Emmy-nominated artist, author, activist and musician Laura Jane Grace (Against Me!, The Devouring Mothers) is proud and honored to announce her most prestigious appearance of 2021. Taking place on Saturday, August 21, Grace will perform a full solo set at the now-famous Four Seasons Total Landscaping in Philadelphia, PA. In what will be her most celebrated appearance of the year, the upcoming show will also feature Brendan Kelly of The Lawrence Arms.
“This will be the first and last time Brendan and I will play in front of a landscaping company and we promise it will be better than that MAGA shit show.”
Additionally, Grace has recently announced a number of fall and winter appearances. Performing as part of the 2021 Punk Rock Bowling festival in Las Vegas, NV on Saturday, September 25, Grace will also be supporting Thursday on the east coast of the U.S. from December 27-30. Tickets are available now and a full listing of dates can be found below.
Across the 14 songs that comprise Stay Alive, Laura Jane Grace takes all her pent-up fears, anger, and anxiety and releases it, like an olive branch to the weary listeners who are feeling those exact same ways. The songs are documents of a time and a songwriter who experienced enough to find levity in the simple act of doing work. Recorded with nothing more than an acoustic guitar, an occasional drum machine, and her own powerful voice, Grace’s distinct songwriting signature is front and center. Stream and purchase the album on all platforms HERE.
Grace wasn’t planning on making a solo record in 2020. In fact, she was planning on making a record with Against Me!, the band she’s fronted for the past 23 years. But clearly, nothing went according to plan this year. “We came home from the Against Me! tour we were on in March, and right before we left, we had been in the studio working on songs, and I had been working on them for months prior,” says Grace. As she sat at home, all of her tours canceled, and the members of Against Me!—as well as her other band Laura Jane Grace & The Devouring Mothers—spread across the country, she was left with a batch of songs and no band to record them with.
“I sat around for a month-and-a-half at a home just being shell-shocked being like, ‘What the fuck happened and what the fuck is happening with the world?’ As I started to get my bearings, I just came to the realization that waiting was going to kill the record and kill the songs. I spent two years working on all these songs, and the idea of throwing them away didn’t sit well with me,” says Grace. “But then I was like, ‘What am I waiting for?’ All I have to do is adjust my scope. I can sit here on my fucking ass and do nothing, or I can work.”
So, Grace got to work. She picked up the phone and booked four days with Steve Albini and Electrical Audio to document these songs exactly as she’d been playing them in her home, straight to analog tape. The result of the session is Stay Alive, a record that doesn’t just embody that title, it serves as the guiding principle behind its creations. But it also put life back into an industry that’s been ravaged by venue closures, cancelled tours, and delayed records.
Based on a message around work, struggle, and reaffirmed commitments, Grace is looking to communicate that these sentiments are completely universal during this difficult year. 2020 frustrations, roadblocks and world events aside, at the end of it all, Grace made this album purely for herself. “I just want to put this out because it makes me feel alive and it’s giving me something better than sitting here losing my mind while the world falls apart,” she says. “It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks about what you do. Just stay alive.” Laura Jane Grace will be making the following appearances this fall and winter. Dates below with more to be added soon.
AUGUST
21 – Philadelphia, PA – Four Seasons Total Landscaping (w/ Brendan Kelly)
SEPTEMBER
25 – Las Vegas, NV – Punk Rock Bowling
DECEMBER
27 – Reading, PA – Reverb *
28 – Worcester, MA – Palladium *
29 – Washington DC – 9:30 Club *
30 – Sayreville, NJ – Starland Ballroom *
* – supporting Thursday
