美国国家公共电台 NPR Nina Diaz Is On The Other Side

Nina Diaz Is On The Other Side

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0007:16repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser¹ to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "QUEEN BEATS KING")

NINA DIAZ: (Singing) Start the film. Fill your rhythm, infectious, as I lose my directions to the...

SCOTT SIMON, HOST: 

Nina Diaz fronts the punk band Girl in a Coma², but she's gone solo for her latest project. The album is called "The Beat Is Dead."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "QUEEN BEATS KING")

DIAZ: (Singing) Darling, talk of addiction⁴. You're the fame and the fiction. And you don't know...

SIMON: Nina Diaz joined Girl in a Coma when she was just 13 years old. It was her sister's band. She quickly made a name for herself as a fierce, magnetic vocalist, guitarist and songwriter. But around that same time, she also started drinking, then drugs. Then it wasn't long before she struggled with a full-on addiction to booze, cocaine⁵ and meth. Now Nina Diaz is clean, and "The Beat Is Dead" chronicles every step of getting there - her addiction, her sobriety and all the stops in between. Nina Diaz joins us now from Denver.

Thanks so much for being with us.

DIAZ: Thank you. You explained everything pretty perfectly⁶ (laughter).

SIMON: Well, I think we want to go to you for that. Is it in the lyrics⁷? Is it even in the title, "The Beat Is Dead"?

DIAZ: It's not about music being dead. There's a lot of people that come up to me and they're like, the beat isn't dead. But to me, it just means that being a victim is over.

SIMON: It must have been both thrilling and terrifying to be a - the front singer for a punk band when you were 13.

DIAZ: At first, it was just a big rush, you know, being able to hang out with an older crowd and, you know, be part of a group 'cause I spent a lot of time alone and just writing stuff. So it was nice to just get out there. And then, ultimately, it was something very self-destructive to me, but I gained a lot out of it though. I'm actually kind of happy that things happened the way they did because now I am the woman that I am today.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SAY")

GIRL IN A COMA: (Singing) Everyone will quote me on this line.

SIMON: Tell us, if you could, about those, incomprehensible to me almost, middle-teen years when you joined Girl in a Coma. What was it like then?

DIAZ: I did kind of live a pretty fast life when I was young 'cause, I mean, I idolized James Dean and, you know, that kind of motto. So I thought I'm just going to do whatever I want to do, you know? And I was kind of a brat⁸ and kind of spoiled, and I can say that now because I admit it. And I know, and I've kind of - I'm learning from the things that I've done.

So there was a lot of drinking, and I did have moments where I would stop and I would get sober for a second. And then, of course, I would just - something emotional would happen to me, and I wouldn't know how to communicate things. And sometimes in an addict³ mentality⁹, the only thing you can control is the drug or the alcohol you put inside of your body. So that's what I would always run to.

And now, fast forward to I'm a 28-year-old woman now, and I can communicate things properly and really, really feel things. When they are stressful, they're just stressful. And you just kind of go through the motions, and you know that it will pass.

SIMON: Let's hear some of your song "January 9th."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "JANUARY 9TH")

DIAZ: (Singing) Every time I try to find another place to stay, every time I try to look away, I seem to cave. Oh, in the back of my mind, in the back of my mind...

SIMON: What does January 9 mean to you?

DIAZ: January 9, 1998, was the day that my grandmother passed away, and I was very close to my grandparents growing up. And I really do feel that when I was in the depths of my drug use, I felt my grandparents around me. You know, I felt their energy. There were some times when - I know that the drug itself can make you a little paranoid and hear things. But I literally¹⁰ could hear an acoustic¹¹ guitar playing sometimes, and my grandfather was a musician when he was younger. And I felt their energy so strongly, as if they were trying to tell me, you need to stop doing what you're doing or you're going to die.

And this one evening, January 9, 2013, one of the last times of me and my drug use, I was working on a song - that became "January 9th" - and I was recording¹² it on my phone. And I swear, you can hear whispers in it. Like, I say hi, I'm just a wish upon a genie¹³ that you stole. You can hear somebody say genie.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "JANUARY 9TH")

DIAZ: (Singing) I am just the one that you will throw away in the cold. Oh, in the back of your mind.

It's as if something was in there, like, kind of telling me what to say. But then I felt my grandparents there as well. And at the end of the night, I realized what day it was. And I was like, I'm going to call this song "January 9th."

SIMON: Some of this material was written while you were still using. What's it like going back to that material?

DIAZ: After getting sober, I was really able to give them the attention they deserved and really take them to the limits without anything false pushing it on. It was all completely was in - that was naturally inside of my mind. So it was very liberating¹⁴ to go back to them and just give them the love that they needed.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SCREAMING WITHOUT A SOUND")

DIAZ: (Singing) Every time you know that you are going to shake it up, you feel the doubt. And then it's back again. Oh, you must breathe and let it out.

We want so badly sometimes just to confess everything when we're deep inside of our drug use. We want so badly to get caught sometimes, you know? But then there's that fear of disappointment 'cause a lot of addicts¹⁵ are people-pleasers. And that's when you get that anxiety when you can't save the world and you can't fix everyone, so I'm going to hurt myself. And that's really - that's an illness.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SCREAMING WITHOUT A SOUND")

DIAZ: (Singing) You will be found screaming without a sound.

SIMON: You've been sober for more than two years now, right?

DIAZ: Yeah, three and a half years, actually.

SIMON: Congratulations. That's great.

DIAZ: Thank you.

SIMON: What is it like to be in show business and to be - unless I miss my guess - around a lot of drugs and alcohol?

DIAZ: You know, when - even when I was using drugs, I would find on the road I would actually be better. It was when I was home and, you know, you get idle hands, that I would get into trouble. And now, being sober, my band that I have playing with me - they respect me, and they understand what kind of message I'm trying to show in my music.

And if I ever do feel awkward in a situation now, I just walk out. And unfortunately, I do still smoke cigarettes. I have the nicotine¹⁶ and the caffeine still going through me, you know, one thing at a time. So if I ever do feel awkward, I'll just go outside and have a smoke and wait till I feel ready to go back into the crowd.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "REBIRTH")

DIAZ: (Singing) Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

SIMON: Nina Diaz - her new album, "The Beat Is Dead."

Thanks so much for being with us. You're kicking and alive, never better.

DIAZ: Oh, thank you so much. It's been a pleasure.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "REBIRTH")

DIAZ: (Singing) I'm back from the dead like I told you, friend. I will not love you until you are my enemy. I'm back from the dead like I told you, friend. I will not love you...

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 coma   

n.昏迷，昏迷状态

参考例句：

• The patient rallied from the coma.病人从昏迷中苏醒过来。
• She went into a coma after swallowing a whole bottle of sleeping pills.她吃了一整瓶安眠药后就昏迷过去了。

3 addict   

v.使沉溺；使上瘾；n.沉溺于不良嗜好的人

参考例句：

• He became gambling addict,and lost all his possessions.他习染上了赌博，最终输掉了全部家产。
• He assisted a drug addict to escape from drug but failed firstly.一开始他帮助一个吸毒者戒毒但失败了。

4 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

5 cocaine   

n.可卡因，古柯碱（用作局部麻醉剂）

参考例句：

• That young man is a cocaine addict.那个年轻人吸食可卡因成瘾。
• Don't have cocaine abusively.不可滥服古柯碱。

6 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

7 lyrics   

n.歌词

参考例句：

• music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart 由罗杰斯和哈特作词作曲
• The book contains lyrics and guitar tablatures for over 100 songs. 这本书有100多首歌的歌词和吉他奏法谱。

8 brat   

n.孩子；顽童

参考例句：

• He's a spoilt brat.他是一个被宠坏了的调皮孩子。
• The brat sicked his dog on the passer-by.那个顽童纵狗去咬过路人。

9 mentality   

n.心理，思想，脑力

参考例句：

• He has many years'experience of the criminal mentality.他研究犯罪心理有多年经验。
• Running a business requires a very different mentality from being a salaried employee.经营企业所要求具备的心态和上班族的心态截然不同。

10 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

11 acoustic   

adj.听觉的，声音的；(乐器)原声的

参考例句：

• The hall has a fine acoustic.这个大厅的传音效果很好。
• Animals use a whole rang of acoustic, visual,and chemical signals in their systems of communication.动物利用各种各样的听觉、视觉和化学信号来进行交流。

12 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

13 genie   

n.妖怪，神怪

参考例句：

• Now the genie of his darkest and weakest side was speaking.他心灵中最阴暗最软弱的部分有一个精灵在说话。
• He had to turn to the Genie of the Ring for help.他不得不向戒指神求助。

14 liberating   

解放，释放( liberate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Revolution means liberating the productive forces. 革命就是为了解放生产力。
• They had already taken on their shoulders the burden of reforming society and liberating mankind. 甚至在这些集会聚谈中，他们就已经夸大地把改革社会、解放人群的责任放在自己的肩头了。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

15 addicts   

有…瘾的人( addict的名词复数 )； 入迷的人

参考例句：

• a unit for rehabilitating drug addicts 帮助吸毒者恢复正常生活的机构
• There is counseling to help Internet addicts?even online. 有咨询机构帮助网络沉迷者。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

16 nicotine   

n.(化)尼古丁，烟碱

参考例句：

• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily.许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。
• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily.许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。