Baltimore cover bands

Girlfriend in a Coma

Editor's note: Girlfriend in a Coma planned to call it quits after the band's Aug. 22 show at Ottobar.

After Morrissey canceled a show at Rams Head Live! in the summer of '07, the club booked the next best thing: Local band Girlfriend in a Coma. For years, GIAC's Christopher Quinn was told that his voice was strikingly similar to The Smiths' lead singer. So he hooked up with friends from '80s band The Reagan Years (Glenn Riley and Sy Seyler) to form the Smiths/Morrissey tribute band. It was a good match, since The Reagan Years never got a good reception from audiences when it played something like "Bigmouth Strikes Again" and chased it with a Rick Springfield hit. Often, the dance floor emptied. Not so when Girlfriend in a Coma performs. The people who attend its shows are true fanatics. Some have even been known to be so overcome with emotion that they rush the stage to embrace Quinn. Quinn looks the part, too. He styles his hair in the singer's trademark pompadour, dresses in hip smoking jackets with velvet collars and even uses a British accent on stage. Surely, The Miserable One himself would approve.

Lineup: Christopher Quinn, lead vocals; Glenn Riley, guitar; Sy Seyler, drums and samples; and Bryan Kimes, bass

Web sites: www.smithstributeband.com
www.myspace.com/girlfriendinacomabaltimore