New band - The Cobra Kai

[Lemonade]

Hey folks,

We, The Cobra Kai are a new 3 piece band based in Aberdeen (though we are hoping to add a new singer soon). Below is a link to our first set of recordings and we'd love to hear your thoughts. Direct influences are The Cure, Muse, Alice In Chains, Faith No More, Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, Placebo etc.

No gigs lined up yet but watch this space.

Follow this link below and looks for the "Songs" bit at the top left (you'd be amazed how many people miss it!) There are 2 songs there for you to enjoy, "In My Shoes" and "Sins Of The Flesh". Sins is my favourite of the two.

The Cobra Kai <thecobrakai>

Thanks for taking the time to listen.

Elwood of Cobra Kai

(A couple of quick disclaimers: 1- I know it's on Bebo and that's nads cos it'll only let you stream and not download/pause/rewind. I also know Bebo is favoured by kids and paedophiles, but I can't figure out how to work Myspace and I don't have time to learn! 2- It was recorded on a PC in our bassist's tiny spare room so the sound and the mixing isn't brilliant. Also it has fake drums (since we couldn't exactly set up and record a drum kit) but rest assured we have a drummer and he's ace.)

[TR!ΔNGL€ T€€TH]

I'll have a listen tomorrow, but you're probably shit.

[Lemonade]

I'll have a listen tomorrow, but you're probably shit.

Cheers!

[Lemonade]

Did anyone listen? What did you think? I'll be adding two more songs this week.

[FatHand]

Did anyone listen? What did you think? I'll be adding two more songs this week.

The drums are slightly off-putting but better than nothing I suppose. I think for that reason I won't comment too much further.

The first song is too long and doesn't really go anywhere for my taste. I listened to it all but lost interest fairly quickly. Maybe you could work on the guitar riff at the start, I think it's fairly generic.

Prefer "Sins of Flesh" to the first one. Some nice harmonies.

It all feels a little disjointed the way it's recorded.

You should get a live recording, be able to tell more what you are like as band - use musical vision or Tom's, or that Torry music project that Corn was plugging. As long as you know your songs and don't mess around you could get a few down and roughly mixed in one session.

Get some gigs too.

I'll listen to the new ones you put up.

[Lemonade]

The drums are slightly off-putting but better than nothing I suppose. I think for that reason I won't comment too much further.

The first song is too long and doesn't really go anywhere for my taste. I listened to it all but lost interest fairly quickly. Maybe you could work on the guitar riff at the start, I think it's fairly generic.

Prefer "Sins of Flesh" to the first one. Some nice harmonies.

It all feels a little disjointed the way it's recorded.

You should get a live recording, be able to tell more what you are like as band - use musical vision or Tom's, or that Torry music project that Corn was plugging. As long as you know your songs and don't mess around you could get a few down and roughly mixed in one session.

Get some gigs too.

I'll listen to the new ones you put up.

Yeah I hate electric drums too, but it was that or nothing. We are going to record them properly at some point once we get a new guitarist on board (we're trying people out tonight). They were just recorded on a midi program on a PC which is always going to sound fairly pap, and they were really only intended to give to a new guitarist to learn the songs. They weren't really meant for circulation but I just wanted to gauge opinion.

Thanks for the feedback, appreciate you taking the time. And look out for us playing the Moorings soon

[Sam 45]

I think you should have chose nothing, as this has just put me off your band. Which for some reason, i really wanted to like. Anyway, i'll have a listen to some proper recordings when you get them done.

[FatHand]

Yeah I hate electric drums too, but it was that or nothing. We are going to record them properly at some point once we get a new guitarist on board (we're trying people out tonight). They were just recorded on a midi program on a PC which is always going to sound fairly pap, and they were really only intended to give to a new guitarist to learn the songs. They weren't really meant for circulation but I just wanted to gauge opinion.

Thanks for the feedback, appreciate you taking the time. And look out for us playing the Moorings soon

No problem. I'm the first to complain that no one really responds to feedback requests. I understand the desire to get something up that people can listen to, I suppose sometimes it works others it doesn't.

I'd maybe edit the ones you have down or just make them shorter. If they are not your best work there is no point in having someone sit through 6 mins to get to the most interesting bit. It is hard cutting your songs down but sometimes it's the way to make them better, get rid of all the boring bits.

If you do keep on using computer based drums it might be better doing something totally different, rather than simulate what the drummer might play. What did you use for the drums, I'm sure you could get some better samples.

[scottyboy]

didn't think much of sins of the flesh. the intro riff to in my shoes is pretty cool, reminds of soundgarden. the rest of it is also reminiscent of soundgarden, only without the great riffs and musicianship. i'd ditch most of the song and base it around the intro riff as much as possible, since it's the only cool part. it did at least make me go look for superunknown.

[Lemonade]

Well thanks for all the feedback guys. Some good points made, although I don't necessarily agree with all of it. But we'll take your comments on board. cheers

[Lemonade]

didn't think much of sins of the flesh. the intro riff to in my shoes is pretty cool, reminds of soundgarden. the rest of it is also reminiscent of soundgarden, only without the great riffs and musicianship. i'd ditch most of the song and base it around the intro riff as much as possible, since it's the only cool part. it did at least make me go look for superunknown.

it's funny that, because the intro riff to In My Shoes is the one bit of the song that I don't like and I was thinking of changing! I don't think you're ever going to like us....

[Guest idol_wild]

To me, this is massively generic and not my thing in any way at all so I don't think I can comment wholeheartedly.

I can say it's executed quite well, but you'd definitely benefit from a proper studio recording and some gigs under your belt.

Good luck and all that.

[Lemonade]

To me, this is massively generic and not my thing in any way at all so I don't think I can comment wholeheartedly.

I can say it's executed quite well, but you'd definitely benefit from a proper studio recording and some gigs under your belt.

Good luck and all that.

Yeah we would benefit from a studio recording but we are still trying out new guitarists at the moment so we'll probably do that after we have a full line up. Plus we are still tweaking the songs quite a bit so we don't want to pay to get them recorded properly only to go and change them all. As I said, we are very very new and most of the stuff we are recording has only been written recently and we quite often come up with changes at practice, and these are just demos.

Thanks for the feedback.

[Lemonade]

I'd maybe edit the ones you have down or just make them shorter. If they are not your best work there is no point in having someone sit through 6 mins to get to the most interesting bit. It is hard cutting your songs down but sometimes it's the way to make them better, get rid of all the boring bits.

A few people have said the songs are too long. We didn't purposely write long songs, it's just really my writing style. I like my songs to build up slowly to big endings, but yeah agreed 7 minutes for a rock song is kind of excessive. We trimmed down "Sins" once before to about 4 1/2 minutes but I hated it so we put it back. I don't think Sins is too long but I think In My Shoes may be a bit long winded, especially for such a slow, plodding song that repeats itself a lot. What can I say I'm just really self-indulgent . We may try and cut that one down actually.

If you do keep on using computer based drums it might be better doing something totally different, rather than simulate what the drummer might play. What did you use for the drums, I'm sure you could get some better samples.

The fake drums are just there temporarily. We are going to record these again properly (see above post) but just not yet. I'm not really looking for feedback on the production, cos I know myself that it's not the best, but then it's not like it's U2's new single - it's just a demo, and we are going to do them again once we've got some gigs under our belts. We do have a drummer but we recorded these on an 8 year old MIDI recording program on PC in a house in Balmedie. Not really ideal for setting up a full kit. Personally for what it is I don't think it's too bad. As I said before, they were just for us to listen to, and to give out to new members, but I thought I'd just post them for the craic really and to see what people thought. Plus I wanted to get our name out there and into people's heads so that once we are gigging people will be aware of us and might think "Oh The Cobra Kai, I've heard of them, I might pop in and check them out". However I guess if everybody hates the songs that might backfire

Anyway, there's another song up now called "Seasick" with more fake drums and Karate Kid 3 movie clips inserted in the name of comedy. Another going up tomorrow called "Repeat Offender" which is a faster number, with loads of funk bass along with some funny noises and a jazz ending. We had a long day recording them on Saturday and it descended into dicking about a bit. Prepare to be disappointed

Seriously though, thanks for listening and replying, not many people bother these days. You can have a free Cobra Kai T-shirt, if we ever make any.

[WoodyRATM]

I had a listen. I do agree the recordings a little ropey..but i do actually like the songs.

I thought the vocals in the "heavier" parts sounded a little off...kinda dead? i dont mean that as an insult to the vocalist, but like thats a recording issue again id assume. I like the guitar tone for some reason...

I'd defo attempt to catch you guys live, not enough grunge bands anymore hehe.

Speaking of which; when will the next gig be ya think?

[Lemonade]

I had a listen. I do agree the recordings a little ropey..but i do actually like the songs.

I thought the vocals in the "heavier" parts sounded a little off...kinda dead? i dont mean that as an insult to the vocalist, but like thats a recording issue again id assume. I like the guitar tone for some reason...

I'd defo attempt to catch you guys live, not enough grunge bands anymore hehe.

Speaking of which; when will the next gig be ya think?

Feel free to insult the vocalist, it's me. And I was hungover to fuck when I did the heavy bits!

Yeah a few of the levels are a bit dodgy, I think the vocals are a bit quiet throughout actually. But then I would say that. We've had a couple of gig offers but we've had to turn them down for the moment as we are still in the process of trying out new lead guitarists, though once he/she is in place and has learned the songs (which hopefully won't take long) we should be raring to go. We are itching to get our first gig done. We'll probably debut in the Moorings. Keep an eye on the Bebo site for gig dates and stuff, and that other new track going up soon....

Thanks for listening. And liking us

[WoodyRATM]

Feel free to insult the vocalist, it's me. And I was hungover to fuck when I did the heavy bits!

Yeah a few of the levels are a bit dodgy, I think the vocals are a bit quiet throughout actually. But then I would say that. We've had a couple of gig offers but we've had to turn them down for the moment as we are still in the process of trying out new lead guitarists, though once he/she is in place and has learned the songs (which hopefully won't take long) we should be raring to go. We are itching to get our first gig done. We'll probably debut in the Moorings. Keep an eye on the Bebo site for gig dates and stuff, and that other new track going up soon....

Thanks for listening. And liking us

No probs i'm a fan too. If my talents as a lead player were any good i'd offer my services...But im a bassist/vocalist (in theory..).

I did actually hear a pearl jam vibe too

[Lemonade]

No probs i'm a fan too. If my talents as a lead player were any good i'd offer my services...But im a bassist/vocalist (in theory..).

I did actually hear a pearl jam vibe too

Very possible, i was a proper little grunge kid in the 90s, I listened constantly to Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Mudhoney, Screaming Trees, Blind Melon, Hole, L7, Stone Temple Pilots etc. and that was at the time I was learning guitar so I was hugely influenced by that era, and it probably has bled through into my own songwriting. With the Cobra Kai I definitely wanted it to have a grungey core, ie quiet picky verses and big shouty choruses, and with a very minor key sound, but at the same time make it sound kinda modern and not so messy, and with dramatic bits like Muse. I'm surprised there aren't more grunge bands around as there must be so many of the modern musicians who were influenced by the Seattle scene in the 90s. Gotta love the grunge

[FatHand]

The new one is much better. It feels more dynamic.

[Lemonade]

The new one is much better. It feels more dynamic.

I don't really know what you mean by dynamic. Probably due to me having a very limited vocabulary! Could you expand a little?

I've uploaded a 4th song now btw. "Repeat Offender".

The Cobra Kai <thecobrakai>

[TR!ΔNGL€ T€€TH]

I've not listened yet, but I'm going to make a concerted effort tomorrow...

[forge of idols]

ach, bebo is for divs.

i'm going to type what i thinks.

sins of the flesh is good, as you mentioned its a home demo- i like the guys voice- its a bit aberdeeny, but you can work on that. Holy bible-ish (pre-pies james dean bradfield), intelligent rock. aye it's fucking better than captain face/etc etc.

it's a bit wuggy chuggy metal- but the melodys grand.

i dinnae like the bass playing it's a bit " metallica instrumental", sack the metaller and get a kim deal-er.

i'm going to listen to them all.

in my shoes

like the intro gallup, likes a bit like that there alice in chains.

sounds a bit like the other one. the singing gets a bit aberdeeny on this one.

holy fuck, folk in aberdeen are going to like this, it's a bit popcorn fiend( the bloke that was in subsistence).

it's nae got much of a tune.

mair metallica bass playing.

seasick

right see i like this, its a good riff and that- this time the guitars are a bit like metallica. the vocals get waaay to aberdeeny on this one- like that boy Grieg or Element ten past six.

i do like it though.

finally a tune.

get rid of the widdly bits though.

repeat offender

its a bit funky.

holy fuck, here we go-

for home demos it sounds great, i think the vocals are the best point- as soon as you get rid of that wanky aberdonian rocker sound i could listen to this- try ripping off ziggy fae found and mixing it with the cunt fae twilight sad and run it through yer manics pedal and it should be great.

the shape of songs is there, stop the widdly bassist if you can- if you cant simply play louder than him/her- or as i have found most widdly bassists really want to play guitar, shift him onto guitar and get some one to play simple bass.

its good though.

if i had beebo i would get it checked out first and then probably add you to see what else you made.

[Gemz]

I liked it...an i added you...

Alice In Chains are my favorite of all time band...

8-)

[Camie]

Did you record with one or two guitars?

Songs are good (apart from Repeat Offender which as said is too funky and just cheesy), but they seem to just drag on too much.

Not the best feedback but better than no feedback.

[Lemonade]

ach..... etc.

Wow thanks man, that's exactly the kind of constructive feedback that makes this forum worthwhile, Sorry to see you've got yourself banned after it though! OK reet, first off the guy's voice is my voice so feel free to slate it :-) Personally I love our widdly bassist, I think a few of our songs are quite basic and chord-y, and his fills and general madness add a lot to the sound. it sets us apart a bit I think, it might take a bit of getting used to but I'm all for it, in fact I think our sound depends on it, if we lost Ron we'd be fucked IMO. I never really noticed the Manics comparison before, aye I guess there is a hint of that in there. We've added some lead bits into Sins now to fill it out a bit. With In My Shoes I was going for the good old quiet LOUD quiet LOUD thing that I grew up on. We'll try and lose the 'wanky aberdeen rocker' sound as soon as I figure out what that is Thanks for the feedback.

I liked it...an i added you...

Alice In Chains are my favorite of all time band...

8-)

Good, cheers! Thanks for taking the time to listen and for adding us, we really appreciate it. I say your comment on our Bebo, we don't have any gigs lined up yet, but we've been buried away practicing practicing practicing so that when we do finally start gigging we'll actually be good. Plus we've just got a new guitarist and he is learning all the songs so once he's up to speed there'll be no stopping us! We've been offered a couple of slots, including in the moorings, we're hoping to be out and about by May at the latest so please do look out for us.

Did you record with one or two guitars?

Songs are good (apart from Repeat Offender which as said is too funky and just cheesy), but they seem to just drag on too much.

Not the best feedback but better than no feedback.

Agreed they do drag on a bit, as was said before in the previous posts in this thread. These were just demos recorded as soon as we wrote them, and as you know your songs change and develop over time, we have gone back through them and changed a lot, taken bits out and shortened them, added some new lead parts so they are a lot snappier now and don't drag as much. We will be re-recording final versions of them which hopefully will flow better.

We recorded with just me playing guitar but I did stick in a few lead parts just for the craic. We'ev got a lead guitarist now though which has really opened our sound out, we sound a lot better for it. I hope you'll listen to our next set of recordings cos they will be a lot better. Thanks for the feedback.