“Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout”
Author: Laura Jane Grace w/ Dan Ozzi
Hachette Books
Hardcover 320
Our Score: 4 out of 5 stars
“Tranny” is the intimate story of Against Me!’s enigmatic founder, weaving narrative of the band’s history, as well as Grace’s, with dozens of never before seen entries from the piles of journals Grace kept. More than a typical music memoir about sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll “Tranny” is an inside look at one of the most remarkable stories in the history of rock.
Like the in your face title suggests “Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout” pulls no punches and is direct and extremely real in its approach. First time Author Laura Jane Grace paints a gritty picture of her unique journey not only through her transition from male to female but also the path her and her band mates took as they navigated a completely different type of transition being that of moving from small independent records labels to the major label markets. From an outsider looking this may seem like a no brainer however Grace does a great job of describing the bands hardships as it clearly was not all big checks, fancy cars and massive notoriety.
“Tranny” is a real life account of two very different types of transitions. The two run parallel with one another providing an interesting continuity which keeps the reader’s attention page after page. The realness taken from Grace’s journal entries do a tremendous job and showcasing the inter turmoil she felt not only as an artist in a changing music market but also on a direct personal level as it relates to her own internal and external transformation from male to female. You will be extremely hard pressed to find another story like that of Laura Jane Grace’s “Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout”.
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