For me there is no more direct route to memories than through songs. There are so many that recall entire scenarios when you listen to them, that they take you right back there. You can smell the air, feel the humidity or the chill in the air. Remember how your coat clung, or how your heels clicked on the pavement. There were songs that nailed what it was like to be in love, in lust really, what with all the teenaged hormones and associated wonder at the world. In those days, it was unrequited. Coming of age. Scary times, those, especially because there were such prohibitions placed on being a bad girl. It was hard to reconcile one's feelings with the dictates of society. So if the songs hinted at it, they rarely were overt. The great culture war - post Woodstock - brought awareness, civil rights, and women proudly declaring themselves feminists, and slipping out of the shackles society placed on them. Ah, but how things have changed. Back in those days, women did not walk after midnight, unless they were 'that' kind of girl. And walking on the highway was just an invitation to be picked up, heaven forbid! "Walking After Midnight" was written by Alan Block and Donn Hecht, and Patsy Cline made it a million seller in 1957.
Girl in a Coma hails from San Antonio, Texas. They formed in Junior High School when Jenn Alva and Phanie Diaz met in art class and discovered a mutual love of the Smiths and Nirvana. They needed a singer, who was to materialize in the form of Nina Diaz, Phanie’s then 12-year old little sister. In 2006, they played for Joan Jett and her longtime producer Kenny Laguna for a cable TV show about unsigned bands. They were signed on the spot by Joan to her label Blackheart Records. The album Adventures In Coverland came out last week. It cuts a broad swath through musical styles from Oldies, Rockabilly, and 90's, to Tejano. The new record includes an update of Buffalo Springfield’s "For What It's Worth," and an original Girl in a Coma song, "Yo Oigo," which was written to be featured in Robert Rodriguez’s new movie Machete. The band also covers Selena with their fuzzed out version of her "Si Una Vez," which they performed at the 2010 Tejano Music Awards. They have toured with Sia, The Pogues, Cyndi Lauper, Tegan and Sara, and even one of their heroes, Morrissey, whose song inspired their name. Check here for GIAC tour dates.
- Jessie Scott
