Throughout the month of August, The Sanctuary has been hosting Girl In A Coma Wednesday, a series of weekly shows featuring the girls in performances as varied as Nina doing the solo acoustic thing to a full-on live set from the group. Fortunately for myself and others who lined up in the early evening outside The Sanctuary, not only were we treated to an amazing set by Girl in A Coma, we also experienced the diversity and variety of what San Antonio has to offer in live music. And the friendliness too! Most everyone that played, stayed. Drinks for all, kind words, and everyone was quick to check each other's bands out. It was a great scene to be around.
Here's how it went as far as openers: Crankshaft started the evening easily enough with their pleasing mix of alternative rock. And I even sensed a smidgen of country influence to their sound; the perfect blend for a perfect bar band. Big Soy soon followed and offered their brand of listener-friendly indie rock, sincere and unique enough to please even the most skeptical listener in the college radio crowd. Listening to Big Soy singer/guitarist, John Edds, I sensed the urgency of someone who had a wealth of thoughts and discoveries to share with the world, but whose time was very short. Fin Del Mar was next, and watching their set, it was easy to see what Big Soy loved about them. A four piece instrumental group, featuring drums, bass, guitar, and keys, FDM cloaked the listeners with a wash of sound. A real nice thing about Fin Del Mar's set is that they played off the idea of a jam band, but did not go over the cliff of self indulgence and noodle endlessly for half-hours at a time. As a result, their songs were tight, focused, and soon had the audience swaying. Finishing up the openers set, Kevin Goes to College did more than pull their weight in engaging the audience to move and dance the way you move and dance to their mix of punk and ska. And they even did a straight-up reggae song, which I thought was a classy touch.
So a quick cigarette for Jenn, and Girl In A Coma were on. Opening with new song "We Are Girl in A Coma," the band wasted little time in demonstrating what makes Girl in a Coma (the band, the show, the sound!) so incredible. A mix of heavy rock distortion, alternative cool, and even a touch of sadness hovering above everything, drummer Phannie roots everything with a heavy rock beat (which means if you're pretty much unselfconscious and all kinds of fun to be around, you can dance to it). Pretty much unselfconscious and all kinds of fun to watch, Jenn jumped and swayed and danced with her bass across the stage and played the mediator between the audience and the band. Much more comfortable in the background, singer and guitarist Nina mostly sang and played guitar. It is to her credit that she has started to come out of her shell since I first saw this band a little over a year-and-a half ago. Several times throughout the set, she would step away from her mike to let loose and bash chords from her guitar. And as their friends across the country would tell you, Nina has an incredible voice.
Back to Wednesday night, back to The Sanctuary, the crowd was totally into the performance. Even though the set was marred by equipment problems, the audience, by way of encouragement, cheered the band on and would not let up. Early favorites in the evening included "Race Car Driver" and "Only I" which are both featured on their latest demo produced by Boz Boorer. The audience was also just as crazy about other non-demo songs including the now-classic "Mr. Chivalry" and new song "In the Background." During "Their Cell," very different from the rock and roll bombast of their other songs, I saw several female members of the audience mouth along with the lyrics quietly and to themselves, savoring the moment.