For some people, I’d imagine the Detroit Cobras would be their own personal Blueshammer—the crappy blues revival band Steve Buscemi has to endure in Ghost World while the blues legend whose performance he came to see gets no respect. The two bands aren’t entirely dissimilar in approach: take the original aesthetic, turn the amps up to 11, let God sort ‘em out. Except (and if you emphasize with Buscemi, better turn away) the Cobras do a pretty good job of spitting out some mean 60s garage rock.

The Cobras have been, up to now, a covers band. They’ve been taking old motown and rock n’ roll standards and making them their own, with Rachel Nagy belting out the hits and the band sounding larger than life, with guitars and harmonicas and sha-la-las all over the place on Jackie Deshanon’s “He Did It.” And dammit, it’s lots of fun, and no I haven’t heard the original, but I don’t begrudge the Ronettes for playing thirty years before my time, so why should people begurdge the Cobras for playing thirty years after motown and girl groups and garage?

I guess what I’m trying to say, then, is that Steve Buscemi should lighten up. I think.