About Us
Aaron Stafford
Originally from California, frontman and original founder of Cothel Aaron Stafford wrote the lyrics, melodies, and a big chunk of the chords and riffs for the first album. People claim him as the “Orginal Creator” of Cothel since technically speaking, the words came out of his mouth. He denies these claims, and claims the words already existed in that order before that, and no matter what Cothel is a constant in our universe, and if he didn’t discover Cothel someone else would have, either with a different name or with different words all together. He also states that Cothel is a collaboration and he wouldn't have said the definition in the order he said it in if the people around him didn't play their role perfectly. Aaron loves psychedelia as he has a passion for the weird, the strange, and anything out of the ordinary.
Thoughts on their latest release: “And You Know changes through a few different vibes. The lyrics in the song are made in a way that is meant to be ambiguous, and sometimes there are 2 or more different vocals lines with different lyrics going on at the same time. The song is a representation of self-identity, and your ego, and confusion about such
Lee Jaehyeuk "Jerry"
Jaehyeuk is from South Korea and was one the first people to join Cothel back in its creation. Jerry being from Seoul is the soul of Cothel, playing his bass in a variety of styles to fit different vibes throughout the set. While his childhood was filled with Emo and Alternative Rock, Jerry’s passion for music, and his pursuit for knowledge caused him to learn Jazz technique, but as he learned he fell in love with the sound of it as well. Jerry now has a passion for all different types of music, especially anything new and different.
Thoughts on their latest release: “For this track I was trying to give a similar vibe to the bass lines in lot of incognito’s songs. I really want it to give a Motown vibe on the first bit and the second bit of the song I was trying to follow the riff Aaron was playing, boosting up the main idea of the song”
Gurkirat Singh
Gurki Is the heart of Cothel, he comes from Olso, Norway. Cothel is known to play music in a variety of styles, and Gurki helps round that out, being heavily influenced hip hop and RnB. For Cothel’s debut album Gurki plays psych rock drums, with RnB techniques, this helps create a new hybrid sound, which is what Cothel is all about, a collaboration of sounds. Gurki is the driving force behind Cothel’s music and he is what turns the chords and the melody into an actual song, that people can feel in their hearts and in their minds.
Thoughts on latest release: “For this track I drew inspiration from Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan and Matt Halpern, with some inspiration from Anderson .Paak for the faster sections. The contrast between the slow and fast sections was very important to me.”
Emiliano Del Toro
Emiliano all the way from Mexico City, started learning guitar at the young age of 7 years old, since then he has picked other instruments as well, including bass and drums, and was even featured playing drums at the first Not Cothel Jam, AKA the creation of “Liquify Your Mind”, and the Not Cothel Punk Jam. Emiliano came to Liverpool to hone his skills as a producer, and as musician. Since then he has had production credit on Cothel songs such as such as “That Feeling You Get” and “When You’re Insanely High”, as well as recording lead guitar on them. While not involved in its original creation, he is a massive part of the production and the guitar arrangement throughout the first album.
Thoughts on their latest release: “And You Know is a song about contrasts, from driven guitars to slow phasers this song will melt your face off”
Rob King
Rob King from Surrey has been working with Cothel from the very beginning, and was even witness to the creation of Cothel in the first place. Rob’s original role was being Cothel’s lead producer, and he still plays that role, but recently he has joined the line up of the live band, fitting into the role of synthesist. Rob specializes in the creation of weird and strange noises, and sounds to boost the main idea of a song up, Rob adds exactly what is needed to fill the gaps of the music. Rob has been the mastermind behind the recording, and production techniques used of all three singles we’ve put out, and many more to come from the album. Even before Rob was part of the live band he was very involved with the sound, he was there in practices making sure all the parts of the music fit together in the way that they’re supposed to
Thoughts on Latest Release: “Mixing And You Know presented me with the challenge of blending between two distinct eras of psychedelia in one track. Drawing inspiration from the vintage recording style of Pink Floyd and combining that with the modern production sound of Tame Impala's Currents, I feel proud of the unique, hybrid sound we have created!”
Toria Terror
Toria Terror birth name Victoria Nathanson is from Charleston, South Carolina. She was originally featured singing backing vocals on Cothel’s first release “That Feeling You Get” but she quickly grew into a full fledged member of Cothel when they started playing live. Since then she has sang at most official gigs we’ve had, including our “Not Cothel psych jam” and even singing lead vocals at our “Not Cothel punk jam”. Her experience in singing a variety of styles such as American Jazz Standards, and Pop all the way to darker styles such as Emo, Goth, and Punk is part of why she works so well in Cothel. Toria has made her own harmonies throughout the first album, and while not featured on the recordings of the last two releases, she is due to be on every other song on the record. On future albums and projects she will have a much bigger role, even singing lead vocals on certain songs.
Thoughts on their latest release: “I’m not featured on this recording, because it was finished recording before I joined the project, but I love the unintentional queer subtext. I help recreate some of the many vocal parts aaron recorded on this track that he cannot sing live because there’s two parts at the same time. As well as recreating these parts I add my own style and harmonies to it as well when we play it live.”
Luke Dolphin
Luke “Dudey Wudey” Dolphin from Kenilworth has been playing with the Cothel band for sometime, so for most of you it comes as no surprise that Luke is the next one to be officially indoctrinated into the band. Luke has an expertise in the darker and heavier side of Cothel. Originally added to help replicate the intricate guitar parts on the first album in a live setting, Luke has quickly grown into a member of his own accord, adding his own strange parts to the music where needed, Luke and his pedal board board work together to make a symphony of psychedelic noise that helps fill out the music. Luke has been featured before on our “Not Cothel” jams, as well as our 2ube extra gig, and many other gigs as well, so it’s about time we officially welcomed him into the band. While not featured on the recordings the first album he will be featured on many more songs and LPs to come.
Thoughts on their latest release: “And You Know is my favorite song Cothel have ever played so far and I wasn't even involved in making it"