My thoughts on Conan

The truth is, I thought it was awesome! We all did. And it was a huge accomplishment for us. Sure it wasn’t perfect, but it’s not about being perfect.

Here’s the (tl;dr) thing: I’ve never been a great singer, and I’ll never be a great singer. I was just a kid who loved music and had to figure it out. I wasn’t lucky to be born with talent and great pipes. But I was lucky to be born with something that I value more than natural ability: I’ve got heart, willpower, and an intuition that if I put my mind to something, I can accomplish anything. And guess what? I did.

I wanted to sing. Not because I could, but because I loved making music. Listen to the first Midtown record. My voice was HORRENDOUS. I really had no clue what I was doing. But along the way, it got better. I had to figure it out. And through the years I got better at it. Never great, but enough to get by. Because my point in being a singer was never to be a “singer,” but it was to be able to have a way to express my ideas and my emotions (oftentimes shouting them at the top of my lungs). My voice is just a vehicle. A vehicle that just needs to get me from point A to point B. Some people are lucky to have BMWs to get them to point B. I have a Volkswagen. It’s not pretty, but it does what I need it to do.

But then my Volkswagen had to go into the shop this year because she got a cyst. And that put her out of commission for a bit, but I got her back up and running. She never ran great to begin with, and now she runs a little worse. But she still runs, and I love her. And if YOU love her too, you don’t love her because she’s the most perfect thing in the world. You love her because she’s real.

I will never sing perfectly. But I will always be awesome. Even when I fuck up. I’m awesome because I am not afraid to fall nor ashamed to stumble. Because I never wanted to be beautiful, and I never pretended to be.

Now, on to the less dramatic part:

Estelle: she was dope. She did the song her way. She changed it up and made it her own. It’s not gonna be like Leighton nor like Victoria. And I back her for that.

Notwithstanding all that shit I just said about my voice, I think I did a pretty damn good job. Especially compared to the last time we were on Conan (which I really was embarrassed about). Have you guys seen other bands perform on TV? It always sucks. It’s not the same as seeing them live and it doesn’t sound like it even sounds in the studio audience. It always sounds like shit. It’s compressed as fuck because it has to be broadcast through the air and sent to your tv speakers. Unless the artist is lip-synching and/or using auto-tune (which we don’t), it always sounds weird.

Again, it’s not about being perfect. The beauty of a live performance are the imperfections.

Conan was fucking awesome. We’re just a bunch of dudes who got a chance to play on a show we’ve been watching since we were kids. We had a blast and we were real. And it was a personal milestone for us. I couldn’t ask for anything more.

posted 7 months ago

Fanclub

So thank you guys so much for all your input on this. There have def been a lot of strong feelings going back and forth. And I’ve gotten a ton of emails from kids who totally despise the notion of fanclubs, but also lots of other emails from kids who have had great experiences. At the end of the day, we are giving this away for free as an experiment to see if this can work. Because I too am skeptical. The most important thing for me is to be able to make sure that our fans know about presales and can get tickets to our shows before they get bought up by scalpers. And then if we can throw in some other cool shit to keep our connection with you guys strong, I’ll be satisfied. For those kids who actually do want more in terms of a traditional fanclub, we’ll find a way to give you what you need as well. So here we go. At the end of the day, we’ll never know if it sucks unless we give it a fair shot. And there’s nothing wrong in failing. We’ll just wipe our shoulders off and move forward. Cobrastyle. Oh yeah, and the name. We really liked the Congregation of the Church of Hot Addiction (which Papi came up with), but that was a little long. So we decided to name it the Cobra Crew. A lot of our early fans already have their own Cobra Crews (OCC, Cobra Clan, etc). So we named the club that in honor of you guys (and also as an allusion to this line in “Smash it Up” : “so what you got a crew? I got a crew too.” Oh! And ps: just got this email from Papi. I don’t think I can say no to a Queen. You don’t want to get on a diva’s bad side (because a diva is a female version of a hustla ) > > Gabe! > > Um, so Fan Club eh? Honey, where was I for the deliberation? Did you > think you’d get rid of me that easy?! Girlfriend, you know I stick to > you like herpes. I’m your internet eyes and ears! > > Do you know how much time and effort goes into having a fanclub, much > less making it work?! It takes someone with balls of steel, someone not > afraid to walk in there with their cock out swinging! > > I was thinking, “Hey, someone’s gonna have to run that thing. Whose > gonna stay on Gabe’s ass (literally ;P) and keep things fresh?” > > Then it came to me! I would make the perfect Fan Club President! I was > the President of the weekly “Babysitters Club” book club back in > high school! I know the Cobra kids! They know me, we could make this > thing huge. > > I expect to hear from you soon. > > You know I’m right. > > > - Papi

posted 7 months ago

and the winner is … . .!!!

So we spent hours going through all the suggestions and votes. I can’t believe the response! Thanks to everyone who gave their input.

I got to check out a TON of awesome new bands and I wish we could take out more than one, but the winner is ……. ***drum roll***  The Audition!

We haven’t even told them yet, so if you Audition boys read this – congrats! ;)

We’re looking forward to having these guys on the tour. In all honesty, Ryan’s been hitting me up about touring together for almost 2 years now, so I’m glad we finally get to go out. Plus they’re shredders at Halo 3.

Go pack your bags boys!

Now before I go and pack mine, I got one more thing I need input from you guys on:

So for the past year we’ve been getting pressured by the suits to start a fanclub. I’ve always said no because every time a band starts a “fanclub,” kids get pissed. It just seems like the band is taking advantage of the kids who support them the most. And it just seemed corny to me.

The suits told me I should stop being such a hater, and told me that if I actually took the time to see how some clubs ran, I would realize that fanclubs can actually be a good thing for the kids. They told me about all the special perks; the pre-sale opportunities, the early admission to shows; the limited-edition goodies, etc, etc.

But I was still not convinced.

The truth is, that anybody who actually GOES OUT and purchases a CD in this day and age of digital singles and illegal downloads, in my opinion is already a die-hard fan and should be automatically given these perks. So I told the suits, “if you’re willing to give everyone who buys the CD a free membership to the fan club, I’m willing to give the fan club idea a try.”  If it sucks, and it seems like a sham, then the kids will just not stay in it. But at least you wont have felt cheated or ripped-off.

But I want to hear from you guys what your thoughts are:

Does this deal I made make sense? Do you back it? Or should I go back to the suits and tell them to fuck it?

If we have a fan club, what kind of stuff would you guys like to see? What perks?

What are your favorite things from other clubs? What do you hate about other clubs you’ve joined? etc etc

Hit me up with your thoughts in the comments!

Thanks guys!

Xo

gabe

posted 7 months ago

band on the hot mess tour

Yo!  We are super bummed that The Plasticenes had to drop off our tour. :(

And now we are having a really hard time choosing what band should replace them so
we figured since you are the ones coming to the shows -  why don’t YOU choose
the band!  No formal polls or any bullshit like that - just comment and
tell us what you think and we will pick a band based on that.

Here are the bands:
The Audition
Paper Tongues
Down With Webster
Zolof and the Rock and Roll Destroyer
Runner Runner
The Postelles
A Cursive Memory
2AM Club
Everybody Else
All Leather
Champagne Champagne
Hot Chelle Rae
Tina Parol
Young and Divine
Go Crash Audio
Days Difference
School Boy Humor
The Sunstreak
Love Sick Radio
Jonny Craig
Care Bears on Fire
Flipsyde
Endless Hallway
Valora
Letlive
Let’s Get It
The Urgency
Miss Derringer
Anarbor
Mercy Mercedes
We Shot The Moon
What Happened In Vegas
Kids Of Survival
The Flying Skulls
Woodhands
Suburban Legends
Seven Story Fall
Brian Bonz
Jonas Sees in Color

posted 7 months ago

Suarez here writing for G.A.B.E.

Hey guys! Gabe gave me the info to log into his blog while he is sipping away at margaritas on the beach.

I just got off the phone with him and he was saying how people keep bothering him while he is trying to relax about Ashley Tisdale this and Ashley Tisdale that… people just keep asking him “Gabe – who is this Ashley Tisdale chick and why is she trying so hard to ride your jock”

¡¡¡¡¡IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT, CHECK THIS OUT!!!!!

please click the link below.

http://buzzworthy.mtv.com/2009/06/30/cobra-starships-mtv-buzzworthy-blog-fan-qa-part-1/

ALSO, we just want to apologize if we are skipping over your city on the Hot Mess small venue tour. we are doing a “bigger” tour in the fall and unfortunately we are not allowed to play some of the same cities. We did our best, so please don’t be mad at us ! :( and don”t worry, we will almost certainley hit up your city in the fall tour.

We just really wanted a chance to do some small shows before hitting the enormo tour.

xoxo Cobras.

posted 8 months ago

i don’t like to count my chickens before they hatch…

but i think one of the chickies is startin to poke it’s lil beak out the egg!

i always tell everyone not to give me good news because it just gets you excited and sets you up for disappointment.

but today i woke up and found out that we just entered the Top 40 charts for the first time ever at #38.

i’ve been makin music for 10 years, and i’ve never been on the Top 40 chart. i mean, we’ve gotten some great video play, and a couple of spins on the radio here and there, but this is definitely something new for me. i feel like it’s a new accomplishment; like something i can call my folks about and tell them. i can let myself be happy about that, right? it can’t be that bad for me to get excited about something every once in a while. ;)

thanks to all you guys who have been supporting us and getting our song requested and played. and thanks especially to all you guys for supporting us and spreading the word about Cobras for the past 3 years so that we’ve grown to the point that radio stations noticed us!

xoxo

gossip gabe

posted 8 months ago