The band has never been this energetic and tight live before, it’s not only a personal thing, but damn, musically it sounds SO MUCH better.

Dutch band Cobra Spell started up in 2019 but has had quite a few line-up changes and now presents itself as an “all female band”. And that pays off, we think anyway, as the five-piece provided a very handsome performance here that tastes like more. Let these five find each other a bit better so that they become even more attuned to each other and we will have a top of the bill in the heavy metal genre. For now, Cobra Spell‘s current line-up only provided a single (‘Flaming Heart’) so the rest of the setlist consisted of songs from the previously released ep’s. We saw the band at ‘Blast From the Past’ and wrote: ”We were not only deeply impressed by what those guitarists shook out of their sleeves, or the infectious way in which the drum heads were stroked. The particularly charismatic front woman’s penetrating voice also rocked the room to its foundations. Of course, Cobra Spell brings out some clichés within heavy metal, but the combination between instrumental perfection, powerful vocals with tremendous playfulness on that stage, ensured that we were completely blown off our socks.” you can re-read the full report here. https://www.musika.be/2022/12/12/blast-from-the-past-10-december-2022/ Afterwards, we also had a very nice conversation with Sonia from Cobra Spell, went back in time, and also inquired about future plans.

*To cut to the chase, you have since released two eps and do not hide your love for 80s music. Bands from my youth like WASP, Dokken and so on… where does this fondness come from? Surely remarkable at your young age. Who were your big influences to choose this style?

Honestly, my passion for the music from the 80s started with KISS back when I was fourteen years old. I discovered them all by myself, nobody in my family was into this kind of music and also not at my school. The high energy of the music, the over-the-top looks and crazy stage performances are the factors that got me hooked in the first place. I wanted to discover all the bands of this style.

*I gave the latest EP ‘Anthems of the night’ a few listens, I do like the combination between energetic riffs and that varied vocal dressing. How were the reactions to this EP?

Thank you. The reactions of our second ep have been great!

*What I especially like is that you sometimes dare to colour outside the lines, that makes you unique in my eyes. But should I be an average music fan and want to buy your records, how would you sell yourselves. What makes Cobra Spell so unique in your eyes (apart from the completely female input since recently).

Besides the over the top way we express ourselves, what makes us special would be the music. The sound of COBRA SPELL is not only one specific style. It features influences from many different 80s sounds such as the AOR, the speed metal and the sleazy glam. All these combines in one make COBRA SPELL — executed in the most authentic way possible.

*I wanted to talk about that too, despite everything, the metal and rock world is still a male bastion, although I see more women showing up in the audience than before. How do you feel about that yourself, and do you have an explanation for that?

There is indeed a huge misbalance of gender in the rock and metal world and it needs to be changed ASAP. I feel huge responsibility to make a change since as a musician woman, we really are in the minority. I want to inspire other women to hopefully grab an instrument too and not feel intimidated by the challenges it brings. These feeling is totally understandable though, because being a woman in this community can be very hard and mentally draining. Being in the minority causes people to be extremely judgmental about us, mostly in unnecessary and unsolicited occasions. People can even be extremely rude and mean to women playing an instrument, or send misogynistic and/or sexist comments. It’s is truly a fucked up reality that needs to be changed, so yes, it’s great that more women are starting to come into this world, we need to show the world how powerful we are. Though, it’s sucks that we ‘need to prove it’. So stupid.

*After two EPs, isn’t it high time for a full album?

Good news for you! We recently have announced the contract signing with the record label Napalm Records. This means we will be releasing a full-length album as our next release!

*I saw you live on ‘Blast from the past’ in Belgium recently and had some questions about it too. ‘Firstly, how did it feel to perform on a festival where bands/artists like Blaze Bayley and Raven and Cloven Hoof were playing as well ??

Freaking awesome, obviously! And what a great festival it was, besides the bands of this festival being awesome, the crew on-site was marvelous and treated us very well. We are very thankful for being part of it, and we can’t wait to play in Belgium again. This country rocks hard! Another fun fact about this show is that I tried out a new show element for the first time; Fire-breathing! That was exciting.

*I especially loved the energy on stage, one symphonic ‘touch’ on top, and woow that voice and tasty riffs stick to the ribs. But most of all. I feel like you are more than ever a well-oiled machine where everyone is looking in the same direction, is that so? Do you sense it clicks?

Hell yeah, about damn time!!! I also finally feel like we all belong to be together. There is a strong magic going on with these line-up. Every single girl in the band is insanely talented and hard-working, each of them are amazing and I am a lucky gal to share the stage with this power women. The chemistry is not only existing on-stage, but also off-stage. The bond and the friendship is very strong between us and we get along super well. I learnt that it is extremely important to take the time to get to know the people before working with them in a band — before announcing this new formation I took A LOT of time to seek for the right people with the same mentality, dreams and work-ethic. I am convinced I finally have the right formation. Another side-thing, the band has never been this energetic and tight live before, it’s not only a personal thing, but damn, musically it sounds SO MUCH better.

*The audience also visibly enjoyed I had the impression, how were the general reactions afterwards?

The reactions from our show have been fantastic! We are all mesmerized by the amount of positive reactions the public gave us afterwards. We have also did a sign-session and it was a real success, we had a huge line of people asking of autographs and pictures, for some of us in the band this is all a very new experience. I am so happy to share this experience with this amazing girls. We will conquer the world together, I am convinced.

*Did you also enjoy the other acts, who could charm you the most (me besides you of course 🙂 Stallion, Raven and Blaze Bayley).

Raven!! I love this band, and seen them many times before. It was great to see them again. All for one, one for all! Haha.

*I’d still like to talk about that corona period, how did you experience it as a band, musician and human being? Was it a source of inspiration?

During the Corona period I honestly only been writing a lot of music. I didn’t use this subject for any kind of theme at all though – a pandemic does not inspire me. But covid forced me to stay at home, and staying at home made me spend more time on song-writing and getting better at guitar playing.

*In that corona period, many bands seized to perform via live stream, social media also became an important weapon. How do you yourselves see that and do you feel about performing via live streaming?

We believe social media is very important these days to get the band out there. It’s really the best way to reach the people. It allows us also to build a bigger fan-base that crosses the borders, which is important to us since the market for 80s sounding bands is mostly in the USA and in Germany. Peculiar right? But, that is important to us, we need to reach those people that like our music and internet makes this possible thankfully. As for live streaming of shows, personally I am not really into that. I believe live shows should stay a live experience. Otherwise it’s still some kind of music video recording in my opinion. But I have nothing against it, just not my thing.

*Meanwhile, that period seems to be somewhat behind us, but another problem emerges. It’s damn hard to see the wood for the trees in this oversupply of releases and bands. Some organizations struggle to sell their tickets, big events sell out effortlessly do you experience that problem too?

I haven’t felt the effect of covid on our sales to be honest. Our music sales actually have been getting exponentially better. And there has been way more booking interest for the band since the first shows that we have played with the Newest line-up! Which is wonderful!

*What are the further plans for the future?

We plan on releasing a full-length album through Napalm Records and to hopefully tour the world!

*Is there anything like an end goal , aren’t you working on that? And what are your ambitions beyond world domination obviously Besides world domination?

I guess the universe.

foto’s: Erwin Poppe.