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Cobra Verde Delivers When Cleveland's noisy indie art-rockers Death of Samantha disbanded in the late '80s, Scat Records persuaded bandleader John Petkovic to make a solo album. That sounded much too pretentious, so Cobra Verde was born--a band that, for all intents and purposes, has really been a front for Petkovic's songwriting and studio shenanigans. Now, after a turn packing the overrated Bob Pollard of Guided By Voices, Cobra Verde has made its best and most cohesive album, "Nightlife" (Motel Records), a glam-era concept disc that presents more stylistics twists, turns, and pastiches than vintage Roxy Music, and which should have served as the soundtrack to last year's "Velvet Goldmine." "The thing I like about glam is it's the last period where rock was accumulating influences instead of subtracting them," Petkovic says. "You could have doo-wop, '60s soul, heavy metal, and pop influences all accumulating in one song. To me, there's got to be like 10 different things happening in a song for it to be interesting to listen to over a period of time." Petkovic is a fascinating fellow whose day job is writing a daily arts and entertainment column for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Onstage at night frontman, he's pure energy--a little bit Iggy Pop rock 'n' roll animal, a little bit Bryan Ferry smoothie. Now he's put together a touring band that matches the intensity of the album, and it shouldn't be missed. Cobra Verde performs with Del Rey and Tokyo Expando at 10 p.m. Saturday at the Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western Ave. The cover is $7; call (773) 276-3600 |