The Glastonbury 2020 stage is illuminated by strobes and flashing video images. On the sound system, the long-slung acid frequencies of Cousn’s are rocking the crowd. Like everyone else, I’ve stripped down to my underwear and I’m dancing, euphoric, completely losing my mind. And then… Snap back to reality, I’m alone in my living room, in my underwear, slowly losing my mind. Good thing I can listen to Cousn’s upcoming single Are You With Us as this dark and dirty acid jam knows how to turn my frown upside down. I had a chat with the Bristol duo to learn a little more about their recent winning-streak, their analog gadgets, and what it means to be a rock star in the 21st century.

How did you approach the production of Are You with Us?

We threw everything at it, we wanted it to feel as raw and punky as it does rave, so there’s a lot of live elements in the track. One of the main melodies was played on an old Rhodes keyboard plugged into a load of guitar pedals and we recorded live drums from our drummer Tom to give it lots of energy. We balanced out these elements with a plucky acid line and then yeah we just started shouting the words over it and that was the track pretty much done. 

What do the lyrics of the song represent to you?

The lyrics have represented a lot of different meanings to us since we wrote it, it’s visceral as fuck so the meaning can jump around depending on what you’re going through or feeling at the time. To us, it feels like a call to action to rally our generation, keep being creative, and don’t be deterred. We’re living through a mad time at the moment, but if you look back through history there’s always been a youthful creative reaction to adversity whether that’s punk, hip hop, the second summer of love... it’s going to be exciting to see what comes out of this.

You guys are known for your analog-happy sound. I’d like to nerd-out for a minute and ask you about your favorite instruments and production tools at the moment. 

We recently bought a Roland TR-8s which is a wicked drum machine because you can load in your own samples on an SD card. We get our drummer Tom to record a bunch of samples for us to pitch down and manipulate which we’ve been getting some mad sounds out of, especially when you add some pedals and FX.

Billy Webber said you are modern rock stars. What does it mean to be a rock star in 2020?

Hahaha only Billy knows what he meant by that… but we do everything DIY, in our own way and on our own terms. The music, our label, videos & artwork are all done by us and our very close mates. We never want to settle or take the easy route so our approach is very hands-on and deliberate. Is that rock & roll? Maybe we need to throw a few more TVs out of hotel windows, just to be sure.

Cousn celebrate Glastonbury festival with a very special themed mix for Annie Mix on BBC Radio 1

A lot of purist DJs confine themselves to a specific niche, but your sets feature anything from minimal techno to hits by the likes of Kylie Minogue, which is refreshing. What’s your philosophy when approaching a performance? 

It always depends on where we’re playing, we like to adapt to where we are and try new stuff at every set so it’s always fresh for the crowd and for us too. We don’t have the greatest attention spans and love playing loads of different music so mixing it up is a must and it’s just generally so much more fun.

Some of the best mixes are when you completely switch genre/tempo, it just keeps everyone on their toes. Obviously, now there’s no gigging for the foreseeable future, so we’re lucky to have our monthly Rinse show to try stuff out on. That show jumps around a load so yeah we can’t wait to test some of it out when gigs finally (and safely) start popping back up.

Can you name a few artists that are inspiring you at the moment?

Jockstrap, Lynks Afrikka, Absolute & Giant Swan

What’s next for Cousn? 

We’ve got this next release Are You With Us coming out in a couple of weeks, we’re actually finishing editing the video at the moment. It’s a really nuts music video we shot ourselves with our mates and it will definitely need a flashing images warning at the start, lots of strobes and headbanging in small, dingy basements. Then we’re going to be releasing some proper rave EPs of tunes we’ve made over lockdown. So expect a lot of new music, more shouting, unsettling videos, and general Cousn chaos.

Are You With Us is coming out on August 14th via FAMILY Records.

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Cover photo : Phoebe J Cowley / Notion