Artist Interview: Nina Diaz from Girl in a Coma
Posted by Jessica Hollenbach on September 13, 2010

The all female punk band, Girl in a Coma have been criss-crossing the country on tour with various artist including Cyndi Lauper and Train. Hailing from San Antonio, Texas lead singer Nina Diaz took the time to talk to the Hot Zone about their first headlining tour, working with Joan Jett and making it in the male dominate music industry. Check out the interview below and don’t forget to catch them on tour in a city near you.

For those unfamiliar with Girl in a Coma can you give us some background on the band?
It’s three girls and we’ve been together for about 10 years. After a couple of months we did our first show and a few years after that we started touring. We are signed to Blackheart Records and have two albums out.

How did you come up with the band name Girl in a Coma?
Its from a song called “Girlfriend in a Coma” by “The Smiths.”

You are in the middle of your first headlining tour, how has that been going?
It’s great we started with Agent Ribbons & Gringo Star and now we are out with Hacienda and Sick of Sarah. Its going great!

What has been the best part of the tour so far?
Getting to tour with the new bands and seeing all the new faces in the crowd.

You have a new album coming out in October, New Adventures in Coverland can you tell us a little more about that?
Yeah it’s a side project something to put out for the fans while we wait for the third album to be put out. We decided to do some covers to show some of our influences and we narrowed it down to things we thought we could actually pull off. We added three other songs, we actually did another cover, a new acoustic version of our of our old songs and we actually had the privilege of a writing a song for Robert Rodriguez’s new movie, Machete.

The title of your most recent album, Trio B.C. is a tribute to your Grandfather can you elaborate on that?
Yeah when my Grandfather was younger he was a musician and he had a band called Trio B.C., we still don’t know what the B.C. stands for. He played accordion, guitar and drums it’s just our way of remembering him.

You were discovered and signed by Joan Jett when you performing were performing in NYC, what has it been like to work with such a female music icon?
It’s been great especially because of all she’s done. She instantly took a chance on us because when we played that show in New York there was about five people there. She saw the potential and took a chance on us and offered us a contract and we began from there. She’s a huge support and we have complete musical freedom.

“Joanie in the City” actually features Joan Jetton it and it is about the being a woman in the industry. What do you feel are some of the biggest challenges faces females trying to make it in music?
Well when you get to the venue the first thing you get is ‘what band member is your boyfriend?’ and then when we get on stage they expect us to be all bitchy and not know how to play our instruments. We are not feminist, not all girl power or anything. We’re just musicians it shouldn’t be about gender, it’s art. People not taking us seriously but by the end of the show I think we prove our point.

What advice would you give to an aspiring female artist?
Don’t let it get you down and don’t feel that you have to be a certain way. Because everyone thinks you have to look a certain way, be “hot” or whatever to be in a girl band. You don’t have to look like anything as long as you are happy with what you are playing. If you are comfortable in your own skin is the main thing. Don’t let any one tell you to do any thing you are not comfortable doing.

That’s great advice. So who do you consider some of your top musical influences?
I have really gotten into Jeff Buckley, I’m almost obsessed with him. The other girls are worried about me because I am convinced we are going to get married some day. Bjork is a big influence and Mike Patton.

Do you have a dream collaboration?
Mike Patton, definitely

Anything else in store for Girl in a Coma this year?
We are going to keep touring and start working on the third album and hopefully have something new for everybody next year.