“Dammit!” that’s one of the first things I caught on my tape recorder while I sat in Cobra Starship’s tour bus (really big nice tour bus). That came out of Gabe Saporta’s girlfriend. He was beating her at Mario Cart. It was going to be an interesting interview…
“Did everyone consider you a joke band?” "In the beginning, absolutely." You could blame a good part of that on that epic movie “Snakes on a Plane.” Cobra Starship has a lot of fun with it though. “If we took it too seriously, we’d be bummed out,” Gabe says (he’s not winning the game anymore). The movie did treat them well though, this was Cartel’s tour, and Cobra Starship was the one with the tour bus, but hey I’m just saying. They actually came to be on the soundtrack through their good friends The Academy Is… (they have the same manager).
When I asked them what other famous friends they have, the response was pretty intense… “I once slept with a famous guy…,” Ryland says. “We actually started the band to meet famous people,” Gabe chimes in haha. “Me too,” I threw out there.
They went into a rant about getting a lot of sleep and not growing older… (I asked what they do in their spare time).
“Everyone was like ‘They didn’t want to touch me with a ten foot pole,' Gabe says, when he first started writing the album, then I had this hit, and “then they called and said ‘about then ten foot pole, we have a five foot pole we’ll touch you with….’” That’s the explanation they gave for the album process… Interesting to say the least.
“I think my biggest influence is Richard Nixon.” “Michael Jackson, I’d like to think of myself as the white Michael Jackson. I mean, the white Justin Timberlake,” the olive skinned Michael Jackson?” Eventually I got a real answer out of them, “Ratatat”. A Brooklyn band, and according to their myspace they’re a combination of rock, electronic and hip-hop. Very similar to cobra Starship if you get past "Snakes on a Plane".
“We don’t really have a hometown. We have a lot of hometowns,” Ryland says. The band is comprised of members from all over the country. They talked for a while about this, until Ryland directed me to move to the next question. He did it several times, it was pretty funny.
“Bohemian Rhapsody.” That’s Ryland’s choice for an American Idol song to sing. “They wouldn’t ask me to stop. That’s not an option. The entire episode would be dedicated to me.” somehow this led to a Led Zeppelin discussion?
“I’m working on a revival of all the Shakespeare works. It’s called William Shakespeare presents Shakesbro. Instead of Romeo and Juliet we have Bromeo & Juliet.” “Brothello” “Taming of the Bro” “Brolet, I pitched Hambro” “Much Ado About Bro” “All Is Bro that Ends Bro” It continues. I’m not kidding. At all. I could not stop laughing, this is all Ryland’s creation.
Gabe won Mario Cart.
“What do you see in the future?” I think I’m going to crash, draw some pictures…
“Why is Snakes on a Plane playing? Do you hear that?! It’s actually coming from our egos. Our egos are all playing it." Turns out, Gabe’s sidekick went started playing Snakes on a Plane, no lie.
“So what are your plans for the future?” They started interviewing me. “Back when I was your age I just cared about hoes and tricks,” Ryland says.
This is near the end of the interview. Not much music was discussed but you learn so much more about a band by just hanging out with them for a half hour.
Gabe then pulled out his sidekick, and played Michael Jackson for me “come on, you know this jam!” He says. He starts singing to me. I knew the words, can’t for the life of me figure out what song it was though. So when I catch up with them at Civic Tour I’ll let you know! Make sure you go to Civic Tour too, on June 4th with Fall Out Boy, Paul Wall, +44, The Academy Is, and of course Cobra Starship!
“Where you going!? Gabe asked when I was leaving. He asked me to stay and hang out for a while. God, I wish I could have. They’re the type of band that you’d want to hang out with for a night, that is, if you’re ready for it. [CO]