Upon the long-anticipated release, the band shared a post to thank everyone involved in their ambitious project, and turned to their loyal followers: “Most importantly, thanks to all of YOU who have pre-ordered the album, streamed the singles and supported us! We hope to be able to get out on tour and play these songs as soon as possible, but in the meantime, we hope you enjoy listening to the record.”

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Concise and straight to the point, Our Hell Is Right Here lasts just over 40 minutes and features a total of 13 tracks that aims to bring engaging punk rock back from the shadows. The record includes the previously released singles ‘Josephine‘, title ‘Our Hell Is Right Here’, ‘Epitaph‘, ‘Learn‘ and most recent ‘Live & Let Live‘. The rest of the tracks add a much needed depth and variety quite often lacking in records of that genre, ranging from the gentle acoustic ‘Learn‘ through the monumental atmosphere in ‘VOID‘ all the way to the blistering ‘Lost In Translation‘.

Talking about tackling their second album tackling the sour state of the world while being fuelled by personal issues, talented singer Lois McDougall says: “I’m learning that personal care and self-worth is not something to be diminished. There are songs on this album that I had to write for my own therapy. Whilst writing this record, I went through a divorce, lost a family member and was battling with my own mental health. At the same time, it felt like the world was falling apart. ‘Our Hell Is Right Here’ is the product of my experiences over the past few months. There’s a lot of sadness on this record, but I can now look back and celebrate who I have become in spite of it all.”

A true DIY story, Our Hell Is Right Here is entirely self-produced, mastered, mixed and engineered by Drones’ guitarist Tim Kramer at Signal House Studios. Other professionals involved in making the record come true include the teams of Lockjaw Records and Thousand Islands, Major Press and Earshot Media, Merit-Based Booking Management, as well as Tim Deal, Kazz Stanley and Ren Aldridge from Petrol Girls, featuring on the intense title single.

Kramer reflects on the turbulent recording process: “We finished writing the record in January, but it’s been an usually long process due to all the twists and turns that 2020 has thrown at us! We’ve been spread apart all over the country, but there’s also been a national lockdown and we lost a guitarist at the tail-end of the process. There were never more than two of us in a room at any given stage of making this album but it doesn’t feel disjointed at all – in fact, in the face of adversity, it’s our fullest sounding record yet.” Order Drones’ ambitious debut Our Hell Is Right Here from their official Bandcamp or via Lockjaw Records.

 

 

 

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Singer Lois McDougall described the track: “Learn is about the desperate struggle to make a failing relationship work. You can feel that it’s not right but you still care about the other person. We seem to make the same mistakes over and over by assuming we know what the other person is thinking, so communication stops. We keep trying to force a relationship to work with someone that we’re just not meant to be with. If it’s more of a struggle than not… it’s not worth it.”

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‘Learn‘ is fast, energetic and passionate, with all the markings of a huge contemporary punk rock anthem. Led by the emotional and versatile vocals of Lois McDougall, the quintet delivers a fresh and reinvigorating take on a genre that has recently gone somewhat stale and repetative. Mustering all the energy of their previous three releases, and successfully building on the momentum set in the last three months, the single propells Drones straight into 2021 with the determination and attitude of the next big thing.

‘Learn‘ is the fourth and probably last promotional singles prior to the official release of their debut next month. With two years to prepare since their 2018 EP, Drones launched their powerful and clever campaign last October with the premiere of the explosive song ‘Josephine‘. What followed was the fast-paced and hardcore-influenced title track ‘Our Hell Is Right Here‘ from November and the slower and more melodic ‘Epitaph‘ from December. Another month forward and January is marked with ‘Learn‘, with only February left as the final chapter and long-anticipated album drop.

In 2018 Drones premiered their debut EP Exiled, a concept project about the refugee crisis across Europe and an ambitious and politically charged starting point of their promising career. With their history briefly retold by their label Lockjaw, “fast forward to 2020 and Drones are looking inwards, reflecting on how both personal issues and the world‘s status can wreak havoc on the human psyche“.

Drones are the latest promising punk act to emerge from London’s underground scene. Fully active since 2018, the band has already built an impressive touring history, playing across Europe and performing at key festivals like Download, 2000 Trees and Camden Rocks. The band has also supported Neck Deep, Marmozets, Anti-Flag, H20 and many more. Their influences include Rise Against, Green Day, Rancid, Against Me!, Rage Against The Machines, and so on.

INTRODUCING: The #DronesDiscDebate Each member of Drones will put it to YOU guys to decide which is the best record by some of our favourite bands. Lois’choice is @marmozets. Vote below! pic.twitter.com/cBHv1dZIx1

— Drones (@DronesUK) January 14, 2021

Drones are Lois McDougall, Tim Kramer, Tom Thain, James Kerr and Mitchell Thomas. Our Hell Is Right Now comes out on 12 February 2021, and is available to pre-order here.

The stadium rockers were met with expected hype when they announced a globe trotting tour themed around their latest album ‘Drones’. So much hype, in fact, that they have since added a further three more shows to their UK leg.

Since announcing the tour last week the band have played a surprise gig at London’s Electric Ballroom (11 September). The Camden gig, operating on a first-come first-serve basis, and with a mere 1,100 person capacity, proved to be one of their most intimate shows in over a decade.

The upcoming arena-only tour promises to be anything but intimate, however, with the band planning their biggest and most spectacular shows yet. With frontman Matt Bellamy telling BBC Radio 2 that “it’s our version of The Wall, basically”; which makes sense considering the artwork of ‘Drones’ is somewhat evocative of Pink Floyd’s famous walking hammers. The band have also revealed the shows will feature a swarm of drones and a revolving stage.

Production designer Oli Metcalfe and tour director Glen Rowe spoke to NME about what to expect from the theatrical trio’s most ambitious tour yet. Metcalfe divulged that the stage “looks like a double headed arrow essentially,” and that “it spans the length of the arena. It’s quite narrow but more importantly for the audience its low, so the band will be playing in an intimate space, and have a good relationship in terms of distance from their audience.”

The stage design is inspired by “boxing rings” according to Rowe.”We thought, let’s make a tiny stage in the middle of the arena so it’s a small circle with two runs ways with what you call a hammerhead at each end, where things can pop up and we can make technology work. The whole circle moves one revolution per hour. The idea is Matt starts there and an hour later he comes back, so in the show everyone sees him [up close] twice.”

The most spectacular part of the shows will no doubt be the eponymous drones. Metcalfe explained: “we’ve been able to work with a company in the Netherlands that have written a piece of software that can control a whole swarm of drones so we’re programming them in a different way. They’re not manned, they’re not manned vehicles as in somebody with a controller. They’re controlled by a computer system and tracking system.”

Regardless of flying drones and revolving stages, Muse will undoubtedly perform a slew of incendiary gigs – as always – throughout the forthcoming Drones tour. And with promises of this being their most extravagant tour yet, it’s shaping to be one that Muse fans won’t want to miss.

Tour Dates:

5/4 – Dublin 3Arena
6/4 – Belfast SSE Arena
8/4 – Manchester Arena
9/4 – Manchester Arena
11/4 – London O2
12/4 – London O2
14/4 – London O2
15/4 – London O2
17/4 – Glasgow SSE Hydro
18/4 – Glasgow SSE Hydro