Timelines collide on the latest release from Laura Jane Grace, bringing together folks from her early Against Me! days, her new project, the Mississippi Medicals, and even her partner, Paris Campbell Grace.
The Medicals’ cover of Cleveland punk band the Sidekicks’ 2012 track “Baby, Baby” will appear on Red Scare Industries 20th anniversary compilation, 20 Years Of Dreaming And Scheming (out Sept. 6th), and we have the premiere of the music video right here.
Grace’s ties to Red Scare go way back, since its founder, Tobias Jeg, signed Against Me! to Fat Wreck Chords in 2002. She also played Jeg’s now legendary gig at Four Seasons Total Landscaping in 2021 after Rudy Giuliani mysteriously held a press conference at the Philly location in 2020.
“Toby has done a million solids over the years, starting with signing Against Me! and even just small acts of kindness,” Grace tells Rolling Stone. “He was the reason that I got the Four Seasons Landscaping gig. The Sidekicks were on Red Scare records and we did a full U.S. tour with them back in 2014. That’s my favorite one of their songs.”
Grace recorded the cover with her new band, the Medicals, which includes Paris, Drive-By Truckers’ Matt Patton, and the Ergs’ Mikey Erg; they have an EP on the way. “It’s been really fun and exciting and challenging and humbling,” Grace says of collaborating with her partner, who she married after a whirlwind romance at the end of 2023. “We recorded back in December in Mississippi at Matt’s studio. It was almost like a date before we got married. The four of us ended up recording six songs together. It was like a trial by fire.” We’ve been touring together all this year and it’s a lot of fun.”
The video also features a wink and a nod to Paris, who appears in the black-and-white affair with Grace. “I guess the concept was the idea of eating soup every day, only soup, and then it’s telling you messages,” Grace says. “So we were just going along with it, having fun. And it also tied together, being that, you know, it’s Campbell’s Soup, which is Paris’ maiden name.”
The video was produced, shot, and edited by Deanna Belos of Sincere Engineer at Grace and Paris’ Chicago home.
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