The Detroit Cobras are an American

garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock music that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The style is ...

band from

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, which was formed in 1994 by guitarist Steve Shaw, guitarist Mary Ramirez, bassist Jeff Meier, drummer Vic Hill, and singer Rachel Nagy. The group was later known (with the exception of Rachel Nagy and Mary Ramirez) for a constantly changing assortment of musicians. Rachel Nagy died on January 14, 2022.

History

The Detroit Cobras signed with

Sympathy for the Record Industry Sympathy for the Record Industry (also known as Sympathy Records or Sympathy 4 the R.I.) is a mainly independent garage rock and punk label formed in 1988 by John Mermis, known as Long Gone John. Notable artists who started on Sympathy and went ...

and released their first album, '' Mink, Rat or Rabbit'', in 1998. After a three-year gap, they released a second album, '' Life, Love and Leaving''. The two albums consisted entirely of cover versions of songs from the 1950s, 1960s, with the exception of the Detroit Cobras version of “Bad Man” (done by the Cobras as “Bad Girl”) written by Greg Cartwright in the mid 1990s. In 2001, they were one of thirteen Michigan-based bands featured on

Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975) is an American musician who achieved international fame as the guitarist and lead singer of the rock duo the White Stripes. As the White Stripes disbanded, he sought success with his solo career, subse ...

's ''

Sympathetic Sounds of Detroit ''Sympathetic Sounds of Detroit'' is a compilation album of American garage rock and punk bands from Detroit, released in 2001. Put together by Jack White of the White Stripes, it featured bands such as the Von Bondies, the Dirtbombs, and the Detr ...

'' compilation album: the Detroit Cobras' contribution was a cover of

Otis Redding Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...

's "Shout Bamalama." Their retro-garage rock formula proved popular in the UK and prompted the London-based

Rough Trade Records Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis, who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. It is currently run by co-managing directors Travis and Jeannette Lee and ...

to sign the band. They released an EP, ''

Seven Easy Pieces ''Seven Easy Pieces'' was a series of performances given by artist Marina Abramović in New York City at the Guggenheim Museum in November 2005. All performances were dedicated to Abramović's late friend Susan Sontag. Although the performanc ...

'', in 2003 and their third album, ''

Baby In common terminology, a baby is the very young offspring of adult human beings, while infant (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'baby' or 'child') is a formal or specialised synonym. The terms may also be used to refer to Juvenile (orga ...

'', in 2004. ''Baby'' broke with the Cobras' tradition in that it included one original song, "Hot Dog (Watch Me Eat)". ''Baby'' was picked up for release in the US by Bloodshot (who added the songs from the ''Seven Easy Pieces'' EP to the end of ''Baby''. In April 2007, Bloodshot released the band's fourth album, ''

Tied & True ''Tied & True'' is the fourth album by The Detroit Cobras, released 24 April 2007. Track listing #As Long as I Have You #* Original by Garnett Mimms #Nothing but a Heartache #* Original by The Flirtations #(If You Don't Think) You Better Cha ...

''. The band was known for multiple line-up changes, although the band consistently fielded the classic rock and roll instrumental configuration of rhythm guitar (always played by Ramirez), lead guitar, bass and drums. Nagy and Ramirez generally had a touring line-up different from their recording line-up.

Greg Cartwright Gregory Johnathon Cartwright, also known by his stage name Greg Oblivian (born March 18, 1972), is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist from Memphis, Tennessee. From 2001 to 2022 he fronted Reigning Sound which was signed to Merge Reco ...

Reigning Sound Reigning Sound was an American rock and roll band originally based in Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, Tennessee, United States. As of 2019, along with fronting Reigning Sound, Greg Cartwright also reformed his past band Greg Oblivian and the Tip T ...

(aka Greg Oblivian of

The Oblivians The Oblivians are an American garage punk trio that has existed since 1993. In the 1990s, their blues-infused brand of bravado, crudely recorded music made them one of the most popular and prominent bands within the underground garage rock scen ...

) proved to be an especially prolific collaborator. Perhaps their most famous sideman was

Don Was Don Edward Fagenson (born September 13, 1952), known professionally as Don Was (), is an American musician, record producer, music director, film composer, documentary filmmaker and radio host. Since 2011, he has also served as president of the ...

, who was their bassist for one gig in 2008. In the summer of 2008, The Detroit Cobras went on tour in support of X on their 13x31 tour. For the summer of 2009, The Detroit Cobras headlined a tour with the Dex Romweber Duo in support. The band apparently stopped touring for several years after that, although they always played a few gigs every year, usually near Detroit but sometimes farther afield. In May and June 2014, they went on an extended tour of the Midwest and the West Coast. In April 2018, they traveled to Europe (for the first time since 2004) to play two festivals in Germany and Spain, which led to an extended European tour in October and November 2019. A US tour was planned for 2020 but canceled because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Another tour was planned for 2022. Nagy died on January 14, 2022, in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

. News reports gave widely varying ages immediately following her death, ranging from her late 30s to her late 50s, but she was in fact 48 years old (born December 15, 1973). In August 2022, Ramirez reunited the band for one show only at the Magic Stick in Detroit. Marcus Durant (formerly of

Zen Guerilla Zen Guerrilla was a rock band originally from Newark, Delaware and later based in San Francisco, California. Musically, the band evolved over their career. Their early sound was characterized by psychedelic elements, such as delayed guitars and n ...

) filled in as the guest vocalist. The Rachel Nagy celebration show in Detroit in late August 2022 went so well that the remaining members of her band — co-founder Mary Ramirez (guitar), Steve Nawara (guitar), Dale Wilson (bass), and Kenny Tudrick (drums) — are reuniting to perform a tribute set with a string of west coast dates.⁠

Members

Current line-up

*Marcus Durant –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

*Mary Ramirez –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

(also known as Mary Cobra and Maribel Restrepo) *Steve Nawara –

*Dale Wilson –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

*Kevin Irwin –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Former members

;Vocalists *Rachel Nagy ;Guitarists *Steve Shaw *Soup *Dante Adrian White *Dan Meister *

*Mike "Hadji" Hodgkiss *Eddie Baranek *Reuben Glazer *Brad Meinerding *

Joey Mazzola Joey Mazzola is an American musician, songwriter, and artist, best known as a founding member of the rock band Sponge. Career A Detroit native, Mazzola spent 1987 to 1992 on the Los Angeles club circuit. He was the original Sponge guitarist ...

(also bass) ;Bassists *Jeff Meier *Rob Smith *John Szymanski *Matt O'Brien * Jim Diamond *Eddie Harsch *

Ko Melina Ko Melina, also known as Ko Shih and Ko Melina-Zydeco, is a musician and radio DJ from Detroit, Michigan. Biography A bartender at the Garden Bowl, a rock n' roll hotspot in Detroit, Melina befriended scene fixtures like Jack White and Stev ...

*Carol Schumacher *Gina Rodriguez *Jake Culkowski ;Drummers *Nick Lucassian (also bass) *Vic Hill *Chris Fachini (also guitar) *Damian Lang *Dave Shettler *Skeeto Valdez *Tony DeCurtis *Dave Vaughn * Johnny "Bee" Badanjek *Richie Wohlfeil *Kenny Tudrick

Discography

Albums and EPs

*'' Mink, Rat or Rabbit'' - LP, CD, MP3 (1998,

; reissued 2004 and 2016) *'' Life, Love and Leaving'' - LP, CD (2001, Sympathy for the Record Industry, Rough Trade; reissued 2004, Sinnamon Records, Rough Trade) *''Life, Love and Leaving'' - remastered CD, MP3 (2016, Third Man) *''

'' (EP) - CD (2003,

Rough Trade Rough Trade may refer to: *Rough Trade (shops), London record stores *Rough Trade Records, a record label from the stores *Rough Trade Books, a publishing house from the label *Rough Trade (band), a Canadian new wave rock band * "Rough Trade" (''Am ...

) *''

'' - LP, CD, MP3 (2004, Rough Trade, Sinnamon Records; reissued 2005, Rough Trade) *''Baby'' - Enhanced CD (2005, Bloodshot, BS 125 - includes

and video of ''Cha Cha Twist'') *''

'' - LP, CD (2007, Rough Trade, Bloodshot, Fiveman Army; reissued 2011 Bloodshot)

Compilations

*''Bankstock II'' - CD (1995, 44 Caliber Records, RFD 2301) recorded at the Old Miami, in

, July 4 weekend, 1995 *'' The Original Recordings (Singles and Unreleased 1995-1997)'' - LP, CD, vinyl 7" Box Set (2008, Munster Records)

Singles

*"Village of Love" / "Marie Christina" - vinyl 7" (1996, Human Fly) *"Over to my House" / “Down In Louisiana”- vinyl 7" (1996, Black Mamba) *"Ain't It a Shame" / "Slum Lord" - vinyl 7" (1996, Scooch Pooch) *" Cha Cha Twist" / "Hey Sailor" - vinyl 7" (2004,

, RTRADS189) *"Cha Cha Twist" / "The Real Thing" / video of "Cha Cha Twist" - Enhanced CD,(2004, Rough Trade, RTRADSCD189) *"Cha Cha Twist" - promo CD, (2004,

, RTRADSCDP189 - cover Transcript: "Detroit Cobras, Live at Ulu, Wed 8th Sept") *"Ya Ya Ya (Looking for My Baby)" / "As Long As I Have You" - vinyl 7" (2008, Stag-O-Lee) *"Feel Good" - digital single (2015,

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

) *"What More" / "I Can't Go Back" - vinyl 7" - digital single (2018, Third Man Records, TMR579)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Detroit Cobras, The Garage rock groups from Michigan Bloodshot Records artists American garage punk groups Indie rock musical groups from Michigan Musical groups established in 1994 Musical groups disestablished in 2022 Musical groups from Detroit Rough Trade Records artists Sympathy for the Record Industry artists 1994 establishments in Michigan 2022 disestablishments in Michigan Third Man Records artists