Polyvinyl Record Co. and Laura Jane Grace are pleased to present “Active Trauma,” the newest single to be lifted from the Friday, July 18 release of Adventure Club by Laura Jane Grace In The Trauma Tropes, a new and incendiary, 12-song collection that explores the archetypical hero’s journey tropes from classic Greek mythology: love, war, trust, betrayal, virtue & vice, iced coffee drinks — it’s all there, and so is the fun! A stomping number about recognizing that you can never outrun the past — even if, as Grace half-jokes, you actually run to attempt just that — “Active Trauma” suggests that you may be able to overpower it, to “burn this house to the fucking ground.”
Featuring the help of Grace’s wife and collaborator Paris Campbell Grace (vocals) and Athens, Greece-based musicians Jacopo “Jack” Fokas (bass) and Orestis Lagadinos (drums), Adventure Club is the product of a month-long, life-changing trip and songwriting retreat in Greece that came by way of a Fellowship grant through the Onassis Foundation that provided Grace with the inspiration to create some of the best punk she’s ever made.
Before the phrase “Adventure Club” became the title of Laura Jane Grace’s electrifying new album, it was the name for her gaggle of adventurous friends in Greece. In the summer of 2024, Grace joined an artist residency program in Athens, embedding with Greek punk rockers and exploring the ancient landscape and the city’s vibrant culture. They dove from beaches nestled in seaside caves into the Aegean and swam with sea turtles. They submitted to tourism, seeing the Parthenon and Epidaurus and breaking into the Panathenaic Stadium to run its track. They became addicted to Freddo espresso, a locals-only iced coffee topped with whipped milk. The lifestyle of this “Adventure Club” inspired her so much that, by the time she left Greece, she’d unexpectedly finished Adventure Club, a new career apogee that recalibrates what punk rock means for her now.
Two years ago, the Onassis Foundation invited Grace to Greece. They wanted her to transform “Walls,” a century-old poem of isolation and doubt by Greece’s Constantine P. Cavafy, into a song for a short documentary about inmates learning to express themselves through film while in prison. When she traveled there in early 2024, the filmmaker assembled a pick-up band of local punk rockers (plus Paris) for a string of shows. When the brief tour was done, bad weather delayed her flight home. Waiting for her early-morning exit, she stayed up all night with the ad hoc group and Paris. They recorded a new version of “Walls,” then flew home in a delighted daze. When she returned six months later after earning a full residency with the Onassis Foundation, Grace co-wrote and cut an entire LP with Paris, bassist Jacopo Fokas, and drummer Orestis Lagadinos, that pickup group called The Trauma Tropes.
Adventure Club is frequently a record about learning to take up space, about feeling free to be yourself as the bullshit of our ahistoric moment mounts. Protest songs and personal tunes have never been a binary for Grace, and she delivers some of her most profound — and, yes, playful — work ever at that particular intersection here. But the most prominent thread through Adventure Club’s dozen tracks is one of evolution, of letting yourself become something new.
She talks often about her age, about nearing the second half of her 40s after a lifetime as a punk. What does it mean, really, to remain a punk for 44 years? For Grace, it is the same as it’s always been — a resolve to question everything about oneself and the world around you and to allow yourself to evolve within that framework. Adventure Club epitomizes that spirit the way that the best of Laura Jane Grace’s music always has.
The young punk from Florida may never have imagined making a record in Greece, but it does not change the spirit of the songs that inspired them: to create a place where we’re all burdened by less bullshit, whether it’s our own baggage or the stuff that autocrats, capitalists, and assholes simply want to put on us because they don’t know the thrill of being happy and free themselves. Maybe they need to try writing a rock song, or simply jump into the sea.
Laura Jane Grace will be making the following North American appearances this spring and summer. Dates below.
APRIL
22 — Portland, OR — Holocene * (SOLD OUT)
23 — Bellingham, WA — Wild Buffalo *
24 — Seattle, WA — Neumos * (SOLD OUT)
25 — Spokane, WA — District Bar *
27 — Billings, MT — Pub Station *
29 — Sioux Falls, SD — Icon Lounge *
30 — Saint Paul, MN — Amsterdam Bar & Hall * (SOLD OUT)
MAY
21 — Lawrence, KS — Granada Theater ~
22 — Oklahoma City, OK — Beer City Music Hall ~
25 — Las Vegas, NV — Punk Rock Bowling
JUNE
07 — Nashville, TN — Jorts Fest
08 — Indianapolis, IN — Hi-Fi Indy
10 — Louisville, KY — Whirling Tiger
11 — Columbus, OH — A&R Music Bar
13 — Garwood, NJ — Crossroads
14 — Albany, NY — Empire Live
16 — South Burlington, VT — Higher Ground (The Ballroom)
17 — Buffalo, NY — Electric City
19 — Newport, KY — Southgate House ^
20 — Detroit, MI — St. Andrew’s Hall ^
21 — Toronto, ON — Danforth Music Hall ^
22 — Montreal, QC — Le Studio TD ^
23 — Woodstock, NY — Bearsville Theater ^
25 — Norwalk CT — District Music Hall ^
26 — Portland, ME — State Theatre ^
27 — Boston, MA — Paradise Rock Club ^
28 — Brooklyn, NY — Warsaw ^
29 — Asbury Park, NJ — Asbury Lanes ^
JULY
01 — Cleveland Heights, OH — Grog Shop ^ (SOLD OUT)
02 — Cleveland Heights, OH — Grog Shop ^ (SOLD OUT)
05 — Pelham, TN — The Caverns ^ (SOLD OUT)
09 —Millersville, PA — Phantom Power ^
10 — Baltimore, MD — Union Craft Brewing ^
11 — Washington, DC — Black Cat ^
12 — Philadelphia, PA — Union Transfer ^
13 — Pittsburgh, PA — Mr. Smalls ^
15 — Grand Rapids, MI — The Pyramid Scheme ^ (SOLD OUT)
16 — Chicago, IL — Thalia Hall ^
17 — Chicago, IL — Thalia Hall ^
18 — Madison, WI — The Sylvee ^
19 — Minneapolis, MN — First Avenue ^
20 — Maquoketa, IA — Codfish Hollow Barnstormers ^ (SOLD OUT)
AUGUST
01 — Peoria, IL — Scottish Rite Theatre >
02 — Omaha, NE — Slowdown >
03 — Fargo, ND — Sanctuary Events Center >
05 — Winnipeg, MB — The Park Theatre >
06 — Saskatoon, SK — Louis’ Pub >
08 — Edmonton, AB — The Starlite Room >
09 — Calgary, AB — Commonwealth Bar & Stage >
10 — Kelowna, BC — Revelry >
12 — Vancouver, BC — The Pearl >
13 — Victoria, BC — Sticky Wicket>
15 — Missoula, MT — Monk’s Bar >
16 — Boise, ID — Treefort Music Hall >
17 — Salt Lake City, UT — Soundwell >
19 — Casper, WY — Oil City Beer Company >
21 — Denver, CO — Gothic Theatre ^
22 — Denver, CO — Gothic Theatre ^
24 — Dallas, TX — Ferris Wheelers Backyard & BBQ >
25 — Austin, TX — Antone’s >
26 — Houston, TX — The Heights Theater >
27 — Baton Rouge, LA — Chelsea’s Live >
OCTOBER
24 -26 — Gainesville, FL — FEST
* — w/ Alex Lahey, Rodeo Boys
~ — w/ PET NEEDS
^ — supporting Murder By Death
> — w/ Trapper Schoepp, Team Nonexistent
