The Detroit Cobras and Girl In A Coma played a sold-out show to a party-seeking crowd at The Independent on Friday night. And that crowd came to the right place, as the femme-fronted combination of GIAC’s sweaty Texas rock and the Cobras’ swaggering garage soul made for one hell of a Friday night party.
Girl In A Coma went on first. Despite my obsessive penchant for girl groups, this three-piece El Paso band had somehow escaped my radar until they took the stage. And let me just say that my life is a better place with them in it. Consisting of sisters Nina Diaz (vocals/guitar) and Phanie Diaz (drums), as well as longtime friend Jenn Alva (bass), these fiery bad-asses – who are signed to Joan Jett’s Blackheart Records label – blew the fucking roof off the place within just their first few songs.
They play an electrifying brand of throaty, full-bodied southwestern rock, amplified considerably by Nina’s ferocious, sexy, crazy-eyed intensity. Her vocals – a raspy, booming, rumbling growl that alternately snarls and soars – are astonishing, especially considering that she’s only 23. They’ll be returning to San Francisco when they open for The Go-Go’s later this summer, so if that show wasn’t already a must-see, this just kicked it up a notch.
The Detroit Cobras couldn’t help but seem a bit mild after the gut punch of Girl In A Coma, but theirs is essentially a can’t-miss formula: hit the audience with a seemingly endless barrage of dirty two-minute garage soul gems until everyone is just dancing themselves stupid. Due to the quickie nature of their songs, the Cobras were able to take a 75-minute set and make it feel much longer just from the sheer volume of tracks they blazed through; their stage set lists had two full columns of titles.
When she wasn’t purring her songs or flirting with the crowd, immortally sexy lead singer Rachel Nagy spent her time carrying on like the Marcia Brady of retro garage bands: fussing with her long wavy hair, constantly ducking down to comb it out and, amusingly, lifting up her ample bangs to wipe off her forehead. “I’m like a cat,” she explained when the audience seemed to take notice of her habit. “I groom myself in public.” She then made a joke about licking her own ass which reinforced why she’s the lead singer of The Detroit Cobras.
