Member Since: 2/9/2006
Band Website: cobraverde.com
Band Members: Mark Klein - drums, Tim Parnin - guitar, John Petkovic - vocals, Edward Angel Sotelo - bass, Frank Vazzano - guitar
Influences: Some days we don't know what to do with ourselves, let alone figure out what it is that got us there/here/wherever. Were we "influenced" by Redd Foxx circa "Sanford and Son"? Or maybe some faded dub of some tragic 1920s German expressionist flick (with flickering subtitles you can barely read)? Or that dream I had three weeks ago in which I was chased by the rabbit from "Donnie Darko." Maybe we were scarred by that night we got drunk and whispered sweet nothings into an uncaring stranger's ear as some band sweated like punk swine onstage: "HEY, BABY, WHAT YOU THINK, DUH, GOOD BAND, EH?" ..... Did I just light up a cigarillo because Clint Eastwood looked good doing it as The Man With No Name? (Or maybe it was Johnny Thunders, who got it from Keith Richards, who got it from Marlon Brando, who got it from Marlene Dietrich, who got it from Arthur Rimbaud, who got it from who knows who, who got it from some chainsmoking caveman slob, who died young.) ************************************************************ **************There are some things, though, that make this band what it is -- which is an all-over-the-place mess. Mark has been working on a master's thesis on the influence of Germanic culture on American heavy metal. He likes to buy people drinks, LOVES circus peanuts and used to work for an escort service (answering phones). John once served as an aid to a European royal, worked as a peanut sweeper and owns 20 pairs of Adidas. He writes words to songs during his 25-minute drive to the studio -- which accounts for the three accidents, six speeding tickets and lines like "even machines have bad days." Ed was born in Argentina and started out playing bass in a Buenos Aires bordello, with his bandleader father. He enjoys expensive French cigarettes, can type 98 words a minute and was born in a box. Frank competed in tree-climbing competitions as a child and has acted in dramatic skits on "The Big Chuck and Little John Show." He's a professional juggler AND teaches a college class in "ethno-musicology" (as in, blues, country and soul -- i.e. stuff those drunks and dopers played way back when.) Tim found his rhythm playing basketball, which is why he can do modern dance while playing guitar -- even tap dancing! He collects beer cans -- new and common ones only! -- and does a funny website called carlosloozer.com ************************************************************ *************If you were to come over to hang out with us, we could all come together on some things: doing shots of vodka and scotch; drawing runny tattoos on one another with magic markers, dressing up in gorilla suits for an Apes marathon; spilling Singapore Slings and orange pop, Dean Martin-style, while dancing to certain Motown and R&B anthems and blaxploitation flicks that will remain secret; telling dumb jokes about boring things; playing spin the bottle with one of Tim's crushed beer cans; debating Soviet Constructivism and Albert Speer's theory of ruins and "stark" post-punk albums covers and "arty" dragon-and-naked-guy prog-rock album covers and bad arena-rock supergroups named after geographical entities and other short-lived art movements; comparing the mating rituals of primates with the dating rituals of lame ex-friends; attempting improvisational beer bongs; dunking a basketball off a trampoline to New Order, no, make that bouncy Joy Division tunes; compiling our "favorite film noir femme fatale list"; debating whether we should watch "Ghost Dog" or "Ghost World" or "Ghostbusters"; playing fetch with cats; feeding cats; cleaning up after and barking at the pukey cat; bumming 'cause the Coltrane album is warped and skipping and sounding more and more like free jazz; making funny faces and faking exotic accents when someone lights up a clove cigarette; watching Frank get hammered as Tim cranks "Highway to Hell" even louder on the stereo; passing out to "Animal Planet" home videos that Tim says are actually outtakes from "Curb Your Enthusiasm"; waking up and crawling around to T-Rex; listening to John read aloud symbolism-heavy love poems Mark penned in 10th grade creative writing class; discussing pointless clues and riddles that come up in "Lost" and "Freaks and Geeks"; making fun of people concerned with being concerned, and then proceeding to appear concerned as we fast-forward to the cinematic crime scenes in Jean-Luc Goddard flicks, or was that a Geico commercial?; doing a shot of tequilla in honor of a bottle of it being discovered in the liquor cabinet; donning "way rad" Che Guevara T-shirts and discussing revolutionary politics and planning an overthrow of the government before surrendering to the notion that partying in the New Roman Empire is more rewarding than trying to change Caesars -- not to mention trying to list all the countries the Empire has bombed; ditching the Che shirts for "Welcome To Cleveland, Now Leave" T-shirts; cranking up the Kinks ... party, party-hearty, party, pass out and do it all again. Selling family heirlooms on eBay so we can afford to throw another party like this one. ......... I know, it's highly unlikely any of you will be coming over anytime soon. But we can only hope to party with you somewhere, sometime. In the meantime: "Why try to live up to the Joneses when you can bring them down to your level?" Or, "Why fight when you can just give up and become someone else's problem?" ************************************************************ *********** MORE PERSONAL CONFESSIONS/IRRELEVENT INFO ON COBRAVERDE.COM
Sounds Like: the accidental evolution of western civilization
Record Label: Scat Records / Scamcity
Type of Label: Indie