One of the earliest groups to emerge from the Detroit garage rock scene,
developed a reputation as the Midwest's finest (and most distinctive) cover band -- while the bandmembers devoted themselves to performing other people's material rather than recycling established hits,
dug deep into the well of vintage R&B and primitive rock & roll sides, building an individual identity out of lost classics from the past which they modified to fit their swaggering aural personality.
. The first edition of
) on bass, and Vic Hill on drums, and they released their first 7" in 1996.
In what would prove to be the first in a long line of personal changes, Hill was replaced by
Chris Fachini by the time
the Cobras released their third single (which also hit the stores in 1996), and their debut LP,
Mink Rat or Rabbit, featured a third timekeeper,
Damian Lang (who'd worked with Snake Out and
Elvis Hitler). During the three years that passed before
the Detroit Cobras appeared on the
Jack White-produced compilation
Sympathetic Sounds of Detroit, founder
Shaw left the band, with Dante Aliano stepping in on guitar and Rob Smith taking over on bass.
Rachel Nagy's tough but soulful vocals and
Maribel Restrepo's lean, muscular guitar lines would be the group's only constants from this point on, though they would be enough to earn the group a potent following on the American garage scene and a major buzz in the United Kingdom, where they scored a deal with the fabled indie label Rough Trade, which released 2001's
Life, Love and Leaving in Great Britain (it appeared on Sympathy for the Record Industry in the United States). (That LP also featured new guy Eddie Hawrsh on bass.)
While veteran tunesmiths
Ellie Greenwich and
Jackie DeShannon expressed interest in writing material with the group, the fourth
Cobras album, 2004's
Baby, once again featured them rocking out on a stack of R&B dusties, though
Greg Cartwright, who helped produce the album, did co-write an original with
Nagy and
Restrepo, "Hot Dog (Watch Me Eat)." The album also documented another
Cobras lineup, with
Nagy and
Restrepo joined by
Steve Nawara on guitar,
Joe Mazzola on bass, and
Kenny Tudrick on drums. After a brief hiatus and a move to Bloodshot Records, the
Phil Spector-influenced
Tried and True was released in 2007 with yet another rotation of musicians -- reintroducing
Greg Cartwright and adding seasoned bassist Carol Schumacher, a fellow member of
the Reigning Sound, to the ever-changing roster.
–
Mark Deming, Rovi