After his band Midtown quietly called it a day in 2004, bassist Gabe Saporta wondered: Should he settle down and get a straight job? Or was music still ricocheting in that suave noggin of his? Saporta—who once joked to AP that being born of Jewish Uruguayan parents meant, “I can dance, and I’m good with money; what more could you ask for”—decided to leave his emo past behind for a world of dance floor synth-pop. Citing a personal mythology involving being out in the desert high on peyote and having a conversation with a prophetic cobra, he dubbed his project Cobra Starship and began work on what would become his 2006 debut for Decaydance, While The City Sleeps, We Rule The Streets. The disc’s main track “Bring It (Snakes On A Plane)” featured the participation of Gym Class Heroes MC Travie McCoy, the Sounds’ vocalist Maja Ivarsson and the Academy Is… frontman William Beckett, practically forcing fans to deem the project as an “emo supergroup.”
Saporta followed up the disc in 2007 with ¡Viva La Cobra!, enlisting Fall Out Boy frontman Patrick Stump in the producer’s chair, as well as a full-time band—guitarist Ryland Blackinton, bassist/keyboardist Alex Suarez, keytar player Elisa Schwartz and drummer Nate Novarro—to flesh out his slinky dance grooves and smooth lyrics (“Kiss My Sass,” “One Day Robots Will Cry”). In early 2007, Schwartz was fired from the band and replaced by Victoria Asher, daughter of veteran rock performer/producer Peter Asher. Cobra Starship’s 2009 full-length,Hot Mess, featured the participation of everyone from American Idol panelist Kara DioGuardi and hip-hop producer Kevin Rudolf to Gossip Girl actress Leighton Meester. Parsecs away from the early days of Saporta and a computer, Cobra Starship have grown into a tight band capable of delivering smart songs and grooves that appeal to both head and hips. What would you expect from a dude who can recall classic New Jersey hardcore records and obscure French techno sides?
