Cobra Starship in a "Hot Mess" with Meester

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Cobra Starship frontman Gabe Saporta knows he shouldn't be talking this much -- let alone recording a new album, touring nonstop and doing interviews -- but he just can't quit.

"I haven't really given my voice a rest," says the singer, exasperated and still recovering from a December 2008 surgery that removed a cyst from his vocal chords. "I went to a vocal therapist who said I have to whisper so that I don't put stress on my voice box, but I'm not doing it. There's no way."

It's easy to excuse Saporta for disobeying doctor's orders. The 29-year-old and his bandmates -- Ryland Blackinton, Alex Suarez, Victoria Asher and Nate Novarro -- have bigger concerns. Their third album, "Hot Mess" (Decaydance/Fueled by Ramen/Atlantic Records), will be released August 11, and their new single, "Good Girls Go Bad," which features "Gossip Girl" actress (and recent Universal Republic signee) Leighton Meester, is climbing the Billboard Hot 100, where it's No. 36.

Cobra Starship's second album, 2007's "Viva La Cobra!," has sold 119,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It solidified the teen fan base that the pop-punk band first attracted with its 2006 album, "While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets," as did Saporta's previous band, Midtown. Now, the group wants to keep the momentum going.

"The thought process for this album was to stick with how we built the band and appeal to the fans," says John Janick, president of independent label Fueled by Ramen, "and also to make sure we have some great songs that would work for radio. We're trying to balance all that out."

The band wrote some material on the road last year but felt that the songs weren't jelling. In January, Saporta and his bandmates holed up in a rented house in rural Pennsylvania to flesh out the songs without distractions. "I was like, 'We've got to get away from here and be a band for a little bit, let these songs come to life,'" Saporta says. "It was kind of like a science lab."

The songs that emerged from that reclusive writing session, and subsequent studio work with Kevin Rudolf and "American Idol" judge Kara DioGuardi, aren't unlike the tracks on the band's first two albums. "Hot Mess" features more anthemic dance punk with bombastic lyrics, and Saporta points to the title track and "Nice Guys Finish Last," which features a horn section, as evidence.

But he also says that one song, "The Scene Is Dead; Long Live the Scene," is introspective, as the frontman addresses his role as a showman. "I started Cobra with the intention of having it be fun and not heavy," Saporta says, "but this album is definitely more revealing on a personal level than any other Cobra record."

As is no surprise for a band with song titles like "Pete Wentz Is the Only Reason Why We're Famous," "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)" and "Kiss My Sass," Cobra Starship isn't worried about losing any street cred over its collaboration with Meester.

"Our real fans know already that I love 'Gossip Girl,'" Saporta says. "It's nothing new. That's been the point of Cobra Starship from the beginning. We're an amalgamation of all these different things and we're just fascinated by pop culture. To be able to take a bite out of it ourselves is great."

(Editing by SheriLinden at Reuters)