Laura Jane Grace Releases New Single ‘Dysphoria Hoodie’ and Announces Denver NYE Show

Transgender punk rock legend Laura Jane Grace released her latest single last week called “Dysphoria Hoodie.” The track is the first single off of her yet-to-be-titled upcoming solo album. Grace started making music with her band Against Me! in 1997, which started off as a solo project before blossoming into a full band. In 2020, Against Me! quietly went on hiatus, but Grace didn’t announce the band’s breakup until 2022. Since the band’s breakup, she’s released one solo LP called Stay Alive and an EP called At War With the Silverfish.

“This is a song about gender dysphoria and your favorite hooded sweatshirt,” Grace explains about the new single in a press release. “Any trans person out there knows what a dysphoria hoodie is—It’s the hoodie you wear when feeling low and dysphoric, and you don’t want the world reading your gender. Hide your body shape; hide your head; disappear as much as you can. Wrap yourself up in it like a blanket anywhere you go. Make your flesh become cotton. Instant protection from the outside world. My dysphoria hoodie happens to be an Adidas hoodie, so yes, this is in fact really just a tribute song to my favorite Adidas hoodie.”

This isn’t the first time Grace has written about the topic of gender dysphoria. Grace shocked the punk world in 2012 when she came out as transgender in an article in Rolling Stone, and then, in 2014, she released her famous coming-out album, Transgender Dysphoria Blues, which remains one of the most important albums about gender dysphoria in punk or any other genre. The album inspired many in the punk community, myself included, to discover their own transgender identity and come out themselves.

In addition to the new single, Grace announced a string of tour dates for the fall and winter, including a show on New Year’s Eve at the Marquis Theater in Denver! The show will feature support from singer-songwriter Mya Byrne and local punk band Cheap Perfume. This will be the second time that Grace will spend New Years Eve performing in Denver, as Against Me! played the Summit Music Hall on December 31, 2019 to ring in the new year for 2020, right before the pandemic shut down live music worldwide.

Grace will also be performing at FEST in Gainesville, Florida on October 29, at which point she will receive the key to the city of Gainesville, the first rock star to receive the honor. “Full-on, totally flipping ridiculous. I’m grateful to the point of near embarrassment,” says Grace about the announcement on her Twitter page. Undoubtedly, a transgender anarchist receiving the key to the city in a Florida city is likely to infuriate Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who has been pushing harsh anti-trans laws in the state, which is just the icing on the cake.

Tickets for the New Years Eve started presales on October 5 from Live Nation under the passcode VOCALS. Laura Jane Grace hasn’t announced the new album yet, but you can keep up with her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to keep an eye out for it.

Photo courtesy of Travis Shinn