Appreciating A Current Clarity

Over the years Florida punk quartet Against Me! have incurred the wrath of their early DIY fans, whether it's been for signing to a major label or even just for outgrowing their basement show status, but on the release of the bombshell Rolling Stone article the messages fans left on comment boards all across the internet were mostly positive.

Though Grace's decision was a very personal one, she's grateful for the way Against Me! fans have reacted to the news.

“Overwhelming support from everyone; from people I don't know to my close friends and everything,” Grace offers of the response. “Unfortunately that's the fear that you build up inside yourself over your lifetime when you deal with something like that – is that if the reaction will be bad. That's why there's fear, you know. Otherwise it wouldn't be an issue. So to make a decision like that and to come out and be open with something and then be met with such support is definitely humbling and something that I won't soon forget.

“There's a part of you that's like, 'Why did I make such a big deal about it? I should've done this years ago. It's so easy',” Grace says with a laugh.

Grace's decision will be a big part of the fuel that lights up the band's impending sixth album, Transgender Dysphoria Blues. The album will undoubtedly reflect on some of the issues Grace has struggled through growing up with gender dysphoria, a condition where a person feels disconnected from the gender they were assigned at birth. But the singer rejects the idea that this album in particular is going to be a more personal Against Me! album.

“Really, that's always the way it's been,” Grace says. “It's just that a lot of the time in the past people weren't necessarily picking up on what you were saying. But for me every record that we've ever made I've put all of myself into it so at this point there's not much left that's personal.”

No longer on major label Sire Records, the band are recording the album in the studio Grace has built at home.

“It's taken obviously a lot of work to get to this point where we're ready to record and everything like that,” she continues. “I laid the hardwood floors. We put in a new ceiling, built the walls and everything. So for a while it felt like that stuff, all the stuff that needed to be done felt like distractions; 'Urgh, we can't play music yet because I've got to finish laying the floors'.

“But once we got that out of the way and it got to the point where everything was rolling, now it's like everything else gets put on hold and I come in here so [the studio] is more of the distraction.”

In the tumult of the last 12 months Grace says the studio has provided somewhat of a sanctuary, a place she can go and leave the world behind for a little while.

“Having a record to devote your head to and think about… there's a lot of stuff this past year that if I wouldn't have had this going I wouldn't have handled it as well,” she reflects. “I think having this as a place to put everything is really healthy.

“I've been really lucky with that. I really like having that refuge and that kind of solitude. You can leave everything set up. You don't have to worry about, 'Oh we've got to be out of here in two days so we've got to hurry up'. You can indefinitely leave an amp set up and mic-ed up and keep going and working on stuff. I just come in whenever I have the time and I get work done.”

The band's Australian headline shows should give audiences a chance to hear a new song or two but Grace is a diplomat when picking a setlist.

“At this point we're working on our sixth album and there's people who discovered you for each album – they come to hear at least a couple of songs off that album. You try and pick like two-three songs off every record and there's EPs in between and you try and throw in a couple of deep cuts.”

The one thing that will be different when the band arrives on Australian soil is the man behind the kit: Against Me! will feature new drummer Atom Willard for the first time. A couple of weeks before Christmas Grace put the call out on Twitter after previous drummer Jay Weinberg left the band.

Willard, who has played with Rocket From The Crypt, Angels & Airwaves, Social Distortion and The Offspring, won't have long to learn the songs before he's on a plane to Australia but comes with a pretty impressive resume.

With everything that's happened within the band over the past 12 months it would be easy to overlook the big picture political battles that were happening while the band was writing this new album. But a US election cycle gives Grace a chance to reflect on why she started Against Me! in the first place.

“When I started Against Me! Clinton was president. It's overwhelming at times to think about how much stuff has changed in the period of time since Against Me! has been a band. And just thinking how many things have changed in the world in that time is amazing.

“It's scary on the one hand though, because definitely in the US it feels as though things have swung pretty far to the left and you've had some major things happen where they're very much victories for the liberal progressive movement… good things. I just worry that the pendulum's going to swing far back to the right in response to that. But I guess that's always the worry. I think it's harder for the right wing to take back ground.

“With everything that's happened, with different subcultures and different things [becoming] more visible, that's kind of what's key. The visibility of it is that the more that mainstream society becomes accepting of such things, whether that's legalising marijuana or whatever or legalising gay marriage, the more that that happens the more those issues are talked about.

“I feel like that it's just inevitable that culture will just continue that way. Often times it's the right thing. And the values that are implied with those things are the way that society should be going.”

In the meantime, Against Me! and Laura Jane Grace will be there reflecting on life with a passion that has won them a legion of fans across the world.

Against Me! will be playing the following dates:

Thursday 17 January - Manning Bar, Sydney NSW
Friday 18 January - Big Day Out, Sydney NSW
Sunday 20 January - Big Day Out, Gold Coast QLD
Tuesday 22 January - The Hi-Fi, Melbourne VIC
Friday 25 January - Big Day Out, Adelaide SA
Saturday 26 January - Big Day Out, Melbourne VIC
Monday 28 January - Big Day Out, Claremont WA