Posted on June 14, 2010 - by Editor

Cobra Skulls: Your Next Favourite Band

Cobra Skulls © Kim Ford

Having seen the Cobra Skulls play in London late last year in a small South London venue and monitoring their progression ever since, including being earmarked by just about every American band we have chatted to in recent months (most speaking highly of the bands record “American Rubicon”) as well as signing up to Fat Wreck Chords from Red Scare Industries, Distorted felt it was an appropriate time to sit down with the band founder, bassist and singer Devin Peralta before the bands second ever London performance at the Underworld in Camden.

We joked before we sat down as the band unfortunately was playing the capital on the same night as big hitters Alkaline Trio and Against Me!, the former playing a few minutes away at The Roundhouse so crowd numbers were unsurprisingly going to be affected but Devin seemed reasonably positive regardless.

Steve: So last time you were in London was at The Windmill in Brixton, had you played in town before then?

Devin: That was the first time, so this is our second UK tour but we have done three (tours) in Europe. It’s been pretty quick; we have gone a little over a month the last two tours and this one is less than a month. We did Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Spain and Holland, and after tonight we go back to Holland and Germany.

Steve: Have you enjoyed it despite it being quick fire?

Devin: Yeah it’s been quick fire, I suppose a little rushed and the drives have been longer and it’s been a little more hectic than the previous tours but we have had some good shows. The places we have played before have been great and the places that are new are kind of like any place you are playing new?

Steve: Testing the waters?

Devin: Yeah exactly. It’s been hit and miss, almost, but I would say there have been more hits than misses.

Steve: Ok and in terms of recent changes or developments, you recently moved from Red Scare to Fat Wreck Chords. What motivated the change really?

Devin: Um, well Toby works at Red Scare and he used to work at Fat Wreck Chords so…

Steve: They seem to act as a feeder label?

Devin: Yeah almost, everyone at Fat knows everyone at Red Scare really well and knows the bands, so Fat Mike saw us play when we were on tour with The Lawrence Arms and he talked to us after that and I saw him at a show about a month later and he said “hey do you want to do your next album with us?” and I said “that would be amazing!” And he said “well that wouldn’t be that amazing, we don’t sell as many records as we used to”. (laughing) but I know and understand how the business is. He just seems really cool and is interested in our band and is going to produce a new EP with us in July,

Cobra Skulls © Matt Bye

just four songs we think and see where it goes from there.

Steve: Nice. Your last record “American Rubicon” was on Red Scare, is that being re-released on Fat?

Devin: No it’s not being re-released. We will do the EP and hope to record a full length I don’t know when, we will take it one step at a time.

Steve: Ok and the EP is that going to be a hard tangible copy or a digital download?

Devin: No it will be hard copy of sorts. I did ask Mike about it and he said we should record it first and think about the rest afterwards.

Steve: In terms of the background to the band, you used to be based in Reno, but you have since moved to California is that right?

Devin: I grew up in California, with Adam (Beck) on guitar but the band was formed in Reno when I was going to college there, something to do for fun, pass the time, trying to avoid class? So when I was done  with university there it was like “I don’t want to get a job” and then we moved from San Francisco and Adam joined the band and then line-up changes and Luke (Ray) is playing drums, and  we have gone from three to four and back to three piece.

Steve: You recently had some pretty decent tours in the US with NOFX, The Lawrence Arms, Teenage Bottlerocket…

Devin: Yeah we had some great tours and also did Harvest Of Hope and SXSW in Texas and we toured with Dead To Me, Broadway Calls and The Flatliners in Canada, and then more Broadway Calls.

Steve: That’s a pretty decent selection of bands to hit the road with!

Devin: Yeah and we did Punk Rock Bowling in Vegas before we flew here.

Steve How was that? We were in touch with the guys before the event took place and it seems like a pretty crazy weekend.

Devin: Yeah punk bands in Vegas staying at the same hotel, yeah (guiltily grinning).

Steve: In terms of influences what inspired you to pick up a guitar and play in a band?

Devin: Well I played in band in high school and I moved to Reno where I knew no-one at all, and after a year of not playing music I got the itch again to play.

Steve: And did you find a ready and waiting “scene” (I don’t like the word) in Reno?

Devin: Yeah actually I started playing with two of my friends, like we were friends rather than musicians and then started to plug into the scene afterwards. And I felt we helped build up the scene quite a bit there actually. Especially with the high school kids and they didn’t know what to do, so we helped and established places to play so that was cool.

Devin © Kim Ford

Steve: What about the band’s music itself, the last record was politically charged, and a lot of references to the ongoing conflicts, and it was released what 2009? Obviously a lot of bands picked up on the conflict and terrorism and events of 2001 and used that as motivation for their records but it’s good to hear bands still discussing these topics as they are still very present and real. Is that political input quite important for you?

Devin: Well I have always been interested in politics and I wouldn’t say “active” but I majored in journalism, like print journalism and I have always been interested in world affairs; it’s just what I’m interested in. And being a musician, kind of writing about lyrics that are important to me, if people find it important too and they are excited about it; that’s awesome. But a lot of the songs were about experiences that I had that related to and political ongoings in this world. Like ‘Rebel Fate’ was about me working for the ACLU and how people related to me in knocking on their doors.

Steve: That’s what the video was about?

Devin: Yeah, the video is a little exaggerated. But there is ‘HDUI’ which is a story that someone told me I met while doing that, that’s just a story that I found worth writing about.

Steve: There seem to be something happening every day these days, it’s easy to pick out or draw influence from events around the world?

Devin: Yeah I mean I don’t skim headlines for a song but like there were some personal experiences that related to me so I felt it was something I felt like writing about. It’s really hard to stay in touch while we are on the road. I visit the newyorktimes.com or the Guardian, ya know. So I try and search things online and keep up to date, I haven’t been online for three days now!

Steve: That can be a lifetime for some people! And what about writing on the road, do you find it’s something you can do while touring or do you need your space?

Devin: It’s pretty hard, I have been trying to write lyrics in my head while we are in the van or whatever but I kind of need my own space.

Steve: With the record again, there are a lot of different influences and style of sound, not to pigeonhole how would you describe the Cobra Skulls and where would you pinpoint some of the important bands that have influenced you?

Devin: That’s a good question. I have always been a fan of punk before it was called punk I suppose. From the Stooges, Violent Femmes, The Clash, Ramones, Black Flag, Bad Religion, Fear and more of the 90’s punk like NOFX, Rancid, Operation Ivy, Good Riddance. So you could say it’s a culmination of all of that really. I don’t know cos sometimes there is a little reggae and old two step stuff in our music and there faster songs like that 90’s skate punk vibe. It’s funny we will go from town to town and look on the local flyers to see what they called us tonight. And it’s like “oh tonight its skate punk, last night we were country surf punk”. It’s just people draw from their influences and what they know and then they hear us and make their own descriptions.

Steve: Well I think what you said is spot on as there is a melting pot of sounds, it varies in terms of style and a lot of bands you mentioned earlier have mentioned yourselves as bands they are enjoying like The Lawrence arms, NOFX etc. Do you think the variety of sound you have is one of the reason you are getting more recognised or more popular.

Devin: I don’t know? We played with a band from the UK, The Arteries, in (New) Jersey last year and one of the guys in their crew kind of said to us, “man it must be hard being your band cos you kind of have to make your own genre and your own fans. You don’t mix in with everything.” But some people call us pop punk or skate punk or folk punk, it’s weird. And tonight there are Alkaline Trio and Against Me! playing and people are coming up and say “oh you remind me of Against Me!” or “oh you remind me of Alkaline Trio” and they are totally two different bands. I guess it’s down to what people listen to.

Steve: The Against Me! comparison is one I have heard a few times, when people say that do you shrug it off or can you hear that in your own music.

Devin: I can definitely understand it but I think its cos they are so popular, everybody knows them. If you listen to country music or folk music and also to punk music, there are a lot of bands that have that sound, so I don’t know, it’s hard to say.

Steve: And what about language, I know there is some Spanish or Spanglish thrown in. Does that come from your own background?

Devin: Yeah my dad is from Argentina, so I speak Spanish but I only sing it on a couple of songs where I feel it its fitting. One song is about my parents sort of and my upbringing; so the verse about my dad I sing in Spanish. And then one song is about Ernesto Che Guevara, and maybe I should do that song in Spanish; it’s about an Argie so why not. Some people might think it’s gimmicky but I only do it for those reasons.

Steve: Sure it’s not just a novelty. As we mentioned there are a lot of bands you have toured with in the last couple of years, are there any on the top of your radar you listen to or find quite interesting at the moment?

Devin: Totally, Broadway Calls, Dead To Me, The Flatliners; I listen to those band all the time. And we toured with Teenage Bottlerocket , so it’s great to tour with our peers and bands we like to listen to all the time.

Steve: What’s with the bandanas and Cobra Skulls? (Seeing one wrapped around his wrist, and it’s on the cover of their record)

Cobra Skulls

Devin: Oh (laughing) being in Reno a lot of people go snowboarding and would wear bandanas, and someone just said hey you should put your logo on that and also people might see it as a protest garb or a anarchist ornament. Yeah it’s just something different, everyone has t-shirts and hats.

Steve: And the name Cobra skulls, is that one of those drinking inspired names?

Devin: Practically, we were like; “we have to think of the best or cheesiest name ever.” We are also big fans of The Misfits. So we are poking fun too cos we are not goth but there are so many people that take the image so…. well take it to heart and take the image so seriously with punk music. So we are kind of making fun of that at the same time. Its fun to enjoy imagery like that if you don’t take it seriously.

Steve: OK, have you put any thought to future tours, beyond the EP what’s lined up?

Devin: Right after the EP we go on the warped tour for a couple weeks and then we have like some time off and sporadic shows, and hopefully the EP will come out in October so we will be touring again in October and November, like Riot Fest in Chicago.

Steve: Is that definitely happening this year?

Devin: Yeah. And then CMJ in New York and The Fest in Florida, then come home, rehearse and see after that.

Steve: And are there any tours planned for Europe or have you not thought that far ahead?

Devin: We definitely want to come back and I hope we will. We were here in October 2009 and this is the shortest period of time between coming back to Europe so I think it will be at least another year before we come back.

Steve: Cool one last question being Argie (Argentinean); are you interested in the football world cup at all?

Devon: I’m going to the world cup! We fly home on Sunday have three days at home and then I fly to South Africa on the Thursday (10th June)

Steve: Wow so you are actually going, have you got tickets for the Argentina games?

Devon: Yeah the group games, I’m going with my dad, so the group games and tickets for the next two rounds, if they make, which they have to! I’m a big football fan!

Thanks to Matt Bye for the live photo of Devin from the bands Derby, UK show. Please see Derby DIY Collective for more info.