Mary Cobra is the founding guitarist of The Detroit Cobras, the band she started with singer Rachel Nagy that became one of the defining sounds of Detroit garage rock in the late '90s and early 2000s. This is her full conversation with host Hanif Abdurraqib.
Mary talks about growing up on bad Detroit radio, and how the silence pushed a generation of musicians to make the music nobody else would play for them. She traces the Cobras' sound back to crate digging through dollar bin soul 45s, and explains why the goal was never to imitate a singer's voice but to find the feeling underneath it. She breaks down her advice for young bands on why every act should cover a song at least once, and what it means if that cover ends up better than anything else in the set.
She also gets into the cheap rent and cheap bars that made Detroit's scene possible, the night Jack White told her at a bar that she should see what was happening and get on the road, and why the Cobras never set out to get signed but got picked up almost immediately once they did.
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Meeting Mary Cobra: Founding Guitarist of the Detroit Cobras
00:54 - Detroit's Bad Radio and Growing Up on Motown, MC5, and The Stooges
03:22 - Digging Through Record Stores in a City With Nothing Else to Do
04:38 - Playing for Friends, Not for a Record Deal
07:16 - Cheap Rent, No Fear, and the Freedom to Tour
10:19 - Crate Digging Soul Records and Why a Cover Isn't About the Notes
22:13 - From Playing for Fun to Getting Signed
25:54 - What Success Changed and Why Every Young Band Should Play a Cover
33:17 - The Gold Dollar, Cutting 45s, and Becoming a Band's Band
40:01 - Bars as Detroit's Ecosystem and Where the Grit Came From
LINKS
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267
Stay connected!
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/
TAGS / KEYWORDS
Living for the City, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Mary Cobra, Mary Cobra interview, The Detroit Cobras, Rachel Nagy, Detroit garage rock, Detroit rock history, Detroit music history, garage rock revival, Gold Dollar Detroit, Cass Corridor Detroit, Fortune Records Detroit, Detroit 45s, Detroit vinyl culture, Jack White, The White Stripes, Detroit crate digging, soul music covers, Detroit bars, Detroit DIY music scene, Detroit rock and roll, MC5, The Stooges, Motown, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast, music podcast, Detroit culture, music history podcast
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