Against Me!

Interview: Kristin Chambers  |  Photo: Mike Florez

October 2012 Issue

Man or woman, Gabel – ahem – Grace, has still got it. 

High-octane energy fueled with fist pumps resounded through St. Augustine’s Café 11 under an August blue moon as North Florida locals Against Me! prepared for their short west coast tour, all glowing smiles. 

“We are going out and doing a tour and hope to be finished with our new album by mid-October,” Laura Jane Grace, the band’s singer formerly known as Tom Gabel, said as she happily amused fans by taking pictures and giving hugs after the show. 

Against Me! made national music headlines after Grace, who has headed the band since its conception in 1997, came out to the public in May that he was transgender. Now undergoing hormone treatments in his conversion to have his inner rock goddess shine outward, he is a she, sporting a black sports bra underneath her tank and ecstatically smiling on stage as a person who has finally found him/herself. 

Though the punk rockers have gained a new female lead, the band sonically is still the same. Smooth, rapid transitions stirred the crowd as if they were a musically building cyclone, resulting in a progression from bobbing heads to a moshpit covered with crowd-surfers. By the time they busted out “Teenage Anarchist” and “New Wave,” the show became a full sing-a-long that shimmered with Gabel’s metallic fingernails and bright, eyeliner-laced eyes. 

The band also treated fans to a sneak peak of their upcoming record with its new song “Transgender Dysphoria Blues,” the title to the next album hailing from fairly obvious inspiration. 

When asked how the new album will progress from their older music, Andrew Seward (bass, vocals) replied, “The whole story of the band has been a progression, as it should be. We are older, somewhat wiser, and that’s how it goes. That’s life.”

“We are on our way out to the west coast, play Fun Fun Fun Fest and go up to Seattle and come back,” he added. Then we’re going to come back here to the general St. Augustine area and record and record and record. We are really just focusing on making our record.”

Grace began her transformation in May with the support of her wife, Heather, and band mates. They both reside with their daughter in St. Augustine, where their inspiration for “White Crosses” was found. 

As far as the controversy surrounding his band mate, Seward said simply that it is not a black and white world. 

“People should be open and be who they are,” he said. “I didn’t see it coming, but it also made complete sense once he told us because I kind of put all the pieces together, and felt naive and dumb for not knowing, but it totally makes sense. I just want my friend to be happy.”

With her signature Against Me! scream resounding as they completed their set with “Pints of Guinness Make You Strong”, Grace grabbed a rafter over the small stage and dangled above the fans holding her as others cheered her on. 

A colorful world is much more fun indeed.