Laura Jane Grace

A trailblazing figure in the history of rock & roll, Laura Jane Grace is one of the first transgender rock stars. Grace fronted Against Me!, a politically charged neo-punk band based in Florida, when she revealed she was transgender. She chronicled her experiences on Against Me!’s 2014 album Transgender Dysphoria Blues, a record that elevated her cultural presence beyond the punk circles she previously dominated. Grace seized upon the opportunities offered by her elevated profile, writing the memoir Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout in 2016 and launching a second band, the Devouring Mothers, in 2018. Her first solo album, Stay Alive, arrived in 2020 and she stayed solo for 2021′s At War with the Silverfish EP.
An army brat, Laura Jane Grace was born in Fort Benning, Georgia, and moved frequently as a child. Grace purchased her first guitar when she was eight, teaching herself to play. At the age of 12, her parents divorced. Her father remained stationed in Naples, Italy, while her mother moved Laura Jane and her younger brother Mark to Naples, Florida. In her adolescence, she fell in love with punk, joining her first band at the age of 13. A year later, an encounter with the police radicalized her politics, a move that was mirrored by her embrace of the anarchist punk band Crass. Around this time, she played bass in the Adversaries, a group that lasted for two years. After spending a swift spell in Common Affliction, Laura Jane Grace recorded a demo tape in 1996, naming it Against Me!
Dropping out of high school, Grace moved to Gainesville, Florida, where she made Against Me! her mission. Initially, she busked with an acoustic guitar, but soon Against Me! became a full band, which released their debut album, Against Me! Is Reinventing Axl Rose, on the indie No Idea in 2002. Searching for a Former Clarity cracked the Billboard Top 200 in 2005, leading to the band signing with Sire later that year. New Wave, their major-label debut, appeared in 2007. A year later, Grace released a politically charged solo EP called Heart Burns.
Following the release of White Crosses in 2010, Laura Jane Grace came out as a transgender woman in 2012. She explored her gender dysphoria on Against Me!’s 2014 album Transgender Dysphoria Blues, which was released on Xtra Mile Recordings. After 2016′s Shape Shift with Me, Grace released a memoir, Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout.
She next formed a side band called the Devouring Mothers. Bought to Rot, their first album, appeared in November 2018. Grace stepped out as a solo act with Stay Alive, an album recorded with Steve Albini during the COVID-19 quarantine of 2020. It was released in October 2020. Almost a year later, Grace released the solo EP At War with the Silverfish. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine