By Seth Sommerfeld
INLANDER: Your upcoming album Adventure Club was recorded over in Greece as part of a grant. How did that come about?
GRACE: It was all kind of unintentional happenstance. A little over two years back, I got asked to do some soundtrack work for this documentary that the Onassis Foundation was putting out called Walls, which was a documentary on the Nigrita prison in Northern Greece. And they wanted me to take a poem by the Greek poet C. P. Cavafy, do an English translation of it, turn it into song lyrics, and then write music for it and record it. So I did that, and it was really cool.
And they then invited me over at the beginning of last year to do two shows in Athens, and then there ended up being a third show in Thessaloniki. And so I went over there with [my wife] Paris [Campbell Grace] and Christos, who was my like point of contact there at the Onassis Foundation. He arranged a group of like local musicians to do the shows with me, which was both like terrifying and awesome. Because you show up kind of cold, no practices. Just basically did the soundcheck and then played a show and then played the next night. But it was awesome. It was super fun. They filmed it for their Onassis Live series, so that’s out and you can watch it or whatever.
We were supposed to fly out of Thessaloniki at the end of it, but there ended up being some weather issue, so our flight was canceled and now we were flying out of Athens a full 24 hours later. So we drove back to Athens and had time to kill. Our flight was super early, so we’re like, ‘Well, let’s just stay up all night.’ And asked Jack [Fokas], who was the one bass player who played with me over there and also had a studio, if they just wanted to stay up and record all night. So Jack asked Orestis [Lagadinos], who was one of the drummers that we played over there with, if he wanted to sit in on the session. And we just stayed up all night and recorded a full band version of that song, “Walls,” which is the last song on the record. And it was f—ing incredible. It was just like the coolest experience: recorded all night, went straight to the airport, flew home like, „What the f—? Did that just really happen?“
Then Christos was like, „You should apply for a fellowship program. I’m pretty sure we’ll totally give it to you.“ So I did, and the fellowship program was incredible. They basically gave me a small grant to cover living expenses, and then gave me and Paris an apartment in downtown Athens for all of July. And you’re not under any pressure to create anything, they just want you to come there and basically just do whatever moves you. But at the same time, there’s kind of an unspoken pressure to still produce something, right? So I went over there with a couple songs in my pocket, and figured „Well, you know, maybe we’ll record an EP or something like that.“ But it ended up just really taking off and working.
It was kind of a dream recording experience where we would wake up every day, go explore Athens or go find a different spot on the beach and go swimming, and then record all evening. We just had the most magical f—ing time. And at the end of the month, we had a record completed.
What are you favorite aspects about Adventure Club?
I’m really proud of the spirit of collaboration. It came from collaboration with [a poet] who’s dead. And before going over there, Paris and I wrote two songs together. And then once over there, Jack and I wrote a song together, that’s the „Espresso Freddie“ song. And then Orestis and I wrote a song together, that’s the „Poison in Me“ song. So I really wanted to make sure all the collaborations were present on the album, and it just came out really cool and unique in that way.
So does that contrast with maybe a more insular process when normally working on your solo albums?
It was definitely refreshing after doing the past two records, pretty much by myself (although with Hole in My Head, Matt [Patton] obviously stepped up and came to St. Louis and we recorded together). But it’s definitely rad to have a drummer on them. It was interesting, too, because it was my first time collaborating with foreign musicians, so there were cultural differences or language differences and stuff that had to be navigated that were different from any of the collaborative experiences that I’ve had in the past. So it really required just a kind of complete openness to other people’s ideas and approaches to it. And I think it’s there on the record — you can hear it.
What’s it been like dealing with your performance of „Your God (God’s Dick)“ at a Bernie Sanders rally becoming a hot button topic for right-wing talking heads?
It was really surprising, and it’s been comical. [Laughs] Just seeing everyone from like Dana Carvey and David Spade to Russell Brand to Dan Crenshaw to whoever speaking about it and being offended by it or whatever.
I definitely asked Bernie’s people if it was cool or not that I played it, and they said yeah. There, in the moment, I played eight other songs and that was the one that got the reaction. People there were laughing their asses off, and everyone thought it was funny. But I get that, maybe at first glance, the song seems kind of like elementary school humor, but there’s a very serious message behind it.
Of all the songs recorded in Greece, that was one that I specifically wrote there, at the Onassis Foundation, just sitting in the room. Because a couple times a week I had to go to the headquarters. And they have these rooms with huge glass windows that everybody walking by on the street can see. So you kind of like are an art installation or whatever. And then had to give a presentation on the song and talk about with the people that I was accountable to. So it was like very thought out and not just toilet humor.
You just need to tell the critics, “Umm… ‚Your God (God’s Dick)‘ is a grant approved art project.”
It’s legitimate, baby! [Laughs]
I feel like that songs is an example of you being a little more blunt recently with some of your lyricism. Is that at all a reaction to the times we’re living in? Like, “I know you should be getting the point of what I’m singing about, but I’m gonna make sure you get it?”
Not consciously, but I see it, too. It feels rad the way it’s all lined up, although, granted, I wish it weren’t lining up in that the world is f—ed, right? So I wish it wasn’t as all relevant as it is.
But some of the songs like „WWIII Revisited,“ „Active Trauma“ or „Mine Me Mine“ were actually songs like I’ve been working on for like seven-plus years. They were songs that I tried with Against Me! the last couple sessions that we did together, and they just didn’t work out. And at the time, I remember thinking, “I don’t know, maybe they are throwaway songs. Maybe they’re not that good.” But it really just took the right moment, the right group of musicians, to bring it to life and capture the recordings. Those moments when you feel like you’re tapping into the zeitgeist are so affirming as an artist.
How is it sorting through your emotions in this time being a very prominent trans person as the trans community is being hatefully targeted and scapegoated by right-wing politicians?
I feel just as terrified as everybody else. And I feel just like unsure of the future or what the f— to do in the face of it all. So as I’ve always said, I don’t have all the answers. I don’t know, but here we are nonetheless.
It also completely speaks to how off some people are. You hear it all the time — people talking about ‚the woke mind virus‘ or whatever. That they’re being indoctrinated with gender ideology or whatever. And it’s not like that.
If there are more people coming out or you see more like representation, it’s just because people have felt safer or they’ve seen other people come out or they have a better understanding of their self because of it. I think of when I was a young teen and just how limited the resources were for even like self-education. I wasn’t indoctrinated or anything like that.
I mean, it’s the familiar refrain that the reason some folks are scared of certain groups of people is because they’ve never actually met anyone from those groups.
But that’s the thing. They’re at war with education, right? They fear the idea of people being educated about gender and reject that it could be a spectrum. And that’s the problem.
It’s definitely an interesting time to be out on the road and to see the country. And to kind of get a read on people, even if it’s like listening to conversations in the breakfast room at the hotel or gas stations, and just kind of taking a temperature check.
Yeah, I was talking about that aspect of touring with David Cross last year. Just the fact that you can get a better read on people’s feelings outside of the media hubs by being in places with folks who aren’t living in the huge coastal cities with ideological bubbles.
Yeah. It’s surprising sometimes, because I’ll be in places where I can tell at whatever gas station has Trump stuff or MAGA shit, but you’ll still have a positive interaction with like the person ringing you up or whatever, where they’re friendly and you don’t sense anything from them. It sometimes makes you feel how used people are being by politicians. I hope that [anti-trans] rage doesn’t become more apparent or prominent. ♦
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