Idolator: Cobra Starship

Cobra Starship Make The "Guilty Pleasure" Headlines Flow Like Water

Maura Johnston — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:45:00 EDT

So, let's take some inventory for Cobra Starship's latest video for "Guilty Pleasure," which replaces the very cute "home movie" one they made as they continue their quest to crack MTV's 3 a.m. rotation. Zubaz and Zink-covered noses? Check. The most dejected-looking rollerskate dance that I have ever seen in my life? Check! (FYI, I've never seen Starlight Express, so one of its more tragic scenes might beat this. Barely.) A cameo by a DeLorean with a "FLUXED" license plate? Check. Patrick Stump as a perhaps overly cost-conscious manager? Che-eeck! Even if I didn't like the song as much as I do, this video is like Idolator catnip, people. [YouTube]

Fueled By Ramen Is Ready To Suck You Into Its Revenue Stream

Maura Johnston — Mon, 05 May 2008 16:00:00 EDT

If you want to learn how to market your band/club/burgeoning multimedia empire in the late oughts, make time to read this New York Times profile of Fueled By Ramen, the label that, according to the Times, "has its acts promote one another as well as the company itself." And they aren't kidding on that last point—flip on TRL right now and you'll see that a bunch of the label's bands, including Panic At The Disco, Cobra Starship, and Gym Class Heroes, are being interviewed by Snoop Dogg and that Aussie VJ who can't convincingly read a cue card to save her life. But it gets better: The show will culminate in ramen-eating contests between members of the bands and some of their fans. Not only is that some great branding-reinforcement (what other label could have an equivalent contest? "Get a K Records tattoo faster than your favorite band can" just doesn't have the same amount of flair), all this coordinated sucking up of noodles is inevitably going to launch thousands of bandom stories. We'll have Kate report on those ASAP, don't worry. [NYT]

Pitchfork Writer Too Embarrassed To Say "Cobra Starship Spin-Off"

Anthony Miccio — Mon, 05 May 2008 10:30:00 EDT

The first time I heard This Is Ivy League (back when they were known as just Ivy League), I assumed they were from Sweden, where this brand of sophisticated, historically-minded twee pop apparently bubbles up from underground springs. Actually, Stephen M. Deusner, they're members of Cobra Starship. I was wrong, of course. The duo—Ryland Blackinton and Alex Suarez—actually hail from Brooklyn, and they recorded their self-titled fell-length debut in their own borough apartments. Which are probably paid for with money made from Cobra Starship. "The Richest Kids", the album's opening track, portrays them still cutting their teeth career-wise: "Oh we've been working, we've been paying our dues," they sing over dreamy backing vocals, crisp guitar licks, and a distant tambourine. "We've got dirt on our hands and holes in our choes." They're singing about being in Cobra Starship and I think you mean "shoes." Yet their tender Chad & Jeremy melodies and polished harmonies sound pretty professional, as if they've been at this for years. They have. As members of Cobra Starship.

Look, we're not saying this song isn't a perfectly pleasant '60s homage. But how can you play these guys off as babes in the woods when a simple Google search reveals that they make their bread helping bring snakes on a plane alongside Gabe Saporta and whoever the lady keytarist is at the moment? These aren't just touring members. Cobra Starship actually has a song named "Pleasure Ryland." Here's Gabe, Alex and Ry-Ry dropping that bomb on the acoustic tip.

So just say it, OK? "Featuring members of Cobra Starship." It's not that hard, trust me. It's actually kind of fun to type the words "Cobra Starship" in a post. Anyone who wouldn't listen to their anonymous little Rutle of a number just because they're in Cobra Starship isn't a fan they'd want anyway.

[The Forkcast post has been edited to note that the band's press release didn't mention they were members of Cobra Starship, and really, how could they know something that wasn't in the press release? We sympathize.]

Cobra Starship - Pleasure Ryland acoustic [YouTube]
New Music: This Is Ivy League: "The Richest Kids" [MP3/Stream] [Forkcast]

Cobra Starship Provokes Emo Sensibility With Wrestling Fandom

Kate Richardson — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:00:00 EDT

Despite the keytarist drama, Cobra Starship is forging on through their allotted time in the alternative rock consciousness, even if it means sitting down for an interview with the WWE. As it turns out, the band members are huge fans of pro wrestling, and even took the time to attend this week's Raw. (This marks the first time a fedora has ever been worn by an audience member at a WWE event.)

"I grew up on this stuff. I was a huge fan of IRS," said Gabe Saporta, Cobra Starship's lead vocalist. "I go for the bad guys. I like Randy Orton and especially JBL, because I read his column on WWE.com. He always gives me good stock tips."

Cobra Starship enjoys watching Raw live on USA Network whenever they're not on the road. However, the group admits that seeing the show in person, along with thousands of our screaming fans, is a unique experience altogether.

I wonder how long it will take for this particular facet of Gabe Saporta's personality to become incorporated into the bandom universe?

Cobra Starship invades Raw [WWE Official Site]

Ex-Cobra Starship Keytarist Has Dreams Both Pop And Pipe

Anthony Miccio — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:30:00 EDT

As our radio-rockin' pedant Al Shipley noted yesterday, Showbread isn't the first group of late to suffer the traumatic loss of a keytarist. Keytarist Elisa Schwartz left/was fired from Cobra Starship in early 2007, after suffering verbal abuse at the hands of her fellow snakesonaplane-bringers. But now she's back with new songs, a new look, and a new last name. The former Miss Schwartz is now Elisa Jordana, a pop star in the making with some big-name friends (Colby O'Donis! JC Chasez! Flo Rida's manager!) and a MySpace page, but no record label.

I feel like since the whole Cobra Starship thing happened, I've sort of turned into Elisa Jordana. I've been recording and doing photo shoots, and I've sort of turned into this glamorous pop star. Like the other night, I decided I needed some press photos — and I really wanted to be in a bathing suit — so I called my friend, we found this Mexican taco stand that was open at, like, 3 a.m., and I just went for it. Elisa Schwartz never would've been able to do that. Elisa Jordana did. So that's the name I chose to use for my new project.

Her chirpy electro-pop ditties celebrate nymphomania, the need for spankings, prostitution, swallowing men, and confident teenagers who fall in love with the principal. "Young Love" also seems to reference falling in love with Cobra Starship's Gabe Saporta, a subject which sadly doesn't inspire a number on the level of "Ted Mosby Is A Jerk." Still, her songs sound catchier than anything Cobra Starship's done since they brought those snakes. And the keytar will still be a key part of her act.

Actually, I can't talk about it too much, but I'm hoping to get my own signature keytar. I want it to be covered with hearts and flowers, and I want it to be wireless. I'm a really good dancer, so I want to be able to move when I'm performing. And I'm a gymnast, too, so I wanna do gymnastics in my set. But who knows? The keytar is pretty heavy.

The M.I.A. of 2009? Only time will tell.

Cobra Starship's Former Keytarist Returns ... As A 'Nymphomaniac' With A New Name [MTV]
Elisa Jordana [MySpace]

Alex Suarez Of Cobra Starship Asks: "Why Am I The Bitch?"

Kate Richardson — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 14:30:00 EST

A few weeks ago at the mtvU Woodies, two members of The Academy Is... expressed their stern disapproval of the lewd, but good-natured bandom fan-fic scene to me. Luckily for the emo softcore literati, Cobra Starship bassist Alex Suarez is game, if a little confused as to why he's so often emasculated in their stories.

Even though I should have learned from my very first go-round with this topic to never make assumptions, I'll go ahead and speculate that a lot of the people writing these stories have some faint hope that the musicians featured in their appallingly unsexy sex scenes will read them and appreciate that someone cares enough to imagine them in a library getting a BJ from Patrick Stump. But Suarez's comment at the beginning of the video is probably the most accurate representation of how most of these dudes feel about it: "What's that stuff called...fan...? Fan fiction!"

Suarez goes on to describe a story he's read in which he and impish Panic! At the Disco guitarist Ryan Ross go at it in a bunk bed, with Alex on "bitch" duty. He can't seem to fathom why the bandom community thinks he's so femme, while the rest of the world is simply confused as to why anyone would write a story about the Cobra Starship bassist.