Laura Jane Grace of Against Me! (photo: Kevin Rettie)
Interview by Jason Schreurs
Live albums are a hoot. We understand that some people don’t like them, but we love them, and when they are released by our favourite bands, like Against Me!, well, then, all bets are off. Due out in early September on the band’s Total Treble Music, the badass titled 23 Live Sex Acts features a wide range of tunes from the Florida punk band’s now fairly extensive discography, including last year’s excellent Transgender Dysphoria Blues. Now joined by knockout punk musicians Inge Johansson on bass (ex-The International Noise Conspiracy) and the one and only Atom Willard on drums (ex-Rocket from the Crypt), Against Me! has never been a better live band. Guitarist James Bowman and and frontwoman Laura Jane Grace, who we spoke to about the live album, seem like super happier campers these days, something which is very evident on the live album.
Tell me about how this live album first came about?
Laura Jane Grace: I’m not sure I remember when the initial point was where we were like, “Hey, we should do this!” It just came up and we thought it would be great. Last year we were on tour so much, and the band really had the itch to release something documenting that, and to capture everything that was happening.
You had a live record out a few years ago with the previous lineup, but I get the sense that you guys are really locked in as a live band with the new guys.
Yeah, that other live record was like a decade ago now, and it doesn’t seem that long ago, but it was. And it was really a totally different band. I think if you compared the two live records, it’s kind of astounding the difference between the two.
What’s it like working with Atom and Inge? I can’t imagine what it would be like looking back there and seeing Atom pounding away on the drums.
Well, Atom’s sitting right next to me right now, so I can’t really blow too much smoke up his ass. [Laughs] But, I mean, it’s rad, and feeling that freshness out of a band that you’ve been doing for such a long time, and feeling like there’s so many directions we can go, and so much room to grow and do new things, whereas before I felt like there were limitations in certain areas. And at the risk of sounding cocky or whatever, I really do think that we’re a pretty fucking good live band. That’s what we all live for and really enjoy doing, and I think Against Me!’s always been known as a live band, but I don’t think there’s been a better version of the band live than now. Everyone is just A-game live musicians.
How did you choose the set list for the live album? There are a lot of songs on here from a lot of different albums.
Yeah, I guess we were trying to find a balance between it being the choicest songs and it being a greatest hits type record, like all of the songs that get the biggest reaction from the audience, but then at the same time have it be really representative of the sets we were doing all last year when we were touring, and have it be a snapshot of that period of time. So it’s trying to find a balance between something that encapsulates us touring for Transgender Dysphoria Blues and something that also encapsulates a bigger picture of the band.
Tell me about the name of the live album, 23 Live Sex Acts. Where did that come from?
Well, it goes back to what I was just saying. The record was recorded while touring in support of Transgender Dysphoria Blues, so for me, going through transition publicly and up onstage over past year, and doing so much touring, I was trying to correlate public performances to the way that gender is sometimes a performance. So that’s what the inspiration was behind the title. And there’s 23 songs, so that’s where that part comes from. [Laughs] And it’s a live record, so that’s where the “live” part comes from. [Laughs]
I got those parts, for sure. What’s it been like for you to be onstage night after night. How have you changed as a performer?
Well, you like to think that you’re always changing and getting better as a performer, and going back to your earlier question, playing with Atom and Inge, for both me and James, it really made us step up our game and challenged us as performers, and it really made us grow a lot in the last year. I really feel lucky to be able to do what we do, and I really feel lucky for the last year of touring. It was just so fucking monumental, and so many great moments, and it’s just incredible to me, looking back on touring for as long as we have, and just seeing the highs and lows. And all of these songs are representative of all of that, and I can look at them and see where we were as a band, or where I was as a person, and it’s like looking back down that road.
Has your confidence as a performer gotten better over the years? Is it still nerve-wracking sometimes to be a performer?
Yeah, every performer, when they first start out, has stage fright, and I was the same. The first public performances I ever did, I was terrified, but nonetheless I felt the compulsion to push myself to get up there and go through with it, even though it could have been terrible. At this point, I really don’t get stage fright. Maybe there are some moments where I’m a little bit nervous, but not really playing with the band, more like other public appearances. Sometimes it’s harder to tell how much you’ve grown in those instances because you’re still so focused on your shortcomings, and you’re like, “Oh, there’s room for improvement there,” which I guess is a good thing, too. And talking to people onstage has never really been my thing. I didn’t get into playing music because I wanted to be up on stage pitching to people, or commanding them with just talking. I’ve always been more about playing the music and have that be the thing that talks to them. But it’s about finding that balance on how to do a show and command an audience, and how to have some control in that respect.
How did you pick the live recordings for the album? What was it about the recordings that stuck out for you?
Well, we recorded three months of touring. And that’s another difference from the live record that the band did in 2006 [Americans Abroad!!! Against Me!!! Live in London!!!], that was really a one-shot, one show, and this time we recorded three months worth of shows and we were just hoping to catch that one thing where we were all like, “Yeah, that!” And it took awhile to go through all of the recordings, but we got something that we were all proud of, and the record sounds like a rowdy good time.
I like the moment where you stop and the security guards are trying to eject somebody, and you’re telling them not to. That was a fun moment, especially when you say, “Okay, I think that song’s a bust, let’s jut cut our losses,” and then you move onto the next song.
[Laughs] I wanted to have moments like that in there. There are other moments where people jump up on stage and scream into the mic, and listening to that in the studio after it’s recorded, you’re like, “Oh, they’re really not in tune. They’re really off key!” But that’s just the way a show happens, especially one of ours. A lot of times bodies are flying onstage, people are jumping up, or jumping on you, or their knocking your guitar out of tune… that stuff happens in a live environment, and there’s obviously a lot of difference between recording live and recording in a studio that you want to have demonstrated. You don’t want to put out a live album that’s completely polished and sounds like a studio record, but just not as good because you weren’t recording in the studio. [Laughs]
Or pull a KISS and do a thing where you put in fake crowd noises. I’ve always been a fan of live albums. Do you have any favourites yourself?
You know, I can’t say that I’ve ever really gotten into a live album myself, I don’t know. [Laughs] I hope that’s not a bad thing to say. I’m trying to think of a live record where I would listen to that more than a studio record. What is your favourite live album, Atom? [Asks Atom] Atom says The Ex’s live record is one of his favourites.
For me it’s Nomeansno’s Live and Cuddly, and I really like the Hot Water Music live album that came out a few years ago, Live in Chicago. So those are a couple of my favourites.
Oh, right on.
But you’re right, a live record is never perfect, and it’s kind of nice to have that imperfection put out there, especially for a band like Against Me! who tour so much and play so many live shows.
Totally. And I’m not sure how to explain it, because I’m not sure where that magic is, but capturing a show for a live record and all agreeing on it as a band really has to do with remembering it, and being like, “That show was fucking awesome.” And it was an insane, mind-blowing experience, and when you go back and listen to that in the studio, you go, “Oh, the guitar is kind of out of tune, or there’s a mistake there,” but that’s not the way you remembered it in the moment, and it didn’t matter in the moment, so there’s just that magic and that unspeakable thing and it’s about capturing that on a live record.
Against Me!‘s 23 Live Sex Acts will be released on September 4, 2015 on Total Treble Music.
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