The Artists in Profile: Girl in a Coma

Photo by Sarah Quiara

You may remember, long before Listen In was formed, I wrote a concert review for a show I saw almost a year ago, of Girl in a Coma performing at a local grocery store. Since that time GIAC have officially made it big, touring around the country and overseas opening for Morrissey, not to mention several features and interviews with the Mun2 network and other publications catering to the Hispanic population.

Girl in a Coma is a three piece band hailing from my hometown San Antonio, Texas. Dreaming of making it big in a band, high school friends Jenn Alva and Phanie Diaz tried to assemble the perfect lineup but failed every time. It wasn't until Nina Diaz, Phanie's then 12 year old sister sang them a song she had written herself, that the dream would come to pass. Playing small venues in bars around San Antonio, the girls honed their craft and wrote songs for the album they would some day debut.

In 2006, the girls (Nina now 18 years old), won the chance of a lifetime when they impressed two producers from Los Angeles who showcased the band for a pilot documentary and flew them to New York City where they met and performed for one of their idols, Joan Jett. Jett, so impressed with their sound, signed them to her own record label Blackheart Records right there and then.

They quickly produced their debut record Both Before I'm Gone the title inspired by a quote by James Dean, Being an actor is hard. Being a man is even harder. I hope to be both before I'm done. Consisting of 13 tracks, Both Before I'm Gone is solid from beginning to end, with poetic imagery and allusions to literary works. I was first turned on to GIAC by San Antonio College's radio station, and later while checking out at Barnes & Noble there was a tiny hand drawn sign on the counter that said "Support local bands" with a stack of about 10 copies of Both Before I'm Gone underneath it. Needless to say their CD is much easier to find these days, and they were even the iTunes Editor's Choice last month.

Girl in a Coma, are well on their way to superstardom, bringing with them a tex-mex sound you can only pick up in the south, be sure to check out their various videos on their website and here's a special treat, a video from the performance I wrote about one year ago, there were less than 50 people there, so I must have been standing right behind this camera.

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Cross posted from the new Listen In Site!

© Jacob Nicolas Martinez 2007 for LISTEN IN some rights reserved

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