Black Cobra

While it’ll be Jucifer’s first time Down Under, Black Cobra are returning to Australia for the third time on the back of two successful tours. The last time Jason Landrian and Rafa Martinez were here was in 2011, when they went road-tripping with Fu Manchu and co-headlined Melbourne’s Cherry Rock festival. Four years on and Black Cobra have been to Europe twice, toured the States numerous times and have just wrapped up mastering their fifth studio album.

“I just flew back from LA yesterday – I was out there to master the record with John Golden,” says Martinez. “A lot of musicians don’t attend their sessions, but I always do because I’m an engineer myself. I’m kind of a geek when it comes to sound and tech stuff. We’ve worked with him on every album – I really trust him and his input.

“John really is a legend in the industry. He’s worked with just about everyone. Right now he’s remastering every Sonic Youth record – all 18 of them – and he also just finished up a job for Soundgarden. He worked on their three-disc collection of rarities with live stuff and B-sides. He’s definitely got some stories to tell!”

Martinez says the album was produced by Jon-Tore Dombu, formerly of Norwegian nu-metal band Torch. “We went to Florida to record it with Jon, and it was done in ten days. This is our first release on Season Of Mist Records – we signed with them earlier this year. As soon as everything is packaged and ready to go, it’ll be released. We’ll be playing it live at these Australian shows and we can’t wait for people to hear it.”

There’s no denying Black Cobra’s ability to produce a depth and strength of sound that would leave even a seven-piece band in their shadow. “We love to play live and loud,” Martinez says. “Jason and I like to mix our setlists up and choose songs from all our albums.

“We now have 49 songs in our repertoire,” he continues. “We play so many different styles – slow Southern sludge, mid-tempo, and creepy psychedelic metal that we mix with our thrashier-sounding songs. We combine our songs and improvise to keep things fresh and interesting – that’s what we’ve always done.”

Black Cobra officially formed in 2001, but Landrian and Martinez’s friendship goes back almost 20 years. “Jason and I met each other in Miami growing up. We had a band called Point Blank – we both played guitar. This was in ’96 or ’97. We met through a mutual friend, Sonya – she played drums. We had so much fun back then. Sonya ended up working with Norah Jones.

“Anyway, I moved to California and Jason was living in New York when we started thinking about starting another band. I called him and said, ‘Hey, let’s do something long-distance.’ We never thought anything would come of it – Black Cobra was really just an experiment. A progressive metal two-piece? We’d never seen anything like this – we didn’t know how it would work live and if anybody would like it. We had no idea,” he laughs.

“So we did long-distance for a very long time – it was like a bad long-distance romance! Then eventually Jason moved out to LA in 2006 and we put out the first record. We were in LA for a year and then we moved to San Francisco in 2007, and we’ve been here for the last eight years now.”

Sure enough, Black Cobra are proud to be representing San Francisco’s Bay Area. The region has a long history of producing world-class rock, metal and punk bands. Faith No More, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Operation Ivy and Primus all call the area home.

“As far as metal bands from around the area, there’s Exodus and Testament,” adds Martinez. “Metallica and Slayer come here all the time. I mean, it’s not like it was in the ’80s – I didn’t live here then, but from what I understand it was absolutely insane! But I still love San Fran – there’s a lot of amazing independent music here and there’s a strong underground culture.”

Landrian and Martinez met Jucifer when they were sharing the bill at an underground club. “They sound incredible – they remind me of the Melvins a little bit,” says Martinez. “They’re really loud and energetic. We’ve played with them a couple of times now, and they’re really cool. As a matter of fact, they were one of the first two-piece bands that we’d ever heard of, and it’ll be their first time ever in Australia. Jason and I are going to take them to see the Bon Scott statue in Fremantle – we can’t wait!”