision, Damien still felt a great attachment to the journey of his Cousin Betty –a Matriarchal Maverick who’ll live on in memory only. These new songs form the LEFT E.P, Cousin Betty’s debut.
COUSIN BETTY are the brainchild of Australia’s Damien Stofka a guitarist/songwriter, who has created riffs and written songs for Molten Universe, Death Mattel, LITTER and various other projects for the last 15 years.
Cousin Betty today release their 2nd single, Tape Hiss, via Golden Robot Records.
“When we were jamming this one, I just remember the energy it had. It really needed to be celebratory and communal – something that people would want to sing out load together. I thought of examples like Kiss ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll All Night’, Queen ‘We Will Rock You’ and Twisted Sister ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’. While we discussed those and other examples, it occurred to me that I couldn’t think of anything contemporary – since ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ perhaps, that was as much of an anthem. That’s when I decided to just make it about a period of anthems in general.” – Damien Stofka
First single Drone, is the debut single from the upcoming EP Left.Drone is a meaty slab of distorted, psychedelic, influenced indie desert rock, and the official video is equally impressive.
ABOUT COUSIN BETTYDamien Stofka is a renowned guitarist and songwriter who has created riffs and written songs for Molten Universe, Death Mattel, LITTER and various other projects for the last 15 years. Less interested in a standard line-up and the logistics required to be in a functioning band and also inspired by the Desert Sessions, he spent his downtime compiling albums worth of material with contributing artists and performers he liked.
From these sessions micro-bands would form to present these songs live; touring with such bands as The Psychotic Turnbuckles, Doc Neeson and The Lime Spiders – having also used their rhythm section to record with. While the recordings have featured several musicians, the core live line-up has comprised of Frontman Matt Downey (Death Mattel) and rhythm sections comprised of Pat Walker (Ohms, Methusela), Tony Bambach (Lime Spiders, Aberration), Ged & Tom Corben (Lime Spiders) and Chris Drane (Cash Savage, Cherrywood). The line ups and shows have varied for each tour to include a DJ, visuals and themed stage sets.
COUSIN BETTY is the brainchild of Damien Stofka a guitarist/songwriter, who has created riffs and written songs for Molten Universe, Death Mattel, LITTER and various other projects for the last 15 years.
Drone, which is out now via Golden Robot Records, is the debut single from the upcoming EP Left. Droneis a meaty slab of distorted, psychedelic, influenced indie desert rock, and the offical video is equally impressive.
“After listening to Drone, our writer/director Ashleigh Hanley, knew he wanted the lyrics to tell one story, but the music video to tell another. Ash is a storyteller at heart and wanted weave a modern day love story and social media filters together. The concept he wanted to explore was what if we could apply these filters in real life. Could we still find real love behind the fakery?” – Cousin Betty
Given Ash’s background in scriptwriting and short films, (Pig Boy, 2017 and Second Hand, 2014) he knew he didn’t want to shoot the band standing around playing instruments. He wanted to tell a story.
Extensive research into Instagram and snapchat filters allowed him to construct a story based on what was currently trending on these social platforms. Next was working out how to shoot this clip in order to make our characters look like they were trapped inside their social media accounts. This meant 27 wardrobe changes, 17 hairstyles and 10 makeup looks plus the 20 filters and animations to create in post production.
“An ambitious project being super organised and thinking outside the box on shoot day allowed us to create a world that we haven’t seen in a music video before.”
Damien Stofka (guitarist/songwriter), has created riffs and written songs for Molten Universe, Death Mattel, LITTER and various other projects for the last 15 years. Less interested in a standard line-up and the logistics required to be in a functioning band and also inspired by the Desert Sessions, he spent his downtime compiling albums worth of material with contributing artists and performers he liked.
From these sessions micro-bands would form to present these songs live; touring with such bands as The Psychotic Turnbuckles, Doc Neeson and The Lime Spiders – having also used their rhythm section to record with. While the recordings have featured several musicians, the core live line-up has comprised of Frontman Matt Downey (Death Mattel) and rhythm sections comprised of Pat Walker (Ohms, Methusela), Tony Bambach(Lime Spiders, Aberration), Ged & Tom Corben (Lime Spiders) and Chris Drane (Cash Savage, Cherrywood). The line ups and shows have varied for each tour to include a DJ, visuals and themed stage sets.
COUSIN BETTY is the brainchild of Damien Stofka a guitarist/songwriter, who has created riffs and written songs for Molten Universe, Death Mattel, LITTER and various other projects for the last 15 years.
Drone, which is out now via Golden Robot Records, is the debut single from the upcoming EP Left. Droneis a meaty slab of distorted, psychedelic, influenced indie desert rock.
“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 on 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.
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 a 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.” – Matt Downey (Vocals)
Damien Stofka (guitarist/songwriter), has created riffs and written songs for Molten Universe, Death Mattel, LITTER and various other projects for the last 15 years. Less interested in a standard line-up and the logistics required to be in a functioning band and also inspired by the Desert Sessions, he spent his downtime compiling albums worth of material with contributing artists and performers he liked.
From these sessions micro-bands would form to present these songs live; touring with such bands as The Psychotic Turnbuckles, Doc Neeson and The Lime Spiders – having also used their rhythm section to record with. While the recordings have featured several musicians, the core live line-up has comprised of Frontman Matt Downey (Death Mattel) and rhythm sections comprised of Pat Walker (Ohms, Methusela), Tony Bambach(Lime Spiders, Aberration), Ged & Tom Corben (Lime Spiders) and Chris Drane (Cash Savage, Cherrywood). The line ups and shows have varied for each tour to include a DJ, visuals and themed stage sets.
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