Cobra Starship have a new appreciation for their fans....whoever they are...

Most musicians have a difficult time making the transition from one successful band to another, but Cobra Starship’s Gabe Saporta seems like he made the easy leap from the pop punk sounds of Midtown to the more electronic direction of Cobra Starship using all his influences in the process on the band’s debut album While The City Sleeps, We Rule The Streets.

“That was my goal with this CD, I wanted to showcase all my influences growing up, not just my punk stuff. Like, “The Ballad Of Big Poppa And Diamond Girl” is from my freestyle influences like Stevie B. I have a writing style after writing songs with Midtown and my style comes through on all the songs. When you write songs you get accustomed to writing them a certain way and that’s why first CDs are usually great and second and third ones aren’t, because after that bands give themselves restraints by trying to repeat the process and I made a conscious effort not to do that. I knew I wanted to do electronic stuff but I had no parameters so it was a challenge figuring out what style I was going for.”

Taking a different direction from the other bands on the band’s label (Fueled By Ramen), he’s incorporated unusual instruments like the keytar instead of the standard guitar into Cobra Starship’s music. Added to that he was actually able to find 2 separate keytar players (Victoria Asher recently replaced Elisa Schwartz). The band is completed by Ryland Blackinton, Alex Suarez and Nate Navarro.

“No one uses a keytar so I think people are surprised to see it. When I first started Cobra Starship I didn’t want to have any guitars but everyone thought I was crazy so I gave in and got a keytar.”

Although the band is most known for their contribution to the Snakes On A Plane soundtrack with “Snakes On A Plane (Bring It),” the album runs the gamut of slower, quieter songs to those that could easily be played in a club whether it’s rock based or otherwise.

“We always say it’s the only CD you’ll ever need. We just wanted to make a great party album.”

With success comes fans whether you like the type of fan they are or not. And being thrown into the mainstream punk scene with Midtown, Gabe wasn’t totally prepared for the type of fans he was going to get and wasn’t totally thrilled with who turned out.

“We have a lot of strong and dedicated fans and we’re really grateful. It feels weird at first when people look up to you. When I first had fans when I was in Midtown we had the fans that loved the music but then we got exposure and we had a different type of fan, like the teenyboppers and I was really judgemental but now anyone that likes our music is ok with me. I’ve been disconnected with my fans because I was being judgemental and I was judgemental because I wasn’t happy with myself. I think there are definitely the bands that don’t respect their fans but there are a lot that do. When I used to go to shows there were no stages and everyone was literally on the same level and I wanted to start a band like that to keep that community going.”

And with his respect for their fans comes a new contest that’s running for the rest of Cobra Starship’s tour. A chance to play Mario Kart with the band on their bus.

“We play Mario Kart every day and a couple kids came on the bus and played with us and we thought it would be a great idea to do something like this.”

But going to the actual show is the part that’s important to the band. With their high energy performances Cobra Starship have been known to overshadow the bands that they’re playing with or opening for.

“The goal is to just make everyone have a good time even if they’re had a shit day or haven’t heard of us we just want everyone to dance and have a great time.”

And after all the interviews Gabe has done in the past year there’s only one thing he wants from journalists.

“I wish people were asking me more about my awesome dancing techniques.”

With the band on various tours until at least mid-Summer, it seems like there’ll be plenty of opportunity to judge how great his dancing skills are for themselves.

- Alyssa Caplin

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