STAGES A/LIVE presents Laura Jane Grace

Anarchist musician, Emmy nominee, writer, and LGBTQ activist. We first heard her in Christos Sarris’ “Walls,” the short film presented at a world premiere during the “Archive of Desire” festival, giving a jarring performance of a song inspired by the titular poem of C. P. Cavafy. Laura Jane Grace is a leading figure in the contemporary rock scene, both in her personal career and at the helm of the band Against Me!, which she founded in Naples, Florida, in the late 1990s.

In 2012, the revelation of her gender transition in ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine was a defining moment in her career, bringing a significant issue to the fore and helping to raise further awareness around gender issues and identities in the music world. Two years later, she released one of her seminal albums, “Transgender Dysphoria Blues,” a creative statement of profound significance for an entire generation, as well as Against Me!’s most successful album to this day.

As for her band, it has created highly personal and politically charged music that incorporates various influences and elements from numerous musical genres. The strong critique they put forth through their lyrics reflects their struggle for individual and social freedom, as well as their resistance to social injustices.

Laura Jane Grace’s music is undoubtedly political. “Initially, I had been attracted to punk and anarchism because I saw them as a means to make a positive change, where everyone was equal. While there were some people in the scene who upheld those values, the more punks I dealt with, the more I realized that most of them were privileged white kids taking advantage of this idealism.”

In 2016, she released her much-anticipated autobiography, entitled “TRANNY: Confessions of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout.” The book, co-written with journalist Dan Ozzi, was named one of the “100 Greatest Music Books of All Time” by ‘Billboard’ magazine, while ‘Harper’s Bazaar’ noted that “the memoir establishes her as at once a transgender icon and a modern day heroine.” Moreover, it was featured in highly popular American television shows, such as ‘Late Night’ with Seth Meyers and ‘The Daily Show’ with Trevor Noah, who heralded it as “a truly gripping tale, and a beautiful exploration of what a human being is.”

In recent years, Laura Jane Grace has released solo albums, at times with her new band, Laura Jane Grace & the Devouring Mothers, which also includes the drummer of Against Me!, Atom Willard, and sound engineer Marc Hudson. With her albums “Bought to Rot” (2018), “Stay Alive” (2020), and “At War with the Silverfish” (2021), she continues to gather all her inner fears, rage, and agony and unleash them like a Molotov cocktail hurled into the abyss.