Kobra Paige

BraveWords Interview: KOBRA AND THE LOTUS – Success In The Snakepit

Carl Begai

Canadian bashers Kobra And The Lotus kicked off 2018 in the best position they’ve ever been in over the course of the band’s 10 year career. After years of riding the record label carousel, numerous line-up changes, and vocalist Kobra Paige’s battle with Lyme disease that severely reduced the band’s ability to tour, Kobra And The Lotus landed at Napalm Records. The growing label saw worth in the band’s mad scheme (for a small act) to release a double album, promptly developing a plan to market and promote the record, enabling KATL to get back on the road. The proposed Prevail album was divided into two parts by the label, with Prevail I released in May 2017. The record hit the Independent (Soundscan) and Heatseekers charts, yielding three singles (four if you count pre-release taster “Trigger Pulse”). All in all, a fantastic restart for a band that has waded through its share of industry bullshit and personal issues. Prevail II continues this run, charting in similar fashion to Prevail I and seeing Kobra And The Lotus on the road yet again, as it should be.

Paige spoke with BraveWords last year about the motivation behind Prevail I and II, and prior to hitting the road she picked up the thread regarding how the band managed to divide the songs between the two albums – 21 in total, plus bonus material – and create a balance to work in their favour.

“It was pretty stressful at first trying to figure out what to do with all the music we had,” Paige admits. “All we knew is that we wanted it to be equally balanced between the two albums. What really helped us was that Napalm Records chose some of the songs that went on Prevail I. They chose ‘Trigger Pulse’ and ‘You Don’t Know’, and in my head ‘Light Me Up’ had a similar vibe, ‘Gotham’ seemed to match with ‘Trigger Pulse’, so that laid the groundwork. And because we had the one instrumental on Prevail I (‘Check The Phyrg’) it made sense to put the other one (‘Ribe’) on Prevail II.”

Considering the amount of work that went into writing songs for what is essentially a double album, it’s surprising to hear that Kobra And The Lotus were so willing to hand off choosing the track running order(s) to the record label.

“It wasn’t really that hard. We really felt strongly about ‘Trigger Pulse’ for some reason and it went from there. Honestly, it was a relief to have Napalm’s input because once they explained why it would be better to release Prevail in two parts rather than all at once, it made sense. It was really strange but cool that everything just fit into place doing the whole Prevail thing.” Continue reading BraveWords Interview: KOBRA AND THE LOTUS – Success In The Snakepit

KOBRA AND THE LOTUS – Return Of The Priestess (Black Velvet, If You Please…)

By Carl Begai

Canadian bashers Kobra And The Lotus kicked off the summer of 2014 in the best way possible; they released their monstrous High Priestess album to rave reviews, hitting the road the day before the record hit the shelves supporting KISS on their 40 Anniversary North American summer tour alongside Def Leppard. Not the sort of honour bestowed upon one’s metal head every day, especially to a young band that has been paying its dues in the clubs and on festival circuits since 2009. Membership has its privileges, of course – in this case being signed to Simmons/Universal featuring KISS legend and business mogul Gene Simmons – but Kobra And The Lotus still had to deliver to audiences that generally didn’t give a damn about them.

“As a whole that tour was amazing,” says Paige, agreeing the band was widely regarded as window dressing by the diehard KISS fans. “The experience was incredible and really inspiring for us. KISS and Def Leppard were really great to us, they’re great people, and they shared some stories that really put them on the same level with us. It showed us that you have to have faith in yourself and push through a lot of obstacles. Def Leppard told us about getting bottles of piss thrown at them in ’88, but they kept going. The shows were very different and we had to adjust to that. Capacity for the amphitheaters we played was about 20,000 every night, and people were kind of pouring in and having drinks as we were playing, so we’d be in front of 8,000 to 10,000 people but that looks really scattered over that amount of space.”

It sounds as if Kobra And The Lotus were like a restaurant lounge act on any given night; patrons milling about, more concerned about finding their seats and ordering food and booze than the music.

“It was like that! But, it was good for us and it made us improve as performers because we had to figure out how to captivate that kind of audience. It was fun, and there were some shows that were definitely epic. Nashville was completely full when we played and it was amazing, it was so loud. That was probably the highlight for me on that whole tour.” Continue reading KOBRA AND THE LOTUS – Return Of The Priestess (Black Velvet, If You Please…)

KOBRA AND THE LOTUS Vocalist Reveals Cause Of Reduced Touring For High Priestess Album – “I Was Diagnosed With Lyme Disease”

By Carl Begai

During my interview with Kobra And The Lotus vocalist Kobra Paige for the band’s new Canadian rock classic covers EP, Words Of The Prophets, one subject that came up was the band’s lack of touring in support of their full length album from 2014, High Priestess. They had the once-in-a-career experience of opening for KISS and Def Leppard through North America that same year, but Kobra And The Lotus were conspicuously absent from the European touring and festival circuit after years of being non-stop on the go on both sides of the Atlantic. At least that’s how it seemed.

“You’re completely right, we toured significantly less,” agrees Paige. “The main reason for that was I got really sick and the doctors said I couldn’t go out on the road. I was diagnosed with Lyme disease and it got really, really bad. We didn’t tour for eight months. I’m just starting to get back into it now but I’m still on antibiotics and being treated.”

According to medical journals Lyme disease is a bacterial infection transmitted by ticks that can cause arthritis, neurological issues, and heart problems. It also wears down your immune system. Fortunately, the disease is NOT contagious and can’t be passed directly from human to human.

“I wasn’t sure if I should say anything about it to the fans or bring it up in the press because it was scary being off the road. If a band’s activity drops people start to forget about you really fast, but it was unavoidable. Basically, my body took me out. I had such severe mono that I didn’t really get out of bed in the first month that we were home. You can’t fight anything off when your immune system gets so bad like that. The last place you want to be when that happens is on the road because there’s nothing working for you at all.” Continue reading KOBRA AND THE LOTUS Vocalist Reveals Cause Of Reduced Touring For High Priestess Album – “I Was Diagnosed With Lyme Disease”

KOBRA AND THE LOTUS Go To Church – ’50 Shades Of Evil’: A Photo Gallery

By Carl Begai

I’ll let you in on a little secret: Kobra And The Lotus are one of the busiest bands around.

Sure, a comment like that comes off as a whole lotta bullshit lip-service when people are aware the journalist hack doing the talking is in good with the band, but the fact is that from month to month – and in some case from day to day – the lads and lady that are Kobra And The Lotus are touring or packing their bags to head out on the road. Even as I write this, they’re gearing up for shows in the UK supporting Buckcherry through the end of November, having just wrapped up dates with Steel Panther and confirmed for December shows in the US supporting Sonata Arctica.

Back in August during my annual trip home to Toronto, I received a call letting me know that the band would be in town shooting a video for ’50 Shades Of Evil’ from the new self-titled album, would I like to come down? The invitation – and from what I understand, the video shoot – came out of nowhere considering Kobra And The Lotus had just wrapped up a European summer festival tour only a week or two before. Accepting the invite was a no-brainer.

The shoot took place at the Berkley Church on Queen Street West, just off the Don Valley Parkway. Near as anyone can tell, the only services the church is used for these days involve DJs and drinks on the weekends, but on August 19th director Lisa Mann – who has previously worked with Apocalyptica – turned it into a Kobra And The Lotus dreamscape. The photos below were taken following the band performances for the clip, involving mirrors, lights, a leaf blower and assorted old school camera tricks.

Enjoy!

Continue reading KOBRA AND THE LOTUS Go To Church – ’50 Shades Of Evil’: A Photo Gallery