Musician

The first record we made, we recorded and mixed in a day. The second record was recorded and mixed in a week. The third was recorded and mixed in a month, and 'New Wave' was mixed and recorded in six months. It was an epic project.

I remember being really young - being 13 or 14 - when I first was really excited about punk rock as an idea, and I was like, 'Don't ever not be punk. Don't ever not be punk.' Telling that to myself, I guess it was like self-defense against the scary world around me.

I feel self-conscious for even having met so many other band people and artists, I don't want to be that artist that is only able to talk about themselves and their own band. I don't want to be that person. I'd rather just be quiet than be that person.

As technology and science advances, I think the ability to alter yourself should be embraced.

I fear cops and have never felt the protection of them.

My whole identity is not gender. My whole identity is not talking about gender. There are so many other things in my life that are fulfilling that I like to think about too.

As a trans person, I don't feel welcome in most public spaces. Especially now with Trump, I don't feel faith or recognize that we're protected by the government or administration.

My father was stationed in Italy in the military. I had no one to feed me what was cool, so I was into Guns N' Roses and New Kids on the Block and MC Hammer and a lot of '80s hair bands. But I was never into Motley Crue, they never stuck with me.

Any doctor will tell you a great treatment for depression is exercise, physical exertion, that it really ups the dopamine in your brain, so that's what a show is. I play a show and that's a high for me; I can ride that.

I don't feel like I've ever been in mainstream society.

Manic depression in general is something that runs in my family, and it's something that I battle with.

Saying to someone 'I'm a transsexual' is the most empowering thing I've ever felt in my whole life.

For most people who are transitioning, surgery isn't really a financial reality. So to place these goals of 'in order to be happy with my body, I must do this thing' is really damaging to yourself.

My earliest memories are of dysphoria.

I'm just me and if me being honest about who I am and putting myself out there in that way makes connections with people and helps people out, that's just repaying the favor of music because that's what music does for me.

What people don't realize when they talk about our lineup changes is that the original Against Me! broke up in 2001. It never recorded a full-length record.

I recognize that I'm in a band, and part of being in a band is doing interviews, and I do have a platform so I want to use that platform to talk about things that are real.

I guess I've been existing in my own head a lot.

I'm a musician and I listen to music all the time. If there's something out there where someone would tell me that I should listen to, I would listen to it.

When I was fourteen years old, I got arrested for battering an officer and resisting arrest with violence. I was beat up by the cops and they charged me with that. There was no original arresting charge.