INTERVIEW: MARK THE COBRASNAKE

June 1st, 2009

Mark Hunter is a lot like you and I. He wears vintage clothing. He travels. He grows awesome facial hair. He parties. He takes pictures. Unlike you and I, he does all that for a living. Over the past five years, “The Cobrasnake” has become the definitive photographer of global hipster culture, shooting everything from Indie Rock bands playing basement parties to DJs spinning in exclusive clubs.

Five years ago Mark created Polaroid Scene, the world’s first nightlife photo blog, and began posting pictures he would take at shows and clubs during the heady days of LA’s “indie” explosion. After working out a few kinks and receiving a sternly worded letter from Polaroid’s legal department, www.thecobrasnake.com was born, and the much imitated website now gets over 500,000 visitors a month. In the past year alone Mark has traveled to over 75 cities in 15 countries shooting parties and events, constantly searching for the latest trends and hottest fashions.

Mark has since become a staple at fashion weeks, nightclubs, galleries, concerts, festivals, parties, proms, sweet sixteens, and bar/bat mitzvahs across the world.

LH: ‘Aight man, right to it, tell our readers where the name “The Cobra Snake” came from?

MARK: I was on a spirit quest with an old Indian man in the desert and after five days the spirit of the cobra appeared to me and spit super sour flavored venom all over my eyeballs. After that I had a vision of an even more mystical cobra wearing a leather jacket with no arm holes who told me if I changed my name to “The Cobrasnake” and he would tell me the secret to make all of my dreams come true. Its basically all the stuff that’s in the book “The Secret” except it actually works.

LH: You’ve really achieved celebrity status now as a photographer, it’s crazy. How did you get started in photography, did you ever think you’d have this kind of success?!

MARK: I got started by inventing the photo blog. Then I kept updating the best pictures of people having fun and eating pizza and dressing in nice clothes and after like five years I was rich and famous. It pretty much went down how I thought it would.

LH: The website…the design of the site is fresh but classic. Was that all you?

MARK: The design of the site came about from a combination of my extremely good taste and my sophisticated web design sensibility. The receipt image for my photo sets comes from a real receipt for an extra large plain cheese pizza and a caesar salad that I bought in 2003. The number that appears on the checks, 7154-46, comes from adding up all the numerical values of the letters of my name and the words “best photographer ever.”

LH: We hear photographer’s, especially the “best photographer’s ever”, get crazy amounts of girl ass. Like early 2000, boy band ass. Is that true?

MARK: I think the person who got the most early 2000s boy band ass was probably Lou Perlman, and the last time I checked he was in jail for doing something horrible to some money or a little boy.

LH: Haha, but what city has the craziest girls?

MARK: The craziest girls that I ever partied with were the heiresses of a makeup fortune in a hotel casino in Monte Carlo. When we got back to our room they ordered fourteen lobsters and a case of champagne from room service and then snorted cocaine off the lobster’s claws and took a bath in the champagne.

LH: Tell us something about yourself that would surprise most people.

MARK: I’m an Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America, I was Vice President of my High School, and I was Prom King.

LH: So that’s how you do it…but how is it that you’re always at these events that are celebrity packed?

MARK: There’s a secret list called “The List” of all the most famous and important and cool people in the world. Once you get on “The List” you automatically get invited to every exclusive event taking place all over the world forever. The only way you can get taken off the list is if you pull a major party foul like peeing in someone’s sink or eating the last piece of pizza without asking anyone first.

LH: We read somewhere Shepard Fairey, used to be your mentor. What did you think of his Obama work? You guys still keep in touch?

MARK: I got my start working as an assistant to Shepard back when he was just another up and coming street artist with a worldwide anti-advertising campaign based on a philosophical framework called phenomenology. Now he’s the official street artist of the first black president and I couldn’t be more proud. We still hang out all the time. I’m going to go see him DJ at Coachella with Paul McCartney from the band Wings!

LH: Speaking of artists, what photographers or artists, do you look up to?

MARK: Todd Selby, Shepard Fairey, So Me, Jeremy Scott, Kanye West, Terry Richardson, Martin Parr, Jergen Teller. My favorite photographer is whoever takes the pictures for the SkyMall catalog.

LH: So for Mark Hunter, what makes a good picture?

MARK: Most of my favorite pictures are of skinny girls sitting on the floor.

LH: In the pictures of you, it looks like you stick with vintage, but do you have any new clothing brands you really like?

MARK: RVCA, adidas, ksubi, supreme, alife, old navy. All my amazing clothes go up for sale on The Cobra Shop after I’m done wearing them to crazy parties all over the world.

LH: Let’s talk about The Cobra Shop, all your designs and your handpicked vintage pieces?

MARK: I’m really excited about The Cobra Shop, my new online vintage clothing boutique. I’ve been collecting vintage for years, getting the best stuff from all over the world, and now I finally have a chance to show everyone what my style is all about. People have loved looking at the clothes on the site for years and now they have a chance to buy the freshest gear direct from the source. A lot of vintage stores on ebay are fronting right now, trying to rep their whack, played out styles and hoping nobody will tell the difference. I’m just trying to show the world that there’s a higher level when it comes to vintage.

LH: And what made you want to get started in clothing?

MARK: I’ve always had a passion for clothes, especially when they’re being taken off of a cute girl and thrown across the room playfully.

LH: We see you around with the Ed Banger crew, what’s your relationship with SO ME? Working on something?

MARK: [My relationship with So Me] Strictly platonic right now, but who knows what will blossom in the future.

LH: Complete this sentence, “In my carry on, I always have:”

MARK: WD-40, a sock full of pennies and nickels, a package of boca burgers, sandals, a package of miniature farm plastic farm animals from the 99 cents store, a six pack, my pog collection, my slammer collection, an extra pair of boxers, and an extra “edible” pair of boxers.

LH: Homeland Security must love you. What’s the last thing you purchased?

MARK: A giant ceramic hamburger-shaped piggy bank.

LH: When are we going to see you direct a music video?

MARK: Soon! Axl Rose, holler at me!

Better party pictures than you’ll ever have posted on your Facebook page…

Busy P and Mark