West Coast Meets East Coast: Party! Party! Party! with the Mystic Knights of the Cobra and Honah Lee, 4/21-4/24, 2010

Party! Party! Party! with the Mystic Knights of the Cobra and Honah Lee

HERE WE GO! HERE WE GO! HERE WE GOOOOOOooooOOOOO!!

I went out to the East Bay back in February and saw two great bands and two wild shows: Pinhead Gunpowder playing at 924 Gilman in Berkeley (see Youtube video of that show here) and the Mystic Knights of the Cobra playing at the Uptown in Oakland. (See Michelle Lawlor’s great photos from the Uptown show here.) It was my first time seeing either band live and though it may be my last time seeing the elusive Pinhead Gunpowder, I’m happy to report that there are not ONE, but FOUR opportunities coming up in April to see the Mystic Knights of the Cobra on their first NYC/NJ/East Coast tour. If you want a show with it all, magic acts, vaudeville and funked-out punk from the visceral gut, don’t miss the Cobra shows coming up in either NYC (Arlene’s Grocery, 4/21; Don Hill’s 4/23) or New Jersey (Asbury Lanes, 4/22 and Trenton, Mill Hill Basement, 4/24). Trenton-based band Honah Lee (“Frolicking in the autumn mist of a land called Honah Lee“) along with a few other bands (and special guests?) will be performing as well.

GO COBRAS GO!

It’s difficult to describe the Mystic Knights of the Cobra (aka, MKOTC or the Cobras). Are they funk punk? Party punk? Punk punk? Just punks? Their Facebook and MySpace pages list the following genres: Rock, Punk, Showtunes (!) and goes on to say: “Mixing punk, hard rock and old school with the occasional rap/break-beat or booty bass line, the Cobras are hard to put in any musical box.” Well, you got that right, don’t even try to put Baby Cobra in a box, she’ll kick your ass. The Cobras follow few musical rules except maybe those referenced in the song “Tranny Sex” from their 2009 album, There Is No End and spoken by the extreme punk, GG Allin from an appearance on the Geraldo Rivera Show:

“My body is a temple of rock ‘n’ roll, and my flesh and blood and body fluid are a communion to the people. I’m not out to please anybody … I’m trying to bring danger back to rock ‘n’ roll and there are no limits or laws, and I’ll break down every barrier from this time until the day I die…”

They don’t go as far as GG did (and that’s a good thing), but they do live in the same rock ‘n’ roll neighborhood, only, they have toilets in their part of town.

Hailing from Crockett, CA, MKOTC’s tribal members all share the same last name, Cobra (Baby Cobra, Lady Cobra, Crystal, Gyptron, Chinatown Meatloaf, Hotel Trell, Call Me Donny (RIP), Night Moves, Big Chief, Ghostown, College Prep, Call Me Donna, Lockdown, Cakes, Hot Lips, El Leche, Sexual, Alcatraz, Hey Puto, Cup Cake, Lu-Lu, Ki-Ki, Soda Pop, Hebrew National and Dirty Nasty the Filthy Gentleman) and while not all of them will be making their way to NYC, many of them will be coming East for the first time. The core band consists of singers Baby Cobra (Rachael) and Lady Cobra (Monica), guitarists Chinatown (Michael) and Ghosttown (Aaron), keyboardist Trell (just call him Trell), bassist Night Moves (Sean), trombonist Crystal and Gryptron (Joshua) on the drums.

I expect all of you jaded New Yorkers and New Jersians to get off of your asses, come party with MKOTC West Coast-style, and welcome them with a giant East Coast presence. It’s going to be a PARTY! PARTY! PARTY! that you will not want to miss.

Oh, and buy the band some drinks, too. They will love you long time if you do.

Go Cobras Go! - Mystic Knights of the Cobra at the Uptown, 2/13/10 - Photo by Michelle Lawlor