Cobras

The photo (left) are (left to right):
Mike Reesen (drums), Bob O'Neill (vocals, guitar), Mike Dokter (bass) and Dave Kibler (guitar)

The Cobras was a Pacific Grove, California group that evolved in 1963 from two friends who played guitar in different bands. Dave Kibler played lead guitar [in the Vistells] and Bob O’Neill played rhythm guitar. They quit their groups and recruited bassist Mike Dokter of Salinas, and Mike Reesen of Seaside to play drums to form a new combo.

Lots of groups were naming themselves after cars, and the Cobra was a fast and sleek car that everybody liked so it seemed like a natural choice. The Cobras started out as a surf music/Ventures instrumental band, but with the advent of the British Invasion, they started adding vocals to their repertoire. Eventually the group was based in Santa Cruz, California and played venues from Sacramento to Carmel.

They recorded four original songs in a small studio in Berkeley (that was apparently under construction at the time)using a 2-track Ampex.

The result was the “I’m Hurtin’”/”If I Can’t Believe Her” single. There was no promotion or distribution deal and of course sales of the record were limited to copies that people bought directly from the band or in local record stores. There are no known examples of the other two songs recorded at the session, but they were the similar in style to the two that were released.