Interview: Laura Jane Grace Talks ‘Hole In My Head’

April 8, 2024

February saw the release of punk rock icon Laura Jane Grace’s fourth solo full-length (if we’re counting the Laura Jane Grace and the Devouring Mothers’ LP Bought to Rot as a solo album) Hole In My Head, and the former Against Me! frontwoman is at the top of her game, weaving fascinating stories and carving out gorgeous melodies and powerful hooks. Coming out of the pandemic, we find Grace once again playing with a more full-band sound and finding a newfound optimism in her music. Coming on the heels of the 10th anniversary of Against Me!’s groundbreaking record Transgender Dysphoria Blues, Grace has demonstrated that, with or without the band that made her a household name, she’s a force to be reckoned with.

Grace took time out from her very busy schedule to sit down and talk with us about the new album, the anniversary of Transgender Dysphoria Blues, and more.

You’ve been putting out solo album since Against Me! went on hiatus, and then Stay Alive and At War With the Silverfish were both mostly acoustic guitar alone. On Hole In My Head, you have more of a full band sound. What made you want to change that?

Actually, I started putting out solo stuff while Against Me! was still happening. The first solo thing I put out was in 2008. And then the Bought to Rot record I did in 2018. So, I’ve gone back and forth on that. And, while Against Me! was going, I would still do solo shows, just me and guitar. Bought to Rot was a solo album, but it was full band, bass and drums. But then, with Stay Alive, that album sounds the way it does because it was made, like, four or five months into a global pandemic, so it was working against those limitations. And then, similarly, At War With the Silverfish were songs that were very much written and recorded during the pandemic. So coming out of it, I was just looking for a fresh sound, I guess.

In a lot of ways, this feels like your most optimistic album you’ve put out in a while. Is there anything that changed for this one that caused that?

I’m not sure, other than maybe that was just reflective of where I was at. But it’s always surprising to me to hear other people pick up that on that and say stuff about it afterwards. I’m not necessarily focused on it while it’s happening. But I think, with this record, when the songs were being written, as the world was opening back up and (I was) going out and touring and playing shows, there was that level of excitement that I think everyone shared of being able to go out and be around people again that I’m sure worked its way into the record, too.

Why did Hole In My Head stick out to you as an album title? Obviously, it’s the first track on the album, but why was that the one that summed everything up?

I don’t know. It had been a phrase that stuck with me for a while. Actually, if you listen really closely to the song “Manic Depression” on the album Bought to Rot, I’m talking over the intro of the song, and I had some lyrics that I wrote out that eventually became the song Hole In My Head; I say the lyrics really quietly at the beginning of the song. I have my own personal reasons where that that title came from, but it also makes me think of a Lungfish song that I really liked. So, I don’t know, it was all around a good fit for me.

I’ve read that “Birds Talk Too” is meant to be a reflection on your experience of shaving your head and getting that tattooed. Why was that an experience that you wanted to commemorate?

Well, kind of; it was tied in with that. I was over in Amsterdam; I did a tour of Europe in the summer of 2022. Plane tickets were really expensive that summer, and the tattoo artist I had been getting tattooed by for, like, the past decade lives there now. So, at the end of the tour, I hit him up. And we talked for years about him tattooing my head, so I made the appointment. Obviously, it was a big deal because it meant having to shave my hair. But at the end of the tattoo appointment he gave me a beautifully hand painted guitar. I went back to my hotel room and wrote the song “Birds Talk Too” but it was really just impressionistic lyrics about being in Amsterdam, and inspired by that summer too. But a lot of it’s just descriptives of Amsterdam, like talking about Schiphol Airport, my favorite shop to just to sit and smoke at Vondelpark, and stuff like that.

When you first released the first single on the album, which was “Dysphoria Hoodie,” you said that any trans person out there would know what a dysphoria hoodie is. Has that turned out to be true? Have you had a lot of people say that they related to that song?

Well, I didn’t go door to door and survey every single trans person to make sure that it’s true, but I’m pretty damn sure I feel safe assuming that every trans person knows what a dysphoria hoodie is. And I’m also just acknowledging that I did not invent the phrase; I’m borrowing the phrase; I didn’t coin it. But, that being said, I’ve definitely had my fair share of dysphoria hoodies, and this may be one as well. And it has a little tiny Adidas logo.

I don’t think I have one myself, but I definitely know a lot of people that do, so I understood. I like zip hoodies rather than pullover ones.

Right, but a zipper hoodie is not a true dysphoria hoodie. A true dysphoria hoodie has to be a pullover hoodie.

I feel like that hides my figure too much, and then I get misgendered.

Right, right. Yeah.

For the last few Against Me! albums, you were releasing them on your own label, Total Treble. And then, for the last few solo albums, you’ve done Bloodshot Records and then Polyvinyl. What made you want to go back to labels after self-releasing?

Well, that was a business model that was popularized at the end of the aughts and the early teens where you’d sign distribution deals that would give you a de facto record label. Some of the utilities of a record label would be in place, like the physical distribution and stuff, and you’d get funding to get your own publicist and everything like that. But it really wasn’t your own record label, per se. There (were) benefits to doing the model like that. But after doing it for, like, a decade, I just like wanted to be part of a team. I missed the feeling of being part of a scene of bands. Back in the day, when we were on Fat Wreck Chords or No Idea Records, it felt like you have your gang, your band, but then you’re a part of an extended gang of other bands. That’s a fun feeling.

This year marks the 10-year anniversary of probably your most iconic album, Transgender Dysphoria blues. Now that you’re 10 years away from it, how does it feel looking back on that and the legacy of that album? I feel like that changed a lot of a lot of people’s lives.

It’s strange because there’s two different definitive experiences that I have associated with the record. There’s the recording of the record, the making of the record, which isn’t all happy memories and was really stressful and bad times. But then there’s the touring (for) the record, and that was just the best time ever, even though it was kind of the worst time. I have a lot of good memories of that. I more so think of that, the time spent on the road for the year or two directly after. It felt really good to be in Against Me! then. We felt like there was so much potential, and sky’s the limit. I miss those days.

Speaking of that, I live in Denver, so I got to see you on New Year’s Eve in Denver at the Marquis. You said on stage that you’re going to get Against Me! back together in time to perform for next New Year’s at the same venue. Is that something you still think is possible, or do you think you overpromised on that one?

I don’t know. I might have overpromised, but I’m just trying to manifest here. Maybe we should FaceTime James (Bowman) into this interview and see what he says. (laughs) Or maybe you could do a follow-up interview and ask him if he wants to answer a couple of questions. But I’m down. I’m trying to make it happen.

And I assume you’re touring now for the new album?

Yeah, but also because it’s what I do. I want to be more in the habit of just continuing to record and put out music and continuing to book shows and tours and continuing to play. Thinking about it in album cycle terms drives me insane after a while.

It is weird because, for you, you recorded this album, what, a year ago?

Yeah, in February of last year, so to wait a year to put it out, that’s what I mean. I can’t think in those terms anymore. It just has to be like, “Oh, there’s an album coming out? Cool. I had shows anyways.”

It’s also weird for me because I’ve had the album since November. So I feel weird talking about it like it’s a new album as well. So is that what you’re working on next, touring and writing more songs for the next release?

Well, I was out for the whole past month, and it was a full band tour. We’re calling it Laura Jane Grace and the Mississippi Medicals, and it’s me and Matt (Patton), who played on Hole In My Head, and then Mikey Erg, and then my wife, Paris. We recorded an EP worth of songs back in December that is mixed and mastered. We’re working to figure out a release plan. So yeah, it was definitely a frustrating point to be like, okay, got the record waiting to come out and already got an EP in December, (and we) had both still waiting to come out.

That’s all the questions I had, but I always like to leave space if there’s anything else you want to plug or anything else you wanted to talk about.

I’m just going to be out on the road playing a lot of shows, and we’ll definitely be continuing to put out new music. I appreciate people paying attention checking it out.