The band’s 2007 debut, Both Before I’m Gone, reached number 23 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart and number 21 on iTunes

The band’s 2007 debut, Both Before I’m Gone, reached number 23 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart and number 21 on iTunes

“We always talked about it, but it just felt like it was so far-fetched that it would never happen,” says Alva.

“That soon,” Nina adds. The album’s distinctive sound merged alt-rock influences with a diverse smattering of punk, indie rock, and blues that make the trio hard to pigeonhole. After the album dropped, Morrissey – who penned the Smiths song for which GIAC is named – asked the band to join him on tour.

The Diaz’s mother, Maria Gonzales, says her attitude about the band changed about a year before Nina Diaz dropped out of high school in 2005. (She subsequently earned a GED.)

“This was why I didn’t argue with her decision to drop out. Both Nina and Phanie kept telling me making music was what they wanted to do,” Gonzales says. “Then they went to London and starting touring, and I saw they were serious. (mais…)