Last Call For The Cobra Venom kickstarter deals!

To all those that have pledged, thank you so much.  To those that haven't yet, this is the 11th hour.  After tomorrow (Saturday Dec. 10th) our ultimate deals for the kickstarter campaign will expire.  For as little as $5 you can get the entire album and for a bit more there are t-shirts, downloads, tickets and other exclusive items to be had.  If you're strapped for cash, please REPOST so the word can spread.

Thanks again to all our backers, families, friends and fans.  This is YOUR Cobra Venom record as well as ours.

Cobra Venom's Kickstarter Is Coming To A Close...

To all those who have pledged, Cobra Venom is forever grateful.  We reached our initial goal and are now within $500 of our second goal for the band's kickstarter campaign.  The songs are in the final stages of mixing and we're now looking into the mastering, packaging, replication and digital distribution options - all of which are going to be even better now thanks to our awesome friends and fans!

On Sunday December 11th, the campaign ends. So if you still wanna get the new album for as little as $5 and a whole lot of cool extras like merch, additional recordings, CV digital media and even some free passes to our shows for a little bit more, you only have a few days left!

Here's a recent video from one of our gigs in LA.  This song, "Cold War Battle," will be one of many on  the full-length record.  Check it out and please post, facebook, blog and tweet away about this kickstarter campaign and about Cobra Venom.

Thank you!

Cobra Venom has been kickstarted!

Less than 30 days into Cobra Venom's kickstarter campaign and we have reached our initial goal!  The band is so stoked and grateful for the support of our friends, families and fans with this process.  Making an album is fun but can also be a big challenge.  For an independent underground heavy music band in any subgenre, it's almost overwhelming.  It's also a very satisfying process and it's even MORE satisfying to know that there are people who are as stoked to hear this music as we are to create it.  

We worked hard to put together great packages for each pledge level and we are still offering these deals until the campaign ends next month.  There are many cool extras that accompany the album so whether you like MP3s, CDs, tapes, live tracks, merch, videos or all of the above, let us know and PLEDGE today!

Friend us, follow us, hear us and watch us to find out more about Cobra Venom.  Thanks again to everyone already involved.  You're the best!

Do What Matters Most

"...have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." -Steve Jobs

It's obvious that the man absolutely loved what he did. The money could make anyone happy but Steve Jobs was genuinely passionate about Apple and its innovations. Jobs suffered setbacks most of us couldn't imagine but he kept doing what mattered most to him until his body literally gave out.

Many of my fellow musicians, artists and entrepreneurs are passionate in the same way. The ones who are getting the most out of it (personally, professionally and otherwise) are the ones that are completely dedicated to it the way that Jobs was completely dedicated to his vision. My people have lost money, jobs, friends, homes, relationships and more than half of their sanity doing it but because they're doing what matters most to them, they've influenced the lives of so many people and they become even more successful as they continue.  It's hard for my people to recognize their success sometimes because they're in it every day, but it's happening and it's VERY inspiring to me and many others.

I can't imagine that all Steve Jobs' days were good ones but I'm certain he was satisfied. The fact that our time is so limited is the main reason why I play the drums and pursue music as fully as I do.

Do yourself a favor and do what matters most to you. Whether it's a job, a creative calling or any other big dream, do it. Go all in. Make your life about it. You just might end up changing the world...

Cobra Venom in Vegas this weekend!

Cobra Venom is returning to sin city for two gigs this weekend.  We’ll be at Yayo’s on Saturday the 24^th and Bunkhouse Saloon on Sunday the 25^th.  We’ll also have the band’s first tape, “The Dead Girl Still Walks The Halls,” available at the show.  The tape (yes, the kind that you put in a cassette player) features my first recording with the band, “Invent The Adversary,” along with some live tracks and one of the band's very first demos.

Here are the flyers with the addresses, lineups and all that good stuff.  See you there!

Cobra Venom vs. The World!

Those of you who've been following me on twitter, facebook, myspace, etc. know that my band has been quite busy this year.  We've been gigging all over Southern California and are heading out to Vegas again in about 2 weeks.  We've played all kinds of stages and venues and about a week ago we did a backyard party that was also a whole lot of fun (especially when the pit broke out at 2:22):

This was my first outdoor gig with the band so it took a little getting used to for the first couple of minutes but we locked in, had a great time and got an AWESOME response from the crowd.  We did not get such an awesome response from the neighbors, though.  The cops were called and the show got stopped before we could finish.  We'll just start earlier next time. :)

The biggest event of all is definitely the impending release of our full-length record, which is being mixed right now.  I've heard the rough mix results and seriously can't believe my ears.  Everyone and their mother will be hearing about this record from me when it's finished.  I'm so stoked and also so grateful to be in this band.  Chris, Nelson and Marc are as stoked if not more stoked than me that this is coming together so well.

We have two gigs coming up this week - Thursday night at Lot 1 in Echo Park and Saturday night at Universal Bar & Grill in North Hollywood, so you have options for either side of the hill in LA.  We're opening so come early!  :)

The Best In Drums Los Angeles Regional Finals

As many of you know, I performed at Sam Ash's Best In Drums Los Angeles Regional Finals last Wednesday.  It was one of the best drum competitions I've ever experienced.  I actually ended up playing last, which was cool but also nerve-wracking.  The drummers were outstanding and it was rewarding but also humbling to compete against drummers at this level.  California, Nevada, Arizona and Texas were all represented and it was really awesome to see that so many incredibly good drummers were also very cool people.  Here's me playing "Smash," the heavy song featured in the contest:

The play-along tracks for the competition are still available for download on the Best In Drums web site.  I highly recommend checking the tunes out and jamming along with them or any other play-along track in your musical style.  It gives you the chance to be both creative and musical as a drummer.  I will not be continuing on to the national finals (this time), but I will be heading to Las Vegas with Cobra Venom during that same week.  More on that later...