Don’t call it a comeback. Girl in a Coma, a mainstay in San Antonio’s alternative rock scene for nearly 20 years, is creating new music together for the first time since their last album, Exits and All the Rest, came out in 2011. They are also planning new tours.

So, what gives? After all, the lauded local trio of rockers — Jenn Alva and sisters Nina and Phanie Diaz — had seemingly called it quits after what turned out to be their then-final show at the 2018 Taco Fest downtown.

The COVID-19 pandemic canceled what had been Girl in a Coma’s scheduled farewell show in 2020. Fast-forward three years, the trio performed an announced “farewell” show at Paper Tiger — only for a quick sellout to prompt a second “final” performance the same weekend.

That wasn’t all. Girl in a Coma performed before huge crowds at the rebooted Fiesta event La Semana Alegre this spring at Hemisfair.

The band members told CultureMap San Antonio that they felt lots of heartfelt love from fans — and plenty of creative juices remaining amongst them — at those not-really-farewell shows.

The reactions that band members have received to their respective ongoing projects — Phanie Diaz and Alva in Fea, and Nina Diaz in her solo career — have also helped convince them to revive Girl in a Coma.

“We saw the response. We met a lot of older fans’ kids — they started bringing their kids to shows and introduced them to our music, and we just thought, the three of us are in a good place. We decided just to keep going,” drummer Phanie Diaz said.

“That's where we're at — the mixture of the fans and where we are in our own lives," Nina Diaz, vocalist and guitarist, added. "It’s, like, okay, let's stop messing around. I think we're in a good place for all of us that we're going to make another album and then go from there."

It’ll be awhile before fans see Girl in a Coma back together on stage, with a few Texas shows planned before the year’s end, and mini-tours “to just kind of get our feet wet again,” Phanie Diaz said. The band is also looking at doing a West Coast tour in 2025.

As for new music, Girl in a Coma are dusting off at least two original songs they began playing before their split.

“I used ideas for my solo stuff, too, but there are just some songs that I think are meant to [be played] with Jenn and Phanie, so there's definitely more music to be worked on for the new album,” Nina Diaz said.

Girl in a Coma said they are approaching the creation of new music with a no-pressure attitude, and they are eager to return to their alt-punk roots. But the trio will also lean on their side project experiences to put together a new experience.

“With Jenn and Phanie having Fea, they’ve experienced the writing process in a totally different way,” Nina Diaz said. “I’m excited for them to bring that to Girl on a Coma, and me with my solo stuff, and the producers and different musicians I've worked with. But we’re sprinkling in a little wisdom of what we've been through here and there, too.”

The bandmates said they also don’t want to overthink things in putting out new music for established and new fans alike.

“That will be big on what we’re going to create now we're older and more experienced,” Jenn Alva, bassist, said.

Nina Diaz loves how younger fans connect with Girl in a Coma’s “realness and rawness.”

“I think it’s something that organically we give in our songs, so I'm glad that we three together can do that for people,” she added.

Girl in a Coma is not worried about motivating new or longtime fans to clamor for new music and live shows.

“It’s amazing that they’re still there,” Alva said about the band’s following. “For all the people to come back and sell out shows, I don’t know how to explain it.”

Nina Diaz added, “We are real and we’re home. This is our home. I think what we represent, they naturally connect with, and not only am I grateful for them, but for Jenn and Phanie for wanting to get back together.”

In the meantime, Nina Diaz is working on her third solo album while Alva and Phanie Diaz work on Fea’s third record. Fans can check out the trio — just not as Girl in a Coma — on August 22 at The Bang Bang Bar where Nina Diaz and Fea will perform ahead of Fea’s upcoming tour. The show is free and begins at 8 pm.