doors 8/show 8:30, $8/11

Girl in a Coma, hailing from the Lone Star State, formed when best friends Jenn Alva and Phanie Diaz met in junior high school art class over a mutual love of the Smiths, Nirvana and skipping school. All they needed was a singer. Enter Nina Diaz, Phanie’s then-12-year-old little sister. Nina blew them away with her mesmerizing vocals, a powerful voice some critics have compared to Björk, Patsy Cline and the band’s hero, Morrissey himself. The trio practiced for three years, gigged at local punk rock clubs, played a high school talent show and one kid’s birthday party, and then hit the road, building up a solid and loyal fan base across the country.

In 2006, the Girls played for Joan Jett and longtime songwriting partner and producer Kenny Laguna at New York’s Knitting Factory. Jett and Laguna were so impressed with the band that they signed GIAC to their label, Blackheart Records, on the spot. The band’s 2007 debut album, Both Before I’m Gone, was a critical hit with raves from Alternative Press Magazine, L.A. Weekly and Bust magazine, among others, with the album reaching No. 23 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart and No. 21 on iTunes. Since the CD’s release GIAC has been headlining shows in venues coast-to-coast, playing on Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors” tour, as well as opening for the Pogues, Social Distortion and Tegan and Sara in a cross-country national tour, and with Morrissey in both Europe and the U.S.

Last Night’s Vice | They’ve created the most intense live show in St. Louis and mastered a danceable sound that blends disco groove with hair metal intensity and pop sensibility. Last Night’s Vice is a five-piece rock band heading to the next musical level with their unstoppable enthusiasm and unfathomable level of energy.