StickItMedia Exclusive Interview

As a reward for their inspired bronze medal finish at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, members of the U.S. Men’s Olympic Gymnastics Team (along with their female counterparts) were quickly signed on to perform in the Gymnastics Superstars Tour, which ended this past November.  Prior to the Games, Paul and Morgan Hamm had already signed on for the tour.  It was a lot of fun for the guys, since they were paid to do their favorite activity while not having to worry about judges.  Even better, no uniforms, as they often performed in jeans.

Joining them on the tour was a new all girls band.  These young ladies spent two months together with the Olympic team on the whirlwind nationwide tour.  We’re talking about KSM.

If you haven’t heard KSM yet, you should.  This is not your little sister’s Disney band.  They have a punky rock sound evocative of Gwen Stefani meets the Go-Gos.  Their first singles, Hero in You and the infectious Distracted, are out on iTunes. They are currently opening for the ubiquitous Jonas Brothers, and enjoying their new life of touring.  The lead singer with that powerful, slinky voice is Shelby Cobra, fifteen years of age.  Shelby has loved singing since she was four and performing in her grandmother’s kitchen, her hair is so unique she named it “Sparky,” and she happened to spend last Halloween trick-or-treating with the women’s Olympic all-around champion!

StickItMedia recently caught up with the delightful Miss Cobra (pictured fourth from the left).

SiM:  What was it like spending two months with a bunch of Olympic gymnasts?

Shelby:  It was so much fun!  All of the gymnasts were extremely nice, and awesome to hang out with.  Watching them warm up and do all their crazy stunts was always super cool.

SiM:  When you weren’t studying, rehearsing and performing, what did you do in your spare time?

Shelby:  We would just hang out and explore the hotels or arenas, and film weird things with our flip-video cameras.

SiM:  How much time every day was devoted to schooling?

Shelby:  We would put in 3-4 hours of schooling each day… Even weekends, unfortunately.

SiM:  How did everybody get along?

Shelby:  We all got along very well.  There wasn’t any fighting, which is surprising for a group of girls.  Even living in such tight space on the bus, we got along great.

SiM:  What were some of the funnier stories that happened on the tour?

Shelby:  For the last performance, everyone pranked each other during the show.  There were pies thrown and costumes ruined.  We played a completely different song and the gymnasts who were performing with us had no idea.  It was fun!

SiM:  Who were your favorite gymnasts to hang out with?

Shelby:  It’s actually really hard to pick because they were all fun to hang out with.  We really miss all of them now that we’re not with them every day.

SiM:  What are your favorite memories of the tour?

Shelby:  We really miss performing with the gymnasts, and playing at the schools.  We’ll always remember the cool hotels.

SiM:  Were any lasting friendships made?

Shelby:  Yeah, definitely.  We still talk to most of the gymnasts and the crew members too.

SiM:  What’s next for KSM?

Shelby:  There’s a lot planned for 2009.  We’re going on a club/school tour and our album will be released in September!  We’re super excited for everything in store.  Check us out at www.myspace.com/ksmofficial for tour dates.