Biography

"You should hope and pray that they play your party."— Spin

If you went to high school in COOLVILLE U.S.A., then the Detroit Cobras would have played at your prom.

Crawling out from the weed-choked lots of the once proud town, The Detroit Cobras whip out ass-shaking anthems to good times, wild times, and the high and lows of L-U-V; you best believe it and you best not mess with it. Blurring the lines between R&B and R&R and soul, the Cobras are THE go-to party band for those in the know. Singer Rachel Nagy and guitarist Mary Ramirez are the bad girls by the exit doors at the school dance, all leather and heels, sneaking smokes and passing the flask. They have no time for dewy-eyed love songs or girl group decorum; they’ll take care of business themselves with a bat of the eye or an elbow to the kidney. Rachel’s "warm as the half pint ofbourbon under the seat of your car" voice can boom to the back pews (Did we say "pews?" We meant "barstools") and Mary’s riffs let you know that love and good times can be found in the tilt of a hip or at the end of a fist.

And you don't have to take our word for it:

"Nagy is an unrivaled vocal powerhouse whose interpretations are sometimes even more memorable than her classic inspirations. Her voice is simultaneously serene and fiery, lit up with a saucily boozy and wise-cracking, rude confidence that makes a soul-revising latecomer like Amy Winehouse seem like a shrinking violet. Ramirez prevents the group from coming off as some slickly reverential museum piece by riffing with dirty, punky garage chords, a major reason that the Detroit Cobras are the ultimate rock & soul party band." —LA Weekly

"Your average Best Buying doofus won't give a damn about any of it, but one thing I've noticed about the Detroit Cobras is that if you actually play them for someone that knows nothing about them, or you take someone to see a show, the band's so totally infectious and convincing that you'll have a new convert on your hands in no time." —Stomp and Stammer

"…the Cobras do the unthinkable: make rock n’ roll simple, fun and irresponsible." — Magnet

"Combining girl-group hooks and harmonies with high-octane, Motor City garage rock, the Detroit Cobras conjure the 1960s era of Top 40 AM radio and vinyl 45s…singer Rachel Nagy has attitude to burn and the mixed-gender band plays with plenty of rough-hewn energy." —AMAZON.COM

"The Detroit Cobras come across as the type of band that challenges the audience to have as much fun as they're having onstage, but at the same time they deliver musically. One moment you're struggling to keep up with their energy, and then you're struck by the soul and emotion they project. Now that's rock and roll." —Relix

"The Cobras' secret weapon is frontwoman/human tornado Rachel Nagy, a mesmerizing mash up of Dusty Springfield, Neko Case, Chrissie Hynde and Ronnie Spector." — Amplifier