Instrumental History #5: Cobra Kai (1999-2000)

After a break, three of Akito Spokes: Antony, Matt and myself returned to work together with a new drummer and old friend, Ben Winn, resulting in the group 'Cobra Kai'. At the time Ben and I in particular had a particular interest in variations on time signatures and this was something we very much brought to the group. The sound was also broadened slightly from the two guitar, bass and drums line-up with my doubling on keyboards, and although the three of us who had been in Akito Spokes brought similar influences to the group that we had before, Ben's input and drumming was a component that brought out new things in us as well as the year away. We were still pretty much anti-distortion, but for me, the group had a new type of groove to it, and i was less interested in my previous preoccupation with how the two guitars created harmonies together and things became a little more interwoven and diverse. The group played a handful of live gigs and recorded some tunes both in the rehearsal space and at a studio nearby, including 'Nine' which features on the 'EPs and Others' disc before going it's seperate ways.