Considering how long Kristeen Young has been on the road with Morrissey, you’d think the singer-songwriter would know better than to joke about his sexual preference onstage. Apparently not.
Nevertheless, after Young and her band were booted from the tour for her off-hand comment about Morrissey’s sexual prowess, Joan Jett’s protegees Girl in a Coma, signed to Long Beach-based Blackheart Records, quickly stepped in as replacements.
Handpicked by Morrissey himself, on the strength of the band’s Blackheart debut “Both Before I’m Gone” and after he dropped in to see them at L.A.’s Viper Room in September, Girl in a Coma (not be confused with The Smiths’ classic “Girlfriend in a Coma”) was in place on Oct. 25 at Hammerstein Ballroom and will close out the rest of the tour’s sold-out dates this week, after cancelling their previously scheduled shows.
Jett discovered the female rock trio – featuring singer Nina Diaz, her sister, Phanie, on drums, and grade school friend Jenn Alva on bass – in San Antonio, Texas, in 2004 and immediately signed them to the label she runs with longtime collaborator Kenny Laguna, who supervised the final mix of the band’s debut.
As far as Kristeen Young goes, the singer said in a statement on her MySpace page that what she said was “metaphorical and overstated to make an artistic point,” adding, “Maybe the statement was a bit too everyday. Maybe I misjudged… but I meant no harm. I love Morrissey with all of my heart, soul, body, spirit, to the core of my existence and always will.”