Against Me! is fronted by Laura Jane Grace who until last spring was Thomas James Gabel. She now prefers to be referred to as she and is undergoing treatments to become a woman. As if this weren’t unique enough for one band, Against Me!’s new drummer is Jay Weinberg, son of Max Weinberg who needs no explanation.
I had never seen Against Me before so I didn’t know what Laura Jane looked like before. So I went on Google and saw the before pictures. Before, as Thomas Gabel, he looked rather non descript with closely cropped hair and with a somewhat husky (but fit) build. What came on stage last night seemed more a throwback to the seventies glam period. I thought I was shot back in time and was watching David Johansen circa 1973. Well, I never actually saw The NY Dolls perform back then, but I had a huge crush on David J in 1973. Laura Jane Grace now sports a mop of out of control curls with black eyeliner, jeans so tight they looked painted on and a ripped up floppy t-shirt. The transformation was stunning and remarkable.
Against Me! starts their set on hyper drive and never lets up. Laura Jane still has the same voice that exudes raw, edgy energy and still looks like a dude but now with effeminate qualities. In my opinion, this enhances the band. The few times Laura Jane addressed the audience, she’d flash a smile that spewed charismatically through the entire club.
Drummer, Weinberg, who turns 22 on September 8th, barely sat while he slammed away at the skins with wild abandon. He often leaped to his feet, drenched in sweat, but never missed a lick. James Bowman – guitar, and Andrew Seward – bass fed the fury, which in turn ignited the crowd. The instant hyper drive of the band, got the crowd surfers and moshers going immediately. They never let up either and some poor stage hand was relegated to pushing as many crowd surfers as he could back into the crowd.
Many escaped him, though and managed to get up on the stage, dance a bit, yell into the mic. Laura Grace appeared highly amused whenever an errant fan joined her on the mic, before taking a flying leap back into the crowd. At times, Against Me played so fast, they almost made the Dickies seem slow.
After an approximately one-hour set plus encore, the show was over. My one complaint? They didn’t perform their biggest hit, “Baby, I’m An Anarchist. The only reason I’m expressing disappointment is not because it’s a great song (which of course it is), but that the Battle In Seattle is the backdrop for the topic of said song. I guess I was surprised rather than disappointed. This show was not disappointing in any way, shape or form. Against Me put on one hell of a show and I’d see them again in a heartbeat.
Opening the show was Phoenix based duo Andrew Jackson Jihad. Not only do these guys win best band name ever, but they win in the most unique approach to punk too. AJJ consists of Sean Bonnette and Ben Gallaty on stand-up bass and acoustic guitar respectively. Their music is best described as folk punk and this was never more evident when they performed their song simply titled “The Survival Song,” chanting lyrics like:
I gave my money to the bank for safe keeping
And I gave my money to my landlord he was needing it
And I gave attention to the T.V. that was bleeding
And that’s how I learned how to survive
Then throwing in the old Woody Guthrie refrain of,
But if you ain’t got the do-re-mi boys
If you got the do-re-mi
Well you better go back to beautiful Texas
Oklahoma, Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee
California’s a garden of Eden, a paradise to live in or see
But believe it or not you won’t find it so hot
If you ain’t got the do-re-mi.
These guys were remarkable, unique and though many of their songs dealt with serious topics, they performed with a great sense of humor. I am now officially a fan of The Andrew Jackson Jihad and would recommend them to anyone thirsting for intelligent life in that sea of banal that has overtaken the radiowaves.
