Kobra and the Lotus

Sunday, May 3, 2009
Kobra and the Lotus at the Underground- Calgary, AB
This show was unreal. I guess it was so unreal cause I had no idea Brit was such a good rocker. Her voice is so unique and she is easy on the eyes as are her band mates. The whole band is one pile of rockin' hotness and to me that equals star power. The gig was held at the underground club, which is below the Warehouse an old watering hole of mine. Headbangers littered the front row of the the set and found myself banging my head to the righteous tunes as well. Do you all see why Brit is full on Lilly Lab Rat material? Rock on sister!! What a liberating show. - Lilly Lab

“They were originally looking for a drummer, but I dared them to audition me…”

By admin


Kobra and the Lotus
BY KEITH SHARP

Heavy metal is alive and well in Calgary. At least that’s the impression you get listening to KOBRA AND THE LOTUS’s debut album, Out Of the Pit, out this month through Sonic Unyon Records. Imagine Lee Aaron fronting Iron Maiden and you get an idea of what this hard rocking quintet is all about.

Not exactly known as a heavy metal capital, Calgary still harbours musicians weaned on Iron Maiden, Metallica and Judas Priest. And when aspiring guitarists Chris Swenson and Matt Van Wezel hooked up with singer Brittany Paige via an online ad, the former classical vocalist found kindred spirits who shared her love of the metal. “They were originally looking for a drummer, but I dared them to audition me,” explains Paige. “We started jamming together, and things just kinda developed from there.”

Originally called Lotus, the name was changed because new drummer Griffin Kissack thought it “too feminine” for a metal band. “So then we thought of Cobra with a ‘C’, but that had already been taken. Then we thought of Kobra with a ‘K’, but there’s a rapper in Montreal registered with iTunes with that name. So we put the two together and formed Kobra and the Lotus.”

Things began to get serious when the band was introduced to veteran musician Greg Godovitz of Goddo who had just moved to Calgary from Toronto. He offered to produce their first album. “Greg was great,” Paige says, “but I didn’t like my vocals.” As a result, the album “kind of sat there” for about a year while the band toured.


Kobra and the Lotus
But by tour’s end Paige’s voice had “totally changed.” So the band contacted producer Kevin Shirley (Iron Maiden, Aerosmith) who flew Paige down to Los Angeles. Shirley rerecorded her vocals and re-produced the record in a mere ten days.

The result, Out Of The Pit, features ten hard-charging songs fuelled by Paige’s high-pitched vocals and Van Wezel and Swenson’s dual guitar riffs. Nine of the ten tracks are originals, with song number ten being a cover of Mötörhead’s ‘Ace Of Spades’. With Howie Weinberg (Nirvana, Aerosmith) mastering the record in New York and producer Nick Blagona (Deep Purple) recording vocals to the track ‘Legend’, Kobra And The Lotus has assembled an impressive production staff for a debut record they are set to showcase at Toronto’s Canadian Music Week later this month.

“We are a work in progress,” admits Paige, who was a February pin-up in influential British metal magazine Metal Hammer’s 2010 Metal Maidens calendar, “but we do believe in putting on a great live show.”
- Keith Sharp

Brittany Paige, lead singer for the band Kobra and the Lotus is featured in this December's issue of Metal Hammer Magazine, out on stands now! She is featured in a full page layout in the Metal Maiden's Calendar for 2010.

http://www.kobraandthelotus.com/home/ - Metal Hammer Magazine

If Bruce "Air Raid Siren" Dickinson (Iron Maiden), had a long-lost sister, it would doubtless be Kobra and the Lotus frontwoman Brittany Paige, Canada's next claimant to the crown of "Metal Queen" (a title that has long been left vacant, since Lee Aaron abdicated the throne in favour of kingdoms jazzier). Don't believe? Fairly convincing proof of this is readily available on the band's MySpace page: www.myspace.com/kobraandthelotus.

The Calgary five-piece - whose classic British heavy metal sound is so pristine you'd swear it was hauled out of a time capsule buried in the bowels of Wembley Arena circa 1980 - are currently on the road in support of their new release, Out of the Pit, which has also enjoyed additional support from a range of illustrious others in the form of Greg "Goddo" Godovitz (producing), Nick Blagona (mixing and engineering) and Triumph's Rik Emmett (guesting on guitar).

Kobra and the Lotus (www.kobraandthelotus.com) are just about to embark on a short Eastern Canadian tour that will see them in the following locales:

May 24, Toronto, The Opera House, w/ Primal Fear

May 26, Quebec City (QC), Scanners Bistro Musique, w/ Hey Sugar

May 27, Sherbrooke (QC), Bar Le Magog, w/ Hey Sugar and Potion 13

May 28, St-Hyacinthe (QC), Bar Le Trash, w/ Outbred Inlaws, Diemonds and Rockhard

May 29, Montreal, Bar Piranha, w/ Diemonds, Reckless Ride and Soulcaged

May 31, Ottawa, Rainbow Bistro

June 4, Hamilton, Club Absinthe, w/ Superblaster

June 5, Oshawa, Atria, w/ Ape

- HOUR.ca

http://www.metalstorm.ee/pub/interview.php?interview_id=542

Kobra And The Lotus - a relatively new band to the local Calgary metal scene, within the past few months has been receiving a considerable amount of promotion that has turned a lot of heads. I decided to sit down with the band before their performance opening for Stratovarius to learn a few things about what is undoubtedly going to be a big name in Canadian metal.

Brittany Paige - Vocals
Matt Van Wezel - Guitars
Chris Swenson - Guitars
Ben Freud - Bass
Griffin Kissack - Drums

Luke: Ok, so first off, you guys are a fairly new band - let's hear a brief bio of what you guys are about.

Chris: Metal man...guitar riffs. Soaring vocals.

Matt: Our first album is coming out, it's all about the old classic 80's sound for the most part. We've also got a bit of a newer sound in there as well as far as the music goes...

L: So in-depth, what can people expect to hear from the debut album?

Brittany: A mix between hard rock and metal. It's musical in a power metal way, but there's lots of rocky riffs.

Matt: Lot's of classical influence.

Brittany: Yeah, classical singing. Some power metal singing.

L: Was there any specific bands or albums that really impacted you during the writing process?

Chris: Guitar-wise probably ...And Justice For All, Master Of Puppets. Megadeth too.

L: So where did you guys come up with the band name "Kobra And The Lotus"?

Chris: Actually it was Brittany - it was a mix of a few names, she could tell you about that...

Brittany: Well we first called "Lotus", then we had a new drummer and he wanted to change the name to something more masculine. So then it was "Metal Bomb"

Chris: That was a week! For a week we were "Metal Bomb."

Brittany: Then it accidentally slipped onto a bill, at one of the shows at The Stetson. Then we switched it to Kobra with a "K." Then when we searching Itunes when recording our album we were looking for all the domains for Kobra and everything we need for the release of the album. Someone was rapping under the name "Kobra" in Montreal, so all our dreams were shattered. So we put the two names together - it worked out for the better because now we've got the girls and guys in there...

Matt: Our first name was "Judas Cradle". You have to look that up when you get home to figure out what that means.

Brittany: I was pretty horrified.

Chris: Yeah, it's actually pretty inappropriate considering we have a girl singer.

L: You've probably seen in metal lately a lot of new bands wanting to play a lot of old-school style stuff, how do you guys separate yourselves from all the overly derivative, generic crap that's coming out these days?

Matt: I guess just don't pay attention and do what you do.

Chris: Yeah I guess that's the easiest way to put it. Don't even look at what those guys are doing and just do what you want to do I guess.

Matt: At the same time, if we're listening to a song and we hear something that catches us, we'll go back to it and try to come up with idea from it. Usually we just sit down, figure our stuff out, Brittany does her thing, just working together a lot.

L: Speaking of separation, you've probably noticed around Calgary a good portion of the bands are very technical-prog type stuff, what gave you the inspiration to do something more basic and stripped down?

Chris: I think it was our song writing and playing skill at the beginning. Maybe we weren't even able to do stuff like that - come up with the complex rhythms and stuff like that. We just like to have fun on stage too, just play stuff that gets people pumped.

Matt: Yeah, funny thing about the new album is it's what we could do back then - when we wrote it. Actually it was a long time ago when we wrote most of the songs on the new album...we kind of think of it as the old album.

L: According to my sources you guys have only been together as a band for 9 months and you've already got UK dates booked, does this whole push seem a bit surreal happening so quickly?

Brittany: [Laughs] No! Not natural at all!

Chris: I think whenever anybody starts a band they expect that kind of stuff, but at the same time they don't expect that kind of stuff to happen right away. Obviously you're hoping for that, but in a way...

Brittany: The push is awesome, but the push is crazy. I think we feel like we're streaming along on the end of it trying to keep up with it. It's also like "This is happening, the this happens..." and we're sort of like "What the hell? Why is this happening?"

Chris: So much work...

Matt: We're already finding we don't have enough time to do everything we need to do. We're just starting, it's crazy!



From Left to right; Ben - Bass, Chris - Guitars, Griffin - Drums, Matt - Guitars, Brittany - Vocals


L: I also noticed you [Brittany] have something booked with Metal Hammer Magazine, whats that all about?

Brittany: They are doing a "Metal Maidens" calendar for 2010. The guy from Metal Hammer that is putting it together found our band - I don't know how, but he really liked it. He just got a hold of us and said "Can we have your metal maiden on one of our months?" So I did a photo shoot and I'm going to be one of the months for the Metal Hammer magazine calendar.

Griffin: [Whistles]

Brittany: Yeah that's kind of weird, people having pictures of me up for a year...

Griffin: On some mechanics wall...

Band: [Laughs]

L: I've also looked into some of your individual myspace pages and noticed some of you do other various projects around Calgary, what made you decide this was the band to push? Or do you still maintain your other projects the same way?

Griffin: Well for me, in terms of the previous projects I was in, they were sort of slowing down. Everything was pretty slow at the time, then when I heard about these guys we jammed and I enjoyed what was going on, I love playing live with them.

Matt: He [Griffin] fit in so good we forgot to tell him he was in the band...

Griffin: [Laughs] Yeah, they really didn't tell me what was going on.

Chris: He just showed up.

Matt: Eventually he was just like "So I'm in the band then? Is that whats going on?"

L: Might be a hard decision - but say you had to get someone into your band, and you could only show them one song, which one would it be? Which one represents Kobra And The Lotus the best?

Matt: Wow....I think live, I'd say 'Cynical Wasteland'.

Griffin, Brittany & Chris: Yeah, 'Cynical Wasteland'.

Brittany: Or the ballad...'The Ballad Of Jane Doe'

Ben: I know for me, 'Ride Like Sugar' was awesome for me when I auditioned. That was the song that I was really excited to show off.

Matt: I would have to go with 'Cynical Wasteland' myself, I think it's the strongest song overall.

Brittany: Yeah, it's the most anthem-like song. People can catch on to the words really fast...

Matt: We hear a lot people dedicate it to other people on the internet too.

Griffin: I think live too it's got a ton of energy.

Chris: It's the most driving too.

L: Okay, so before we do the final statements, is there any Spinal Tap moments so far, for any of the sadists out there reading?

Matt: Shut up!

Band: [Laughs]

Matt: I'm telling it! I want to tell it right! We were in Edmonton a few days ago, we went out to get some air, and this guy was out there. Britt and her mom bought some shoes off this guy earlier that day, I recognized him so I said "Hey, hows it going?" That was it. Then I walked away and started talking to Chris and Ben. He then just comes up to me, puts his arm around my shoulder, and opens up his mouth - he wanted to go in for a wet-one! I didn't go for it though - underline that! I did not go for it! If you could write this in there - I'm flattered guys, but I don't swing that way...But if any ladies want to grab me by the shoulders - anytime!

L: Okay, so wrapping things up, it's time for the obligatory "Any last words for the MetalStorm readers?"

Brittany: Yeah, stay true to yourself.

Matt: We're coming.

Brittany: Oh yeah, that too.

Chris: I don't know...buy our album!

http://www.kobraandthelotus.com
http://www.myspace.com/kobraandthelotus
- MetalStorm

http://www.metalstorm.ee/home/hit_pages.php?type=p_interviews - MetalStorm Magazine

http://www.uptownmag.com/2009-10-15/page4697.aspx

A match made in metal heaven
Calgary metal outfit Kobra and the Lotus found an unlikely voice in frontwoman Brittany Paige
Jared Story

A match made in metal heavenTwo and a half years ago, Kobra and the Lotus guitarists Chris Swenson and Matt Van Wezel placed a want ad on musolist.com, seeking a drummer for their then-unnamed Calgary heavy metal band.

It's safe to say they didn't expect a vocalist named Brittany to answer their call.

"The ad said they liked Iron Maiden, Mötley Crüe, all the bands I liked at the time," says Brittany Paige, 20. "I just thought it would be sweet to meet them, so I sent them a joke email saying, 'Yeah, I'm a chick and I'm not a drummer, but I think I can come in and kick your singer's ass so you should let me jam with you.'"

The dare turned to truth, as Swenson and Van Wezel accepted Paige's challenge and decided that yes, she was the right woman for the job. A classically trained singer, Paige possesses an impressive set of pipes. A little bit girly, but still quite gritty, the vocalist's voice sounds like a cross between Maiden's Bruce Dickinson (gritty) and the Crüe's Vince Neil (girly).

"That makes sense," Paige says of the Neil comparison. "The first time I was really influenced by anyone who I thought was a real rock star, it was actually Vince Neil. At the end of Grade 11, Mötley Crüe just hit me and left me googly eyed. I would always sing along to them and I liked how he has those little screams. Then I realized there isn't much to them in terms of technicality and that's when I started to appreciate the old metal."

With a solidified lineup that now includes bassist Ben Freud and drummer Griffin Kissack, Kobra and the Lotus recently recorded a debut full-length called Out of the Pit, which is scheduled to be released early next year. A mix of old-school metal and good ol' rock 'n' roll, Out of the Pit was recorded with Greg Godovitz of Goddo fame and features a special performance by Triumph guitarist Rik Emmett. The Canadian classic rocker lent his six-string talents to a cover of Motörhead's Ace of Spades, a track Paige was nervous about recording.

"At first I was really upset because I didn't think I would do it justice," Paige says. "Lemmy (Kilmister, Motörhead vocalist) is so growly I didn't know how to approach it. The last thing I wanted to do was sing a song that people love and just ruin it. It couldn't be just average. For a month I was just stomping around, thinking I couldn't do it and it would suck, but it ended up being pretty sweet and now I love singing it."

KOBRA AND THE LOTUS
Oct. 17, The Zoo
w/ The Civil Disobedients, Tinnitus - Uptown Magazine

http://travismagazine.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/travis-magazine-vs-kobra-and-the-lotus/ - Travis Magazine

At 9 o'clock, I had a tough decision to make, as no less than three Calgarian bands were slated to play that evening. While I left Cowtown behind five years ago, I still try to support bands from my ol' stampin grounds when they come out east--even if I've never heard of them before. A quick perusal of Myspace pages determined that Kobra and the Lotus at Club Neutral was my best bet, and they didn't disappoint. The female-fronted retro-metal band leans towards the glammier side of things, but they threw in some killer double leads and six-string bass gallops. Frontwoman Brittany Paige sounds like the bastard daughter of Bruce Dickinson and Lee Aaron, but is more attractive than the would-be offspring of those two. (The band photo on their site doesn't really do her justice...) Having just put out their debut album, Kobra and the Lotus already sound like seasoned pros, and are definitely a band to keep an ear out for!

THE TOP 10 BANDS OF CANADIAN MUSIC WEEK

1. Bison B.C.: Although they're not the first band to call themselves Bison, they've sure got a lot more friends than that other band... Chances are, they'll never use a xylophone for a song called "Choking on the Bacon,"

2. Harvey Milk: Do they even serve milk at Harvey's? That's a serious question...

3. Monster Truck: Easily the best thing to come out of Hamilton since... Ah shit, I'm recycling material from my 2009 NXNE list!

4. And So I Watch You From Afar: On St. Paddy's Day, I'll be raisin a pint a Guinness to these fine lads from bonnie Ireland!


5. Kobra and the Lotus: With a name like Brittany Paige, she was destined to front an 80's metal band. (No comment on drummer Griffin Kissack, cuz that's just mean...)
- Too High To Get it Right

KOBRA AND THE LOTUS - How To Build An Iron Maiden
Hot Flashes
Posted on Sunday, March 28, 2010 at 10:14:02 EST

By Carl Begai

When BW&BK received new kids on the Canadian block Kobra And The Lotus’ initial promo sampler in 2009 it went over like a fart in a spacesuit. Thus, when the request came in from the band’s promoter for a review we (read: I) politely declined in keeping with the old adage “if you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything at all.” Pressed for the reason why we’d pass on pushing potential homeland heroes, the vocals were cited as the ton of bricks dragging the entire project through the floor. Singer Brittany Paige was easy on the eyes but she clearly hadn’t found her calling. The end.

Or so we thought.

Early 2010 brought Kobra And The Lotus’ official debut, Out Of The Pit, which took up space in the “In” pile until questions of coverage arose once again. Pressed to take a listen, the album proved to be a distinct and more-than-merely-tolerable improvement over the original sampler. The band had grown some balls and were clearly on a diet of street-level grit, and they’d gotten rid of the lousy singer. Quite unexpectedly, they’d replaced her with a stronger and confident Brittany Paige, who took the above mentioned criticism to heart and chose to do something about it.

“It helped guide us, actually,” Paige says. “We decided as a band that it was important to re-record my vocals because they changed a lot once we started performing. I realized the authenticity of my voice and the way I projected it when we played live, and that wasn’t represented at all on the initial CD. We finished that sampler at the end of March 2009 and we just started touring. We toured all summer across Canada and played the hell out of every hole we could find. We did a festival in London in November, and when we got back we approached Kevin Shirley to see if he’d be interested in working with us. I was thinking it would be awesome if we could re-do all the vocals because I was so unhappy with them. They weren’t representative of me at all.”





Proving that thinking big can in fact pay off. In a surprise move producer Kevin Shirley, known for his work with Dream Theater and in particular Iron Maiden, agreed to take on Kobra And The Lotus and give them the overhaul they needed.

“I went to Malibu right before Christmas – he said he had one week open – and it was literally cabin fever," laughs Paige. "I just stayed in the studio for 10 days straight, and on a few of those days I didn’t even sing because I got food poisoning, so I ended up being this weak sick thing (laughs). It was awesome, though. I knew exactly how I wanted to present myself, I had a clear idea of how I needed to sound. And one of the most important things for me in comparison to the previous recordings is that I needed people to realize it was a woman and not a girl singing. Working with Kevin was so easy.”

“We’re a really new band, and he’d actually never done a project before ours that had been worked on previously by another producer,” she adds. “It was a weird thing for him to do, and the fact that he even wanted to do it was phenomenal for us. And the end result was 100% above my expectations.”

It’s worth noting that the original recordings were produced by enduring Canadian rock legend Greg Godovitz (of Goddo fame). Paige has nothing but good things to say about him and credits Godovitz with teaching Kobra And The Lotus about the realities of working in the studio at a professional level.

“When we first did the album with Greg, that was the brunt of things because nobody in the band was used to having a producer in the room with them. Initially that was initially really tough for the guys because they weren’t used to taking direction and ideas from someone. There was a little bit of tension in the beginning. We’re totally and completely in a different mindset now compared to when we did those first recordings and we’ve realized that extra input can help bring the songs to the next level. The guys were so pumped about Kevin coming in because he’s a metal producer whereas Greg is more of a rock producer, so when Kevin decided to tweak the sound so it was on the heavy side they were thrilled.”

“Kevin undressed the songs rather than fill them up. The original recordings weren’t very raw at all so Kevin took away all the effects, even on my voice. He made the songs raw and heavy so that it sounded like we do when we play live, and we really appreciate that.”





Out Of The Pit also features an unexpected guest appearance from former Triumph guitarist Rik Emmett, who shreds his way through a cover of Motörhead’s ‘Ace Of Spades’.

“That actually came about through Greg,” Paige reveals. “Rik Emmett is one of his friends from back in the day and Greg asked him about doing it, and Rik was totally into it. He liked our songs and showed his support by laying a solo down. So that solo in ‘Ace Of Spades’ is all Rik Emmett.”

Which is a huge deal given there are a legion of disgruntled Triumph fans that would sell body parts to hear Emmett shred up a storm for the span of even one album.

“Especially with the kind of music that he’s doing this days, sure. It’s very, very cool that he would do that for us and we’re really appreciative. We don’t really understand why we’ve been given that honour but we’ll take it (laughs).”

With tour plans currently being laid out for 2010 - including some shows Stateside – Kobra And The Lotus are looking at a picture much bigger than their native Cangary. According to Paige it’s a city where metal goes to die.

“We don’t really focus on Calgary at all,” Paige admits. “We find that, for now anyway, with the position the band is in and the venues that we play, it’s not an appropriate scene for us. The difference between Calgary’s and Edmonton’s metal scenes, it’s way bigger for us in Edmonton. I think there’s too much elitism in Calgary, with people having these ideas of how things need to be and having no room for compromise. It’s definitely not our favourite place and we’ve made it our home base and not much else. We just focus on touring and playing places like Toronto, for example. That’s a much better place for us to be.”

“We’ve already talked about it and hopefully in the next year we will be relocated. I think it’ll probably be Toronto. Somewhere on that side of the country. It’s absolutely one of our intentions to get out of here because the music scene in Toronto really seems to be thriving. And it’s not just one kind of music, it’s everything.”

As for the odd band name, it’s a story that Paige and her bandmates are cursed to tell over and over again…

“(Laughs) It’s actually the result of a series of comical events. It actually started out as The Lotus, and at that point we weren’t really touring or anything, just mainly writing music. We had a drummer come into the band for a period of time and he didn’t like how feminine the name Lotis was, so he was pushing for something more masculine. I suggested ‘Cobra’, but of course there were hundreds of bands out there with that name so we put the ‘K’ up front to make it a bit different. So, were were Kobra for a while. When we finished the album in March 2009 and started getting everything ready for the licensing on iTunes we couldn’t use the name because there was already a band using it. There were Kobras everywhere again (laughs). We got to thinking and came up with the idea of putting Kobra and The Lotus together because we knew there was no way anyone else would have it.” - Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles

Lotus blossoms on local metal scene

Julliard dreams replaced by rock for local singer

By Heath McCoy,

Calgary metal band Kobra and the Lotus.Photograph by: Courtesy, Hype MusicSpotlight

Out Of The Pit, the debut disc from Kobra and the Lotus, is in stores now.

- - -

Brittany Paige, the "metal maiden," singer of Calgary band Kobra and the Lotus, hasn't always been the hard-rock sexpot that she appears to be today.

Seven years ago, at age 14, she was a five-year veteran of the Calgary Kiwanis Music Festival. Competing in the world-renowned amateur

competition for budding classical musicians, she routinely edged out her young peers in the vocal musical theatre category.

She put her talents to work in a local stage production of Anne of Green Gables and she dreamed of one day studying music at New York's elite performing arts school, Julliard.

In 2010 though, she has the distinction of being the leather-clad, belly-baring Ms. February in Metal Hammer magazine's Maidens of Metal calendar, featured alongside the high-profile likes of actress-rocker Juliette Lewis and Cristina Scabbia of Italian band Lacuna Coil.

She and her bandmates in Kobra and the Lotus, who came together only a year ago, just released their debut disc Out of the Pit, which is full of original rockers as well as a cover of Motorhead's Ace of Spades.

Of course, dreams of Julliard have long been forgotten. Now Paige is focused on breaking into the bustling heavy metal festival circuit in Europe and eventually making her way to the arenas of the world like the bands that have inspired her, from Motley Crue to Iron Maiden.

It begs the question, how in Hades did such a transformation occur?

There were three major turning points that led the prim and proper Paige down the proverbial highway to hell.

One was a tragic. When she was entering high school a friend of Paige's was killed in a car accident. Paige was asked to sing Amazing Grace at the funeral. "I just couldn't do it," she says over green tea and sashimi at a Calgary's Sushi Bar Zipang. "I started crying and I felt awful because I didn't want to cry in front of his parents. I was in front of my school and all my peers and I was embarrassed and sad. . . . After that I literally didn't open my mouth to sing for four years. No singing in the shower. Nothing. I quit cold turkey and my parents were devastated."

Then, in her early teens, Paige caught the rock 'n' roll bug.

"I saw a Motley Crue tour from the '80s on TV and I was like 'Wow. These guys are rock stars,' " she says. " 'This looks awesome.' I went on this total '80s metal tear. I just loved it. I wore my hair huge and everything. I was an oddball."

Finally, in university, where she enrolled to study zoology, Paige's love of hard rock got the better of her. She set out to find like-minded musicians to form a band with and came across an online ad posted by local guitarists Chris Swenson and Matt Von Wezel, who were looking for a drummer. Impressed by their stated influences, Metallica, Iron Maiden and Trivium, Paige determined: "These guys are perfect. I'm gonna try to get into their basement and jam."

Sending the guitarists a joking e-mail that stated "Hey buddy I can kick your singer's ass" won Paige an audition and, ultimately, the coveted job.

Once the band's lineup was solidified with the addition of Ben Freud on bass and drummer Griffin Kissack, the ambitious group, who had yet to play a gig, began writing and recording their debut CD which was released this week.

The surprising thing about Out of the Pit is some of the high-profile names on board. The instrumental tracks were produced by Greg Godovitz of '70s Canuck rock band Goddo who brought his friend Rik Emmett of Triumph fame to the table, Emmett laying down his signature fretboard fire on the band's Ace of Spades cover.

As for Paige's vocals, they were produced by Kevin Shirley, who's done production, mixing and engineering work for the likes of Aerosmith and Iron Maiden.

Of course, that level of pro polish impressed the record companies and the independently released Out of the Pit now has major league distribution from Universal Music Canada and Sonic Unyon.

All of this is virtually unheard of for a band so fresh out of the basement. How did Kobra and the Lotus pull it off?

That comes down to a mixture of good fortune, strong business sense and tenacity, says Paige.

It certainly didn't hurt matters that Paige has had the full support of her parents in this venture. Her father (who she asked us not to name to respect his privacy) is a prominent local business owner and her mother, who acts as the band's manager, started up Kobra Music Inc., the group's independent label.

But the band's sheer moxie has also gotten them far. "We're finding out in this industry that it doesn't hurt to ask," Paige says. "And you can't have fear."

Sure enough, they weren't afraid to approach local concert promoter Jeff Parry last year, armed with only a three-song demo. He, in turn, recommended them to Godovitz, who was impressed by Paige's operatic voice.

Paige's 10-day recording session with Kevin Shirley in Malibu -- no doubt a costly venture -- also came about by simply pitching their music to the big-name producer, says Paige.

As for the Metal Maidens calendar, the U.K.-based Metal Hammer magazine discovered Kobra and the Lotus on the band's MySpace page and approached Paige.

She admits that Kobra and the Lotus have faced their share of animosity from some in Calgary's metal community who have criticized both the band's arena rock leanings and their glamorous lead singer.

Did that make the group hesitate when it came to Paige posing as a pin-up girl?

Not for a minute.

"That was an unbelievable opportunity for exposure, Paige says. "Metal Hammer is distributed worldwide."

She adds: "I'm a woman and I'm doing my thing and this is what's empowering me and making me feel sexy. . . . I don't think I'll ever tone that down."


Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/entertainment/music/Lotus+blossoms+local+metal+scene/2678282/story.html#ixzz0jVWylw77
- Calgary Herald