Cobra Starship brings sassy back to Atlanta

November 14, 2008, at the Masquerade

By Alexandra Edwards
Published: November 17th, 2008 | 4:55pm

When a band spent its summer playing the Vans Warped Tour, the summer festival known for embracing mall punk, one might expect its show to be just another collection of staid and predictable emo songs. But for Cobra Starship, staid and predictable is definitely not what you’ll get.

It was clear that the members of the New York quintet came to party, and wanted their fans to party with them. Hip-hop music blasted between sets, rotating purple spotlights shone throughout the venue, and singer Gabe Saporta came on stage sporting a pink bra over his clothes, which he soon took off and threw into the crowd. The band opened with “The Church of Hot Addiction,” a song that perfectly represents its sound: a mix of driving rock guitars, danceable beats, and sexy vocals. With arms raised so high that only the first row of fans could see the stage, everyone screamed and threw up the Cobra gang sign (you hold one hand flat to make the hood of a cobra and, with the other hand in front, hold up two hooked fingers like fangs) when Saporta paced the stage to sing flirtatiously at his bandmates. Keytar player Victoria Asher’s sultry sideways glances heated up the onstage chemistry, especially during “The Ballad of Big Poppa and Diamond Girl,” during which she and Saporta traded lyrics back and forth. And though Saporta did most of the talking, guitarist Ryland Blackinton and bassist Alex Suarez also took on vocal duties for a few songs.

During his constant between-song banter, Saporta made it known that the band has only been around for about two years. He thanked the crowd repeatedly for getting the group to where it is today, and dispensed countless bits of wisdom such as, “We started this band so we could do whatever the fuck we wanted to do, whenever the fuck we wanted to do it. Our philosophy is, ‘Tell the haters to kiss my sass.’” The message is both the title of a song and the origin of the tour’s name (the Sassy Back tour).

Sadly, Cobra Starship didn’t play “I Kissed a Boy,” its gender-swapped remake of Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl,” but instead offered longtime fans a different treat. As the band performed “Bring It (Snakes on a Plane)” with help from Pat Brown, vocalist of opening band Sing It Loud, the original rap section was switched out for the opening of another rewritten song, “Hollaback Boy,” which showed up on the band’s MySpace long before its first album was released.

During the encore, Blackinton came back on stage and used his keyboard to play, record, and loop various pieces of the song “Pleasure Ryland” before the rest of the group joined in to finish it. The band closed out the night with “Guilty Pleasure,” a song that perfectly encapsulates what Cobra Starship is about: “I came here to make you dance tonight / I don’t care if I’m a guilty pleasure for you.” As the band slammed through the last chorus, confetti shot from the ceiling of the club. In that moment, no one was too cool to join the party.

For more pictures from this show, please visit Venus Zine's Flickr page.