Cobra Starship
Cobra Starship |
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Cobra Starship is an American Alternative Dance band created by former Midtown bassist and lead vocalist Gabe Saporta, who is also lead vocalist for Cobra Starship.
Other members are guitarist Ryland Blackinton, bassist Alex Suarez, Nate Novarro on drums, and Victoria Asher on keytar, all of whom provide backing vocals.
History
While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets (2006-2007)
Cobra Starship became a full-time project for Gabe Saporta after the dissolution of his previous band, Midtown. The band signed with Decaydance Records in July 2006.[1]
Their first album, While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets, was released October 10, 2006. It featured the single "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)", of which a video had been featured during the closing credits of the film Snakes on a Plane earlier that summer.
¡Viva La Cobra! (2007-2008)
Cobra Starship released their second album, ¡Viva La Cobra!, on October 23, 2007. It was produced by Patrick Stump, who was also credited as singing some backup vocals.[2]
The album has been toured heavily worldwide. Cobra headlined the Really Really Ridiculously Good Looking Tour with guests Metro Station, The Cab, and We The Kings from January to March, 2008. They also played on Warped Tour 2008 and headlined the SassyBack tour, which toured from October 7 through November 30, 2008, with guests Forever the Sickest Kids, Hit the Lights, and Sing it Loud!.
The album art for the ¡Viva La Cobra! album has also been used to promote the latest edition of Apple's iPod nano in purple. Cobra Starship Loves Barney!
Hot Mess (2009-present)
Following the success of Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl", Cobra Starship recorded their own cover version, "I Kissed a Boy," in summer 2008. The song was released on August 25, 2008, on Fall Out Boy's Citizens For Our Betterment mixtape Welcome To The New Administration. Cobra Starship is one of 9 artists who participated in thetruth.com’s Remix Project, where they remixed the Sunny Side song "Magical Amount".
Cobra Starship also began the "Believers Never Die (Part Deux)" tour in the beginning of April, opening for Fall Out Boy, with other bands All Time Low, Metro Station, and Hey Monday. They spent time performing many shows in the US mostly all in April and the beginning of May, however they also played a few shows in the UK at the end of May 2009, supported by Sing It Loud, Cash Cash, and UK band Mimi Soya.
In 2009, the band went to a cabin in Pennsylvania, attempting to lay down some tracks. They broadcasted live throughout their stay on the live camera feed site Stickam, thus creating the Shelf Kids club. After their stay, a new album was announced with a tentative release in the summer. The band worked with Kara DioGuardi, Kevin Rudolf, KarateE! Mouse, S*A*M, Sluggo, and song-writers Benny Blanco and Patrick Stump on Hot Mess.[3] Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester is featured on the song "Good Girls Go Bad", which is produced by Kevin Rudolf and co-written by Rudolf and Kara DioGuardi.[4] The song is the album's first single, and was added on iTunes on May 11 and available to listen to on the band's official MySpace page. Other songs include "Pete Wentz Is the Only Reason We're Famous", which has been released on their YouTube channel[5] and Bebo page. On May 8, the album title was confirmed as Hot Mess, with a release date of August 11.
The band began its tour to promote the new album on August 3. The tour, called Hot Mess Across The US Tour, has 21 stops and features guests such as Friday Night Boys and DJ Skeet Skeet. After Plasticines dropped off the tour, Cobra Starship listed a number of candidate bands for the fans to vote for online in a blog; The Audition won.[6] On their official video podcast (CobraCam.tv), the band released humorous tentative titles for the album (which parodies several other notable albums) "Griller", "Tha Ryland III", and variations of their ¡Viva La Cobra! album.
They made a stop on the Warped Tour in 2009, playing in Salt Lake City, on August 8, 2009. In Fall 2009, they are signed on to Boys Like Girls' "Love Drunk Tour" along with The Maine and A Rocket to the Moon.
Cobra Starship played[7] at a September 11, 2009 MTV Video Music Awards weekend competition and pre-party at The Fillmore at Irving Plaza. The competition was for The MTV "VMA Best Breakout New York City Artist Award", and took place before MTV Video Music Awards performers and in between performances from MTV Video Music Awards artists.[8]
On October 13, 2009, the band performed on the Jimmy Kimmel's outdoor stage.
Cobra Starship appeared at "Los Premios MTV Latinoamérica 2009" along with Mexican superstar Paulina Rubio performing Good Girls Go Bad and Ni Rosas Ni Juguetes. Cobra Starship and Paulina won an MTV Award for "Best Performance", for Good Girls Go Bad and Ni Rosas Ni Juguetes at the Los Premios MTV Latinoamérica 2009, voted by the public, beating other artist such as Shakira, Nelly Furtado, and Wisin y Yandel.
On October 21, 2009 Cobra Starship took their first trip in a private jet [2], which reportedly enthused the group. Cobra Starship took the private jet to Bloomington, Indiana to attend a charity event at Indiana University which also featured Girl Talk. The charity event which took place October 22, 2009 benefited a local shelter for battered women and was sponsored by Victoria's Secret. Indiana University students competed against five other institutions during the summer to win a visit from Cobra Starship and mashup DJ Girl Talk.
Band members
Current members
- Gabe Saporta (aka Gabanti)– lead vocals (2005-present)
- Ryland Blackinton (aka Pleasure)– lead guitar, backing vocals, synthesizer (2006-present)
- Alex Suarez (aka Suareasy)– bass, backing vocals, synthesizer (2006-present)
- Nate Novarro (aka Nasty Nate)- drums, percussion (2005-present)
- Victoria Asher (aka Vicky T; daughter of legendary producer Peter Asher) - Keytar (2006-present)
Former
- Elisa Schwartz - keytar (2005-2006)
Discography
Studio albums
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US Indie | US Heat | CAN | AUS | NZ | ||||
| 2006 | While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets
|
125 | 7 | 1 | — | — | — | ||
| 2007 | ¡Viva La Cobra!
|
80 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2009 | Hot Mess
|
4 | — | — | — | 51 | 18 | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
Album appearances
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions[9][10][11][12] | Album | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US Pop | US Alt. |
CAN | NZ | AUS | UK | |||
| 2006 | "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)" (with William Beckett, Travis McCoy and Maja Ivarsson) |
— | — | 32 | — | — | — | — | While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets |
| "The Church of the Hot Addiction" | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2007 | "Send My Love to the Dancefloor, I'll See You In Hell (Hey Mister DJ)" |
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "The City Is at War" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ¡Viva La Cobra! | |
| "Guilty Pleasure" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2008 | "Kiss My Sass" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 2009 | "Good Girls Go Bad" (with Leighton Meester) | 7 | 7 | — | 7 | 2 | 5 | 17 | Hot Mess |
| "Hot Mess" | 64 | — | — | 58 | 40 | — | — | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
References
- ^ "Cobra Starship (ex-Midtown) officially joins Decaydance." Punknews.org. July 21, 2006.
- ^ Backstage Videos from the Honda Civic Tour 2007 Official Community
- ^ Montgomery, James (2009-04-15). "'American Idol' Judge Kara DioGuardi Working With Cobra Starship". MTV. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
- ^ Montgomery, James (2009-04-17). "Cobra Starship, Leighton Meester Collaborating On New Song". MTV. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
- ^ "cobra starship - pete wentz is the only reason we're famous". YouTube. 2009-04-01. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
- ^ Buzznet.com
- ^ http://tickets.livenation.com/cgi-bin/tickets.htm?fun=tdetailb&doc=detailb&key=1592$8799&eid=412693&oid=463F7A3F5473F3F2C3F3F423F383E3618407E3F&fun=tdetailb&id=EC2_NO_SESSION&doc=detailb&key=1592$8799&affiliate=EC2&referer_info=412693
- ^ "About the Show". MTV. Retrieved 2007-08-29.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=(help) - ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/esearch/chart_display.jsp?cfi=379&cfgn=Singles&cfn=The+Billboard+Hot+100&ci=3108611&cdi=10207852&cid=05%2F30%2F2009
- ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.vnuArtistId=771248&model.vnuAlbumId=1203159
- ^ New Zealand Top 40 Singles Chart
- ^ [1]
External links
 | This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. |
- Official website
- Spanish website
- Spanish forum
- Cobra Starship at TuneArea
- Interview with Ryland Blackinton at SaintRockNRoll.com
- Ryland Blackinton's Interview at Armed&Ready
- Interview with PopZap
- Burning Stars Interview with Ryland - 2007
- Photos: Cobra Starship at the Pomona Glass House on 02/15/2008, part of The Really Really Ridiculously Good Looking Tour
- Single Review of: 'Good Girls Go Bad' - By SCORPIO PR & REVIEW
- Interview with nthWORD Magazine