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Articles and Reviews
Cobra Verde redefines 'Easy Listening' in new release Its releases have been scattered on assorted small independent labels over the last decade. It tours sporadically. Its members fit the band around their day jobs and have no interest in becoming part of a major label promotional machine. Most musicians' rock-star fantasies probably don't look anything like Cobra Verde's career. Its releases have been scattered on assorted small independent labels over the last decade. It tours sporadically. Its members fit the band around their day jobs and have no interest in becoming part of a major label promotional machine. But the Cleveland-based band, which celebrates the release of its third full-length CD, "Easy Listening," at the Grog Shop tomorrow night, has reached audiences and earned acclaim far beyond what most area musicians have achieved. Its 2000 album, "Nightlife," was reviewed in Rolling Stone and earned critical praise from Seattle to Washington, D.C. Its new disc is likely to reel in still more attention. It continues in the vein of the band's previous work, deftly blending primal blues-based grooves with a theatrical flair and stagy bemusement that, as many have pointed out, recalls early 1970s glitter rock. But "Easy Listening" feels more fluid and organic. It's full of rocked-up anthems that combine rawness with a canny intelligence, cool and hot at the same time. "I think the last one had more of a disembodied, detached quality to it," says band leader-vocalist (and Plain Dealer features writer) John Petkovic. "I think this one is more immediate. I think it reflects the people that were involved in it, whereas in the past things were more like recording projects rather than a band. Even though the band had been around since 1994, it would not be an exaggeration to say the band formed in late 1999." It was then that it jelled into the current unit, which includes drummer Mark Klein, bassist Edward Sotelo and guitarist Frank Vazzano. That group spent most of last year recording "Easy Listening," either at 609 Recording, owned by band co-producer and nontouring fifth member Don DePew, or Klein's home studio. It also includes contributions on two tracks from indie rock guitar hero J. Mascis, who will perform with the group at the Grog Shop. " 'Nightlife' was great, but this was recording with people that had been playing together for a while," says Klein. "We'd done a lot of dates after 'Nightlife,' maybe 50, 75. We had gotten pretty tight. It's a solid, cohesive rock record, but there's still some interesting stuff going on. A couple of songs have good jungle beats, and they're fun for me to play personally." Before it could release anything, the band spent over a year trying to extricate itself from its previous label, Motel Records, which, says Petkovic, "turned out not to be a good situation." Once that was settled, Petkovic looked around for new offers. "We'd been talking to a bunch of different independent labels, but they all wanted to go with a three-record deal where they own the masters forever," he says. "I was totally paralyzed not knowing which way to go because every situation reminded me of the last one. I'm going, I gotta decide, I gotta decide by Friday, and like Wednesday, Wayne Kramer calls out of the blue just to see what's going on." Kramer, guitarist with '60s Detroit rock legends the MC5 and now a solo artist, owns Los Angeles-based MuscleTone Records. He promptly offered to put out Cobra Verde's record as a licensing deal, and Petkovic jumped at the opportunity. Former Clevelander Margaret Saadi, now Kramer's wife and partner in MuscleTone, bursts with excitement as she talks about working with Cobra Verde. "John is an enigmatic character and an undiscovered talent," she says. "I think the record kills. It's smart music and music we wanted to be associated with. I think people are going to love it, not because there's any particular message but because it's music that makes you want to dance, that happens to say something pretty interesting if you let yourself hear it. This record is full of well-constructed pop-rock songs, and they're terrifically played and it doesn't sound a lot like what's out there right now. There is a beautiful, low-grade darkness to the stuff that John does." Pantsios is a free-lance writer in Cleveland Heights.
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