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An American punk who makes the most of her visits across the pond, vocalist Laura Jane Grace has been non-stop rock-and-rolling around the world. Since working on her solo catalogue with the release of her debut effort ‘Stay Alive’ and the more recent ‘Hole In My Head’, Grace hadn’t toured extensively outside of her native land of the United States until recently. With her back-up band The Trauma Tropes by her side, and support by rising British stars Pet Needs, Grace finally found the right time and on this cold winter night in Manchester, the right place.
Pet Needs opened the night with a bang and a scream. A four-piece originating from Colchester in Essex, they brought the power of punk rock and the electricity of pure lightning from the first beat of the drum and first note of the guitar. The energy was sudden and the room was moving, grooving, jumping and bumping, and the excitement of the rest of the evening was one shared between both the group on stage and the fans standing before them. Frontman Johnny Marriott was the ring-leader in this mutual bond forming as strong as it had; especially when sharing tour stories. Talking about activities such as drinking coffee in France, eating pizza in Italy, and introducing Laura Jane Grace to what he considered the most faithful example of British culture: a meal at Toby Carvery. Marriott and the rest of the group are what the British punk scene should be all about. Loud music, jumping for joy, full belly laughter and chanting about the best parts of living in the UK.
Punk rock isn’t punk rock without a smile on one’s face and hands hanging in the air. Pet Needs was the very start of the festivities, and with Marriott’s great encouragement, the welcome could not have been warmer for Laura Jane Grace and the Trauma Tropes. With Grace’s trademark charisma and the talent shared within her fellow musicians on the stage, the main event kicked off with a range of new tracks. Opening with the semi-emotional ‘Walls’, the oh-so-relatable ‘WW3’ and the one that Grace labelled as one of her most personally penned pieces, ‘I Love To Get High’, it was an example of the singer’s multi-faceted process of writing what she knew. Living a life of ups and downs, big obstacles and small victories, Grace learnt how to channel her feelings and thoughts in the way of writing music that reflected her views. From serious topics such as authoritarianism in government, to more personalised and tailored views on the capitalistic takeover of pride events, to even processing religious trauma with the pondering of God’s external appendages and how they are used. Throw them in with tongue-in-cheek lyrics and a heavy guitar riff each, and Grace had found the sound that would define their career and thousands of her fans’ lives and experiences.
Along with the brand new solo songs being given the spotlight for the first time in the north-western city, Grace threw it back to the past with a collection of Against Me! tracks. This included the fan-favourite pairing of ‘Black Me Out’ and ‘True Trans Soul Rebel’ - both hits taken from the critically acclaimed ‘Transgender Dysphoria Blues’ - which got the room erupting in singing, screams and cheers, flooding alongside appropriately blue and pink stage lights. Laura Jane Grace will always leave a legacy as being one of the first punk icons in the industry to come out as transgender, and has inspired many others in and outside of the music world to take the same steps and live their happiest and most authentic lives. In that tiny room, with gatherings and gatherings of fans, there was no mistaken there were members of the queer community who were not just singing along to the songs, but feeling every note and believing every word they were throwing back into the air.
Punk is not dead. Punk isn’t even dying. Punk just waits for the right places and right times to pop out and bring in the communities that need to come together the most in that instant. Laura Jane Grace always finds a way to pull this off, and on that chilly night on that one Manchester street, everyone found that push to keep going that they needed - even if they didn’t know they needed it.
Words: Jo Cosgrove
Photos: Ely King
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