Cobra Verde on The O.C.? What a twisted path in and around the shadows of fame and "normal life" in Cleveland, Ohio, it has been for brainy garage-art-punks Cobra Verde.
Emerging from the Ubu-inspired ashes of Death of Samantha, Verde came together in the mid-'90s with indie cred galore behind singer/guitarist/songwriter/newspaper journalist/Serbia-Montenegro political agitator John Pekovic, who leads the unit (Mark Klein - drums, Tim Parnin - guitar, Edward 'Angel' Sotelo - bass, Frank Vazzano - guitar) still through waters both sweet and turbulent.
And oh yeah, they backed Robert Pollard in the second coming of Guided by Voices.
Verde's latest disc is a skewed covers collection called Copycat Killers wherein they take the jangly stun knife to big hits and fazed cookies by Mott the Hoople, New Order, Pink, Donna Summer, Flamin' Groovies, Hawkwind, Undertones, Rolling Stones — hey, that's a pretty good CV sonic summary.
So anyway, here's these veteran so-indie-it-hurts rockers from Cleveland, who all have Serious Real Lives and Meaningful Jobs, and guess what they're doing tonight? They're acting and singing a Foreingner song on Fox's The O.C.
Get thee away from the lie wagon, I hear you say, but japing you I am not. Check out this missive from the Petkovic:
How's it going? I could tell you about all the action on Planet Cobra Verde... The hot new album we're working on... Or how our drummer Mark is homeless because a flood consumed his house... Or how an airport terror squad accused us of being terrorists...
But ultimately it would come back to this OTHER thing:
At 9 p.m. Thursday, March 16, we — Cobra Verde — will make our prime-time acting debut on "THE OC." You know, the Fox drama about happy-go-lucky rich people in Orange County. The OC folks have been down with the CV action and have been trying to get us to come out to their sprawling Manhattan Beach studios — which, by the way, is in Manhattan Beach, which is NOT in Orange County....
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Article comments
1 - Matt Wardlaw
I was blown away when I heard about this - I am glad that the CV boys have gotten this break!
It will hopefully bring some good exposure to a great band.
2 - Eric Olsen
strange bedfellows, eh Matt?
3 - Douglas Mays
I had to use this article to make a statement regarding something else. The common thread here is the usage of the term 'art-punk'. I can relate.
Every punk, please pay homage to the original modern punk rocker. This would be ANN CALVELLO, who passed yesterday at age 76 of liver cancer. She was THE Roller Derby queen of the 50s who chopped and dyed her hair, had attitude and all the necessary features to qualify as a punk rocker.
Think of Wendy O. Wiliams on skates. We bless you Ms. Calvello.
Thank you for letting me use this space. I can't write a full article on the subject, can anyone right now? It would be very interesting....
peaceloveguidance
4 - Eric Olsen
I don't imagine Cobra Verde would object terribly to beign associated with such a notable personage - thanks Douglas