Laura Jane Grace

2017-04-14T20:00

Memorial Union

Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout

https://union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/event-calendar/event/laura-jane-grace

2017-04-14T18:00

A free talk followed by solo acoustic performance

Friday, April 14th / 8:00pm

at The Play Circle (2nd Floor Memorial Union)



FREE tickets available for students & limited general public Wednesday April 5th at Memorial Union Box Office

Please note due to high demand, only ONE TICKET PER PERSON will be issued.



American musician Laura Jane Grace is the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist of the punk rock band Against Me! In 2012, she publicly came out as a transgender person and announced she would be transitioning to life as a woman. Laura Jane Grace has become a public ally for the acceptance of transgender people.



Grace formed Against Me! in 1997 when she was 17. After transforming into a traditional four-piece a few years later with the crucial addition of guitarist James Bowman, they quickly became a driving force in the punk scene–despite facing an abundance of unsolicited danger. Their first major label album, New Wave, debuted on the Billboard 200 and was named Spin’s “Album of the Year.”



The band has released six albums and toured all 50 states and 29 countries. In 2011, Grace bought an abandoned post office in Elkton, Florida and converted it into a studio. Along with the recording studio, which she named Total Treble, she launched an accompanying record label, Total Treble Music. The label released it’s first album in 2012, Cheap Girls’ Giant Orange, which was also Grace’s first credit as a record producer.



The band's 2014 album "Transgender Dysphoria Blues" shares Grace’s lifelong struggle with gender dysphoria. Their latest record, "Shape Shift With Me," was released in 2016.



“No more troubled sleep," she sings. "There’s a brave new world raging inside of me.”



In 2016, Grace published her book "Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout," a memoir she wrote and edited with Dan Ozzi. The book draws from Grace's own journals to tell her extraordinary story, examining life on the road, addiction, relationships and much more from a trans perspective.