Cobra Starship

Cobra Starship

Cobra Starship is an American pop punk band created by former Midtown bassist/lead vocalist Gabe Saporta. The members consist of lead vocalist Saporta, guitarist Ryland Blackinton, bassist Alex Suarez, Nate Novarro on drums and keytar player Victoria Asher AKA Vicky-T, all of whom provide backing vocals. Their music is mainly a mix of alternative rock and pop punk and the electronic sounds of alternative dance and synthpop.

History

Formation

Gabe Saporta's former band Midtown was in a state of dismay, thus he decided to start his own side project called Cobra Starship, named after the words on the backs of his vintage jackets. Saporta, along with William Beckett of The Academy Is..., Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes, Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy, and Maja Ivarsson of The Sounds worked together on a song for the film Snakes on a Plane. The song, "Bring It (Snakes on a Plane)", was featured on the Snakes on a Plane soundtrack, released on August 15, 2006.

The "legend" of Cobra Starship tells of the time when Gabe Saporta fled to the desert to contemplate life and himself, when, in the middle of his epiphany, a snake bit him in the neck. Saporta awakened to see a talking cobra, telling him in the future, the only survivors were the cobras. The cobra told him he was sent from the future to tell Saporta it was his duty to make sure the human race went out in style. The cobra taught him to dance and make beats, and explained he must fulfill his role "by teaching hipsters to not to take themselves so seriously and by telling emo kids to stop being pussies."

While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets

Saporta decided to continue Cobra Starship and work on a full-length album. The band was signed to Decaydance Records and spent part of autumn on tour with Gym Class Heroes. While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets, which features the previously released song "Bring It", was released October 10, 2006. Saporta continued to tour alongside new bandmates Elisa Schwartz (keytar), This Is Ivy League's Alex Suarez (bass) and Ryland Blackinton (guitar), and Armor for Sleep drum tech Nate Navarro (drums). Schwartz was kicked out of the band in early 2007 because she stalked Saporta. Elisa has since changed her name to Elisa Jordana, and was recently seen on Fuse TV's "Redemption Song" hosted by Chris Jericho.

¡Viva La Cobra!

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. 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. It shows Gabe's trademark American Apparel purple hoodie which matches the iPod color.

Recent activity

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 Pete Wentz's Citizens For Our Betterment mixtape Welcome To The New Administration.

Cobra Starship have been in and out of the studio working on a third album, which had a planned release for February 2009, although due to delays, it will be coming out in July. There is a live feed from Gabe himself on his Twitter as to what they are doing.

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 will also be touring starting in April on the "Believers Never Die Part Deux" tour along with Fall Out Boy, All Time Low, Metro Station, and Hey Monday.

Cobra Starship also have a song called "Pete Wentz is the Only Reason We're Famous", for their next album scheduled for 2009. It was added to their MySpace page on 4/1/2009.

Band members

Current

• Gabe Saporta – Lead vocals
• Ryland Blackinton – Guitar, backing vocals,
• Alex Suarez – Bass, backing vocals
• Nate Novarro – Drums
• Victoria Asher – Keytar

Former

• Elisa Schwartz - Keytar

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Album	Chart Positions
		US	US Indie	US Heat
2006	While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets	125	7	1
2007	¡Viva La Cobra!	80
2009	TBA

Album appearances

Year	Album
2006	Snakes on a Plane: The Album
2007	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Music From the Motion Picture
2008	Warped Tour 2008 Tour Compilation

Singles

Year	Single	US Mod Rock	Album
2006	"Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)" (featuring William Beckett, Travis McCoy and Maja Ivarsson)	38	While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets
	"The Church of 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	"Pete Wentz Is The Only Reason We're Famous"	—	TBA

External links

• Official website
• Template:MySpace
• CSS Buzznet Tourblog
• 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