The Detroit Cobras were an American

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

band from

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, which was formed around 1994 by vocalist Rachel Nagy and guitarist Mary Ramirez, with a constantly changing assortment of (mostly male) sidemen. Nagy died on January 14, 2022, and no plans to continue without her have been announced.

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 Long Gone John. The first Sympathy release was the Lazy Cowgirls' ''Radio Cowgirl'' ...

and released their first album, ''

Mink, Rat or Rabbit ''Mink, Rat or Rabbit'' is the first album by The Detroit Cobras, released 24 February 1998 (see 1998 in music). The title quotes a line from Irma Thomas's "Hittin on Nothing" complaining that the singer has not received a promised mink coat. ...

'', in 1998. After a three-year gap, they released a second album, ''

Life, Love and Leaving ''Life, Love and Leaving'' is the second album by The Detroit Cobras, released 1 May 2001 (see 2001 in music). Track listing #Hey Sailor #*Original by Mickey Lee Lane #He Did It #*Original by the Ronettes #Find Me a Home #*Original by Solomon B ...

''. The two albums consisted entirely of cover versions of popular songs from the 1960s. In 2001, they were one of thirteen Michigan-based bands featured on

Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975), commonly known as Jack White, is an American musician, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the duo the White Stripes. White has enjoyed consistent critical and popular success and is widely c ...

'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 ...

'' 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 considered 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 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. Although the performance art world traditionally frowns on repeating individual works, valuing the ...

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

Baby An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...

'', 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 Chan ...

''. 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 Greg 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 Records. After m ...

Reigning Sound Reigning Sound was an American rock and roll band originally based in Memphis, Tennessee, United States As of 2019, along with fronting Reigning Sound, Cartwright also reformed his past band Greg Oblivian and the Tip Tops. In 2020, he also refor ...

(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 scene ...

) 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 and record executive. Primarily a bass player, Was co-founded the funk-rock band Was (Not Was). In later years he produced so ...

, 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, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

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

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

. 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. Mason 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 noi ...

) filled in as the guest vocalist. There are no plans to continue the Detroit Cobras, although Ramirez has been active with her other band, an all-woman garage-rock quintet called GiGi.

Members

Final line-up

*Rachel Nagy –

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 t ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

(deceased) *Mary Ramirez –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

(also known as Mary Cobra and Maribel Restrepo)

Former members

;Guitarists *Steve Shaw *Soup *Dante Adrian White *Dan Meister *

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

Joey Mazzola Joe "Joey" Mazzola (born April 13, 1961) is a guitarist, songwriter, music educator and visual artist and is probably best known as a founding member of the American rock band, Sponge. Joe was the original Sponge guitarist and played with ...

(also bass) *Steve Nawara (also bass) ;Bassists *Jeff Meier *Rob Smith *John Szymanski *Matt O'Brien * Jim Diamond *Eddie Harsch *Ko Melina *Carol Schumacher *Gina Rodriguez *Jake Culkowski *Dale Wilson ;Drummers *Nick Lucassian (also bass) *Vic Hill *Chris Fachini *Damian Lang *Kenny Tudrick *Dave Shettler *Skeeto Valdez *Tony DeCurtis *Dave Vaughn *

Johnny "Bee" Badanjek Johnny "Bee" Badanjek is an American musician, singer, songwriter and painter. Music career At 16, Badanjek (pronounced:buh-DAN-jek) was the drummer for the Detroit rock and roll band Billy Lee and The Rivieras who later changed their name to ...

*Richie Wohlfeil

Discography

Albums and EPs

*''

'' - LP, CD, MP3 (1998,

; reissued 2004 and 2016) *''

'' - 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 Fielding in the sport of cricket is the action of fielders in collecting the ball after it is struck by the striking batter, to limit the number of runs that the striker scores and/or to get a batter out by either catching a hit ball befo ...

) *''

'' (EP) - CD (2003, Rough Trade) *''

'' - 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

*"Over to My House" / "Down in Louisiana" - vinyl 7" (1996, Black Mamba) *"Village of Love" - vinyl 7" (1996, Human Fly) *"Ain't It a Shame" / "Slum Lord" - vinyl 7" (1996, Scooch Pooch) *"

Cha Cha Twist "Cha Cha Twist" is a 1960 song by Brice Coefield.Billboard - 12 Sept 1960 p 41 "BRICE COEFIELD CHA-CHA TWIST (Jay & Cee-Armo, BMI) (2:30)— This one is loaded with teen-appeal. Coefield contributes an exuberant vocal stint on an unusually danceab ...

" / "Hey Sailor" - vinyl 7" (2004, Rough Trade, RTRADS189) *"Cha Cha Twist" / "The Real Thing" / video of "Cha Cha Twist" - Enhanced CD,(2004, Rough Trade, RTRADSCD189) *"Cha Cha Twist" - promo CD, (2004, Rough Trade, 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) *"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 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