Nearly 50 years after Patsy Cline made “San Antonio Rose” famous, a very different female music act is blooming and booming in Texas.
Girl In A Coma, an all-women, Mexican-American rock band from San Antonio, have perfected their own brand of southwestern rock ‘n’ roll—a salsa-hot mix of punk, grunge, country, Tejano and whatever else has bounced off their eardrums.
Their fourth and latest album “Exits & All The Rest” was released last month and, on Dec. 5, it was selected as one of NPR Music’s 50 Favorite Albums for 2011.
GIAC played an energetic set to an enthusiastic throng of nearly 300 fans at the Independent in San Francisco, Nov. 29.
Lead vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Nina Diaz, 23, was nursing a sore throat just before performing, but it was virtually unnoticeable when she hit the stage and delivered the performance that the fans yelling, “Nina” have come to expect.
Diaz’s distinct vocal style is one of the factors that makes GIAC stand out in the seemingly infinite sea of readily available digital music, where it’s easy to be drowned out by all the noise. Her vocal range is impressive, making sweeping transitions from sweet highs to deep growls and roars seem effortless, and she peppers her bittersweet songs with dramatic intensity and Elvis-like snarls.
The rhythmic foundation laid down by bassist Jenn Alva and drummer Phanie Diaz—Nina’s older sister—teeters between light and bouncy and downright aggressive. When the band covers songs by popular artists like David Bowie, Patsy Cline and Selena, they are always re-imagined through the filter of the band’s own musical sensibilities.
The band’s name is derived from the Smiths’ song “Girlfriend In A Coma” and is homage to the iconic English band, who the members of GIAC cite as an early influence.
While they may seem like a young band, the tight Texan trio has been hard at work for 10 years. Nina Diaz was just 13, and still too young to play in over-21 venues, when her sister and Alva recruited her.
“Some venues we played wouldn’t even let me go in until I played and then I had to leave right away,” Diaz says.
But in 2006 they signed with rock legend Joan Jett’s label Blackheart Records and have since been on a steady course of recording and heavy touring.
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Before Tuesday night’s show, El Tecolote was able to sit down with the girls, who in true Texan fashion were polite, warm and down-to-earth.
El Tecolote: You all grew up in San Antonio and are still based there; what is that community like?
Phanie Diaz: We are very proud of our home. It’s where most of our support comes from. It’s very important to who we are. We just played a show there to 2,500 people. It just keeps growing for us since we’ve been together. It’s our backbone and it’s what keeps us motivated to keep playing. So, whenever we have a chance, we are in San Antonio. Our families are big supporters so we just like giving back. It’s a very close community.
How were the tracks on “Exits & the Rest” recorded differently than previous albums?
PD: We’ve done all records usually in the standard digital recording, with us recorded on separate tracks. This time around we did it on analog, which is live tape. So we did the foundation of [the] record live in one room, and that was different for us to sit and face each other and play these songs and work it out. Some of these songs we did in just few takes. The track “Adjust” was almost done in one take. It was more about feeling — the vibe of the song — rather than perfecting it and making it sound a certain way. It was fun to do and it was completely different for us.
How have you all grown as a band over the last 10 years?
Jenn Alva: Musically all of us have grown and that’s just by playing a lot of live shows and working with different producers. We are growing and getting the clichéd rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle out of the way. We did it and now we can say let’s take it a little more serious because there’s a lot of people watching. We have a lot of young followers and, I mean, we are not the best role models, but we are certainly not the worst either.
How did you come to collaborate with filmmaker Robert Rodriquez, in writing the song “Yo Oigo” for the film “Machete?”
Nina Diaz: He was making “Machete” and he lives nearby in Austin and he hung around with us for the weeks that we were playing at SXSW. He talked about the vibe of the song that he wanted us to write for the film. It was our first time actually writing an original song for something that somebody gave us. It was our first song in Spanish and English and it was my first attempt at writing lyrics in Spanish. My mom actually helped me translate because I am not as fluent as I wish I was.
While many of your musical influences are well known, do you have any non-musical influences?
ND: Robert Creely, Pablo Naruda and I like films by David Lynch a lot too.
PD: I think just our surroundings too. A lot of life in San Antonio inspires us to write and come out and tour.
There’s a track on “Exits & All the Rest” called “Hope” that has a political tone, what was the inspiration for it?
ND: Last year, around the holidays, we went to play The Sound Strike (a campaign designed to enlist musicians to boycott Arizona over it’s anti-immigrant policies) with Zack de la Rocha, from Rage Against the Machine.
PD: There was a lot kids who had lost family members because the laws there. They were deporting their parents back so we went to the show to give out free toys and things like that. Later, we saw the prisons where they are holding immigrants outside and they’re dressed in pink and all this ridiculousness. Just standing there, watching it and taking it in inspired Nina.
ND: Just seeing these families put out of whack because of all these new rules getting pushed in their faces and there’s people that are here, young kids, that didn’t know what they were getting themselves into — they weren’t asked to be brought into these kinds of situations. One of the lyrics says: “Bleeding for the tongues for the ones that will not speak,” as in fighting for the people that can’t fight. So that’s what “Hope” is: hope for things to change.
How do you like San Francisco? Have you had good experiences here?
PD: Before we were signed, we actually ran out of money here in San Francisco, so we had burned CDs, and we had gone into different bars and on the street and said, “hey, we’re a touring band. Would you listen to our music?” And we would let them listen to it on our little discman player, and if they liked it, they would buy it. Gas was cheaper then and we raised enough money to get home. We got it pretty quick.
Since signing with Blackheart Records, how does it feel now that you’re making a living in music?
ND: We’re still trying to make a living.
JA: We kind of feel okay, but with all the new changes in the record industry, there’s always something. You can’t depend on CD sales or single sales.
PD: We know the main thing is we have to tour. You have to get out there and show people your live shows; it’s the only way you can distinguish yourself and prove you’re a real musician. Anyone can go out and make a record, but can you really pull it off live? So you do it the old school way: bust your butt and tour, tour, tour.
So will you all be home in San Antonio for Christmas?
PD: Yes! We missed Thanksgiving but we’ll be back.
JA: (Laughs) And you can download our cover of “I’ll Be home for Christmas” on iTunes!
“Exits & All the Rest” is now available on iTunes.