The Tobin Center’s River Walk Plaza will be opening with a bang. If you know Girl in a Coma, you know Nina Diaz. I spoke to her Friday afternoon.
“I’m excited to play. It’s coming up very, very soon,” she said.
Diaz is the 26-year-old lead singer/songwriter for Girl in A Coma, which despite its success is taking a little vacation currently. Diaz speaks of it carefully, and respectfully.
“It’s still a process, but we’re all mature women,” she said.
Her self-titled new band makes its electric San Antonio debut at the Tobin’s outside River Walk venue.
"There’s palm trees and the River Walk’s right there and there’s a screen," she said. "I can’t wait to play it."
As to the process that resulted in her creating her own band, she says one big event looms large.
“I think it began when I became sober. I think I realized that I needed to find me,” she said.
I asked her if her song "Rebirth" is about her sobriety.
"Yeah. It is essentially about being re-born in the sense of you’re not afraid to find yourself now. You’re back from the dead," she explained. "Everyone that was saying things about you before can’t say anything else because you’ve admitted to everything.”
I had seen video of her current band's acoustic gig, which is a big departure for a career built around electric guitars and huge amplifiers. "10 years ago did you ever think you’d be playing in a band with a mandolin?" I asked.
“No actually, or a standup bass. These boys that I’m playing with are so talented that they can play all sorts of instruments,” she said.
Diaz has a surprising lack of world weariness from someone who’s been through a decade of living life too quickly. She seems to be ready to cut loose at the Tobin gig.
“Now I’m just ready to show how much I’ve grown and what I’ve learned and all the new music,” she said.
- More on Nina Diaz at: www.ninadiazmusic.com
Girl in a Coma's song "Smart":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E39lov0f_M
Nina Diaz "Rebirth":
