Print
Email
Share
Girl in a Coma had the distinct honor of opening for indie-rock powerhouse The Wedding Present at the Bowery Ballroom last Saturday. If the preceding sentence just provoked thoughts of a bunch of indie sad-sacks, it’s understandable. After all, their name references a Smiths song, they were playing a Lower East Side landmark and opening for one of indie’s forefathers. Girl in a Coma surely consists of four prematurely balding but bearded young men who together have amassed the greatest sweater collection in the world, right?
In fact, they’re three pierced and tattooed young women from San Antonio, Texas who look more prone to hurling a bounty of old man jokes at Morrissey than christening their band with a phrase unleashed from his deft, bitter brain. Although Girl in a Coma’s look lacks congruence with its name, musically it is far from inappropriate. Despite faint touches of “This Charming Man” springing from lead singer Nina Diaz’s guitar on songs such as “In the Day,” the music was quick and hard. The energy at which the band played provided the songs an air of familiarity for the non-fans.
Within twelve seconds of The Wedding Present taking the stage, it became apparent that only a hint of Girl in a Coma would remain in our memory banks by the show’s end. Opening bands are meant to act as simple primers to the big guns, but, since Girl in a Coma was not The Maudlin Young Man Band #688, as its name suggests, they were far from unwelcome.
Photos by Maria Schurr
