Cobra Starship frontman Gabe Saporta knows he shouldn't be takling 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 voicebox, 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 Reocrds), will be released Aug. 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 this week.

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 band first attracted with its 2006 album, "While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets," as well as 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," Fueled by Ramen president John Jancik says," 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 gelling. In January Saporta and his bandmates holed up in a rented hosue 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 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 address 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."

To set up the release of "Hot Mess," Cobra Starship leaked the track "Pete Wentz Is the Only Reason Why We're Famous" in April, then hit the road with Fall Out Boy through May. It also launched a new Web site in April, CobraCam.tv, where a new "episode" premieres every Monday until the album's street date. The clips, which garner 80,000-100,000 views each and are also available as free podcasts on iTunes, range from behind-the-scenes tour antics to scripted sketches, like a fake commercial for a new fragrance called Deliciousness.

"We started to get a really good response from kids, so we thought, 'Let's just keep doing it for as long as we can,' "says lead guitarist Blackinton, who has taken the lead on conceptualizing the videos.

Along with "Hot Mess," plenty of exclusive Cobra Starship content will be available in the coming weeks. Starting July 21, Hot Topic will sell a T-shirt that includes a physical hangtag that purchasers can use to redeem a free download of a "Good Girls Gone Bad" remix at Shockhound.com. And at its own Web store, the band will ofer limited-edition merch items, like a Cobra Starship necklace and bonus DVD, free with every purchase of the deluxe version of "Hot Mess." Fans will also get a trial members to the Cobra Crew, the band's new official fan club.

As is no surprise for a band with song titles like "Snakes on a Plan (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 amalgmation 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."