Bonnaroo Band of the Day: Against Me!

As we’ve been doing for the past several years now, we’re making it our mission to help you get acquainted with as many bands as we can from Bonnaroo‘s impressive 2015 lineup. We’ll start from the bottom and work our way up, paying special attention to the smaller and lesser known acts on this year’s bill. Keep reading for your Bonnaroo Band of the Day…

LEARN

Although this Bonnaroo will technically be Against Me!‘s third appearance at the fest, it marks their first since a serious of major changes essentially kickstarted a whole new chapter of their career. First and foremost, frontwoman Laura Jane Grace came out as transgender in 2012, and subsequently began living her life as a woman. This would not only inform the thematic direction and social weight of the group’s latest record, Transgender Dysphoria Blues, but it’s also made Laura one of the most visible members of the trans community, especially in music (she even nabbed her own AOL docu-series, True Trans with Laura Jane Grace, last year). Behind the scenes, the group also became independent for the first time in years, following a series of major label efforts, and even self-produced and self-released their latest LP. They’ve also added a new drummer and new bassist since their latest ‘Roo outing, meaning, even if you’ve seen the band on the Farm before, you haven’t seen this band.

Formed in Florida in the late ’90s, Against Me!’s homegrown punk sound, anarchist ideals, and raw and aggressive performance style helped them quickly find an audience in their local scene. By the early ’00s, they were releasing full-lengths on popular indie punk labels like No Idea Records and Fat Mike’s Fat Wreck Chords, amassing enough critical and commercial success to begin touring the world, and eventually catching the eye of Warner Bros. subsidiary Sire Records. Their Butch Vig produced major label debut, 2007’s New Wave, took a poppier, glossier turn, polarizing some fans but generally helping catapult the band to a wider audience and earning near unanimous praise from critics. A live force to be reckoned with, having shared the stage with everyone from Foo Fighters to The Gaslight Anthem, Against Me! remain one of the best, most refreshing, and, undoubtedly, the most important bands in punk, and with their newfound spark, the badass and relentless energy of Laura Jane Grace, and the strongest lineup they’ve ever had, they should be headlining Bonnaroo, if there was any musical justice. If you miss their set, you’re messing up.

LISTEN | “Miami”