Nina Diaz Explores Self-Reflection on New Album ‘I Could Be You, You Could Be Me‘
Nina Diaz - Photography by Jorge Gonzalez
Nina Diaz is an artist whose music spans across time and expands into the souls of listeners who are open-minded to an honest, raw, and refreshing take on rock music. At the age of 13, Nina co-founded the all-female Chicana rock group, Girl In A Coma (GIAC) – the band that later signed to Joan Jett & The Blackhearts’ Blackheart Records. Over the years, GIAC began making records and touring worldwide, however, in her battle over the years through new self-discovery, finding sobriety, healing, and her own self-express, Nina ventured into a career as a solo artist, releasing her debut album The Beat Is Dead in 2016 and officially ending Girl In a Coma in 2018 – but not all was lost.
Through resilience, a love for connection, and a gratitude for the past, Nina returns this month with her brand new album, I Could Be You, You Could Be Me – a uniquely-made rock album that shows the artist reflecting on her past, accepting her present, and looking to the future with a focus on making music for the love of it again. "The album title is from a line on the track ‘Marigold,’” Nina says of the inspiration behind the overall theme of her new album. “When we show true empathy to ourselves and accept our shadow side, or “dark side” we can build strength from trauma. My weakness can connect with others as well as my strength.”
Changed by strange isolations of quarantine in 2020, I Could Be You, You Could Be Me is a record entirely-self produced, mixed, and engineered by Nina herself, who is now the founder of BeatGirlProductions - a recording studio and musical space in San Antonio, TX that the artist hopes to soon make available to other women musicians who aim to make music not just for their audience but also for themselves.
From sharing the stage with the likes of Elvis Costello, Smashing Pumpkins, and Teagan and Sara, and touring all over the world, Nina is now taking the long way home, getting back to her roots, and finding out more about herself than ever before. The stories of this journey are now chronicled in the artist’s brand new album. In an exclusive interview with Amplify Her Voice, Nina reflects on her past, her close collaborators, connecting with fans over quarantine, and what her new album means to her.
Hi Nina, thank you for speaking with us, and congratulations on this new record you’ve made! Would you say that this album is the start of a new chapter for you? If so, what do you hope this next phase of your music career will be like?
Thank you! I went through a huge rebirth as I made this album. It’s totally a new chapter for me in my career and just in life in general. I’m grateful I made it this far in my life after all the other chapters my book, soon to be adapted to a Lifetime Movie (just kidding), has had. My index would have the following sections prior to making this album: Writer, Performer, Drug Addict, Finally Sober, Married, Almost Divorced, Ending My Long-Time Band Girl In A Coma, Where Do I Belong? Am I Good Enough? and Starting to Embrace a Solo Career.
This chapter would have the following index sections: Covid sucks, I miss playing live shows, what the hell have I gotten myself into? tech savvy? YouTube is my professor, ADHD, Fibromyalgia, workaholic, rebirth, artist, producer, studio engineer, music video director/editor, separated, and embracing my alone but not lonely life.
I know the next phase of my music career has and is way more defined than any other phase of it in the past. I know who I am now and what I want to present to my audience and new people wondering who I am. I am going to still play live and release my own music, but I am in the process of building my empire – BeatGirlProductions – my humble home studio being a functioning space for artists to come and record.
You were in a band for years. Have you found it different or challenging in any way to begin making music for yourself as a solo artist?
It was at first. I used to write like crazy back in the day. I would just automatically file the songs as GIAC songs because that’s all I knew. They kind of had a strong hold on me during my adolescence and there were some confusing times of me wondering what I could actually claim to be mine. And I don’t mean in the business way but in the writer who am I kind of way.
When I finally got sober on March 25, 2013, it’s like this newfound confidence hit me and I grew the courage to tell Jenn and Phanie (bandmates) that I wanted to make my own solo album. I got through it and began making plans to record my first solo record. Slowly the album came together, and I even had a nice collection of GIAC songs to work on later.
Forming my backing band is where I really saw how my trained band mentality stood out. I was very very aware of my backing band and sometimes would consider their comfort and needs more than my own. I’m not saying I should’ve been an asshole or anything, but I didn’t know how to be “the lead” and would always include them in whatever I could so they would know we are a team. This odd thing started to happen with the energy between me and the backing band. I realized I gave too much! I felt like how I felt in GIAC, like what I created wasn’t even mine anymore. I’m sure it wasn’t the intention of some of my backing band to kind of bull doze over me but that’s what it felt like. Needless to say, I still had a lot more to learn about be ok with owning the energy of something I created.
After ending GIAC in 2018, those songs I collected for the GIAC album that never happened came home in my soul ya know. I finally claimed them. For instance, “Silly Situation” was going to be a new GIAC song. I’m proud of the music I wrote while in GIAC, now I can say yeah I wrote that too. I shouldn’t have been so hard on myself in the beginning when I was trying to split between GIAC and Solo because, at the end of the day, I wrote it all.
As an artist in the rock/punk genre, both genres that are often very male-dominated, was it ever important to you to be surrounded by other women artists that you could look up to and work with?
In my early years, I wasn’t focused on being surrounded by strong women only, I was more focused on learning whatever I could from whatever musician, man or woman. As I grew older it became kind of weird. Suddenly the men I was getting advice from were only giving me attention because they wanted to have sex with me, and the women I was around in the industry weren’t very open to including me, almost like they exuded bitterness or something towards me. I used to feel bitter, or like it was competition if another woman was on the bill. I see now that those feelings were not mine, but what I reflected from them. I didn’t know then about being an empath. I thought I was just insecure.
In my early 20s, I started to crave someone like a mentor. Someone to guide me and hold a lantern for me as I jumped into unknown territories. That person wasn’t a woman - although he does have a very sensitive nature. David Garza, a Texas native (2021 Grammy producer for Fiona Apples “Fetch the Bult Cutters”) became that person. He pushed me out of my comfort zone, throwing a guitar on me after inviting up on stage and saying “Play!” Ha! He encouraged me to collaborate with all types of musicians. And he wasn’t a hovering kind of mentor, he was/is perfect where he gives me advice and then off, he goes. He was there for me through my first solo record and has been my musical fairy godfather since.
In 2020, you began recording cover songs for fans! You said that really kept you afloat financially, but you also mentioned that doing that, connecting with fans, and still making music helped you a lot emotionally during that time. Can you talk about what that was like for you, and how that led you to making this new record?
I had an idea to cover songs for any fans that would be interested – personalized online busking - cover songs just for them. I checked in with my publishing company if this would be safe and legal for me to do and they gave me the green light! I made my first post about it and within a week I had a schedule of songs to cover! Like that first week was 30, then it became 50, and by the end of the first few months of doing this I had recorded almost 100 cover songs! And I would attempt to cover any artist they wanted to hear me have a spin on. Taylor Swift, George Strait, Led Zeppelin, and so many more. Some of the artists I already jammed, but then others I never knew or never really jammed before. I discovered so many cool artists because of the fans that took me up on this.
When it came to the actual recording of the songs I was using Garage Band (a digital audio workstation or DAW) and was very very very basic with my setup. Slowly I started to get faster and decided to try Logic Pro X (DAW) the next step after Garage Band. It rocked my world! I started to understand what compressors and plug-ins were. How the EQ on a track makes a world of difference. How to record at a decent level so when you edit after it doesn’t sound like shit! Ha!
At the start of COVID in 2020, I had no idea that by the time 2022 would come around I would not only have a legit studio space but that I would record my own album completely. It takes a lot of time and energy though, especially the first time because it’s all new and I know I constantly second-guessed myself because I didn’t have anyone around telling me I was doing it right or I was doing it wrong. Or when I would get advice from someone, I would focus on the bad stuff they’d say and doubt myself. I started metaphorically laying down gravel for a new path in my life.
Healing happened, I realized how I was putting too much emphasis on the opinions of others and I decided to just not give a crap and keep going following my intuition and my ears. Yeah, I made mistakes but that’s important because then I knew what not to do when I was after a certain sound.
All those covers I did was like music school for me. I dissected each cover I did and started to understand the recipe for a certain type of song. When I was finishing the songs for this album, I straight up finished the arrangements for 6 of the songs in one day because my brain knew exactly where the pieces should go.
Emotionally, it still touches my heart soooooo much when I cover a song for someone, and they open up to me why they picked that song. Maybe someone they loved past on, and it was their favorite song, or they just had a breakup, or they are gonna ask someone to marry them! I welcome that connection because I actually give a shit, because it matters, because they matter, and I love listening to a piece of their life story through this moment in time connecting on a song.
You talked about doing Shadow Work, exercising empathy for ourselves, and building strength from trauma, which is a lot of what inspired this new album. Was there anything new you discovered about yourself when diving into those emotions and feelings when making this album?
I discovered I am a leader. Once I have an idea in my mind, I am going to make it happen. This was/is such a liberating time for me. Other people that happened to be around during the process might not feel the same way, but for me once I actually started recording and not giving a shit what others thought I should do when it came to the “proper” way of recording, it was such an exciting, happy, exhausting time. I was literally doing the job of 3 people in one body, and I fucking loved it. Only when I allowed the anxiety of other people to affect me did I feel off. I woke up the artist in me, like a creative explosion. Now I am directing and editing my own music videos and it’s fucking great! I don’t know what the hell I’m doing, just studying and trying things out till I see in reality that’s in my head. That was a long-time trauma of mine – owning something. I stepped into that shadow and came out claiming something I created and actually being proud of myself that I fucking did it. I am not so afraid of the unknown because sometimes you don’t have a plan or all the answers but that doesn’t have to stop you from taking a leap of faith. By the end of making my album, I find myself way stronger and ready to face any obstacle thrown my way.
Oftentimes as women, we are discouraged from being proud of our work or achievements, so I’d like to take a second for you to reflect on how amazing and inspiring your career has been so far! What has been your proudest moment?
My proudest moment was when I decided to get out of my own way and trust the process of creation no matter what. All these firsts are my proudest moments because the first of anything can be scary, and that’s true, sometimes women do it to other women. And I’m like Nah! I love working with other strong women and bringing each other up with our badassness.
What song off I Could Be You, You Could Be Me means the most to you?
If I had to choose one, “Break The News” means the most to me. I wrote all the songs on the album except this one, I had a friend — Diego Navaira – help me finish it. “Break The News” would always be the last song I would work on during the workday because it would just rip my heart up. This song is the most vulnerable I have ever performed on and released.
In October 2021, a very close friend of mine passed. This person was fucking cool. She was a big part of my life during the ages of 17-22, and was like another sister. She was a big music person, important to the scene in the early years, and such a Penny Lane like in the movie Almost Famous. I just knew she would want me to sing the song I owed her at her funeral. It was and still is the hardest thing I have ever done in my entire life.
The drive to the funeral home was like a haze, and I was stuck in the car when we got there. Before I left my mom said, “Don’t cry while you play because her parents will start to cry more.” So I printed out the music so I would have a guide. When I was called up to play, I stood a few feet away from her. I spoke about our time together a bit to everyone and then sang the song, “I Heard You Singing” by Ours. I didn’t want to finish the song because I knew that when I finished the song, that meant she was really gone, but I had to finish it, I didn’t cry. I gave my condolences again to her family and bolted out of the funeral home and lost it.
So “Break The News” is for her. A thought that was in my mind was “Why didn’t I call her more? Why didn’t I ask her if she was ok?” At the end of the track, I say “You didn’t have to be alone,” and I really started to cry. I kept it in the track because it’s real. Anyone who has lost someone has had that cry or has yelled that yell. So, I wanted other people to hear it to know it’s ok to feel whatever you feel when someone passes. Diego helped me complete the song because anytime I would try to arrange it, I would start balling. I am so grateful he helped me complete it.
Do you have any advice for young women who want to become artists?
From what I’ve discovered about myself and from looking back at the first few chapters of my career carrying me into what is now. The best advice I could offer is this: listen to your inner voice. Not that voice that says you suck, or you’ll never succeed, but that voice that gave you the idea to begin with to try whatever it is you’re about to try.
Don’t be afraid to make a mistake. And if anyone around you tries to make you feel like you should think you failed, or you’re not following the normal way of doing things, or if anyone makes you carry their anxiety because they are afraid of the unknown, then you should remember that it’s ok to choose yourself over them. It’s ok to end that relationship or if they are family, to have some space. It might feel lonely at first as you start to stand behind your dreams, but soon enough other like-minded people hear your call, and you will have a community that nurtures you and wants the best for you.