In Defense of Ska Ep. 27: Laura Jane Grace

It’s been a rough year and a half. This past April—in response to our collective trauma—Laura Jane Grace tweeted that the “current ska revival is a sign of just how emotionally vulnerable we all are after the past year.” A perfect sentiment for the moment we’re in. While a lot of people have been using ska as a cheap punchline, her tweet honed in on just how meaningful and earnest the music is, and why it is matters to people in dark times. Clearly a true ska fan.

That wasn’t her only recent ska tweet. There were a few about Operation Ivy in there too. So, we needed to bring her on the show and talk about the genre. Her history with ska goes back to her early days in the South Florida punk scene where rude boys and rude girls co-mingled with punks, skinheads, and every other alternative subculture.

On this episode of In Defense of Ska, we go deep into her ska history, learn about which ska bands made the trek down to Florida, which didn’t, and we hear about which band gave her mixed feelings about the genre. We also talk about We Are The Union and geek out on Operation Ivy for a while. And of course, we discuss why an Op Ivy reunion would be so healing for everyone after 2020.

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This week, you can hear our extended conversation about Adam's former bandmate, Steve Borth. Adam shares several road stories during his time on the road with Steve when they both played in Link 80 together.