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Music

I Interviewed the Guy Who Wrote a Book with Laura Jane Grace and Is Sitting Right Next to Me

We somehow landed an exclusive interview with the Noisey editor who helped the Against Me! frontwoman write her memoir.

John Hill pictured with Noisey editor and TRANNY co-author, Dan Ozzi in the VICE office

The story of the many phases of Against Me! has been told for a while now. What started as a scrappy punk band from Gainesville, FL, became a polarizing group on the brink of mainstream success, to one of the most influential and important groups for LGBT people worldwide. This change happened on the shoulders of singer Laura Jane Grace, who publicly came out as a transgender woman in 2012. This November, Grace will be releasing her memoir titled Tranny: Confessions Of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout, which will touch on every part of her life, from journals she kept as a kid to the band's history over the last 20 years. In writing the book, she was joined by punk rocker and Noisey's number one foremost content jockey, Dan Ozzi.

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I spoke to Dan, a full-time Noisey editor, who at the time of answering questions was about two feet away from me.

Noisey: Hey, did you see you’re on Rolling Stone in a story about the book?
Dan Ozzi, who is sitting right next to me: Awesome!

I should interview you about it, since you’re two feet away from me.
Yeah, that’d be stupid/funny.

Hey Dan. I saw that you’ve written a book titled Tranny with Against Me! frontwoman and all around awesome person Laura Jane Grace. Can I ask you some questions over our work productivity chat program about said book?
Wait, are you seriously writing this up?

Yeah.
Uh, ok. This is weird.

Nearly two years ago, you wrote a long essay about your shifting opinion of Against Me!, and how Transgender Dysphoria Blues made them into a new band. Two years removed, how important of a person do you think Laura is for music and culture at large?
That's the thing about being in a band for a prolonged period of time. You're bound to lose and pick up fans along the way. Transgender Dysphoria Blues was the album where I and a lot of other longtime fans were reminded of the sheer force of Against Me!. And looking back two years later, I still say that album is the most important rock record of the decade. Totally brought new conversations into punk and music in general.

When did you meet her?
A couple of years ago. We were filming a video together. [John this is where you gotta link to the video we made. This is called "linking back" and it's super helpful to the blogging experience.] I think it was right after I wrote that article. I said, "Oh wow, I thought for sure you'd hate me." And she said, "Why would I hate you?" and kind of laughed. Laura is a person who has seen every kind of criticism so she can handle it.

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So, why do you think she approached you, a mere internet content farmer, to help put words into physical books?
There are literally thousands of people more qualified and better looking than me. Laura and I worked on her Noisey column Mandatory Happiness together [John, this is another GREAT opportunity for a link back] and we always had a pretty smooth working relationship and became good friends from there. I like editing her words. She writes with heart. So when she needed help finishing her book, I was just the lucky person she thought of. Immensely humbling and I'll never be able to thank her properly.

That’s awesome, and inspiring for other talentless hacks like myself. I have to imagine that given her story, it must have been pretty daunting and excited to know you’d be a part of telling it.
Yeah, this is a real rags to riches story for ol' Dan. Getting called up from the minors to write for the big leagues. But yes, I think this is a story that will live on. I think we managed to do something really special here and I hope people will remember it.

Tell me about the book. Is it a memoir in a traditional sense? I read this goes back to her early journals from when she was a kid.
It's a really unique book. I've never read something like it. There is a narrative story of her life and career with her journals weaved in. There are some pretty early journal entries in there, all the way through the present. It was amazing to read through all of those, and also heartbreaking. She had this big secret in her life that consumed her, but she couldn't tell anyone, which is probably why she started keeping the journals in the first place. The book is letting people in on that secret life for the first time, really.

What do you hope fans and the general public get out of reading the book?
For fans, I think they will see a side of Laura that they've not seen before. We tend to idolize people whose music we identify with, and have this perfect version of them in our heads. But Laura will be the first to admit that she's had moments of self-doubt and shame. And for the general public, I think it will show a side to transitioning genders that we don’t often see. Often, trans issues are presented in the media as being very rosy, like with Caitlyn Jenner. We see the interview between (then) Bruce Jenner and Diane Sawyer, and the next thing we know, Caitlyn is on stage, looking fantastic in a dress. Everything’s perfect and transitioning is that simple! Well, it doesn’t happen like that. There are daily moments of heartbreaking sadness that go overlooked and Laura captures that in a way that is so tragic and beautiful. It will make you identify, or if not identify, at least understand. This is not a cheery book. This is Laura Jane Grace we're talking about. It is dark. I don't want to give too much away, but there were some things she had written that just crushed me. I thought about them for weeks. I still think about them. It was an honor helping her organize it all.

Can you get me a copy of the book and will you not sign it?
Yes, my signature would only devalue it.

Anything else?
Are you seriously posting this on Noisey?