Earlier this year the (former?) Against Me! leader Laura Jane Grace released her very good solo album Hole In My Head. Later this year, she’s teaming up with ska band Catbite to play Operation Ivy tribute sets at Riot Fest and at the Virginia ska festival Supernova. Now, Grace is introducing a brand-new band called Laura Jane Grace & The Mississippi Medicals, and they’ve just dropped their debut album.

With the Mississippi Medicals, Laura Jane Grace has the Drive-By Truckers’ Matt Patton on bass and the Ergs’ Mikey Erg on drums. The actor and comedian Paris Campbell Grace, Laura Jane’s wife, plays percussion and sings. Matt Patton produced the band’s debut single “All Fucked Out,” a playful sea shanty that Grace imagined as her answer to the BTS hit “Butter.” Here’s how she explains it:

Back in 2021, I sat down in my office to do some songwriting. Not knowing what specifically to write about that day, I challenged myself to write a song similar to whatever the current #1 hit in the world was at the time. I made the challenge to myself without knowing exactly what that song was, so I had to look it up, and as it turned out at that moment, the current #1 song in the world was “Butter” by BTS. Now, for those of you not familiar with the song “Butter,” it’s about how the singer is “smooth like butter.”

“Hmmm…,” I thought to myself. “If they’re smooth like butter, what am I?” And the answer to that question is “All Fucked Out” — not to be confused with “All Fucked Up,” mind you. “All Fucked Out,” as in zero fucks left to give. The song quickly became a staple in my live set, and I’ve taken a couple different previous attempts at recording it, but it wasn’t until Me, Matt [Patton], Mikey [Erg] and Paris [Campbell Grace] got together this past December in Water Valley, Mississippi at Matt’s Studio, Dial Back Sound, that it all came together and the song was recorded the way it was meant to be heard.

Laura Jane Grace & The Mississippi Medicals are heading out on tour this fall. Below, listen to “All Fucked Out” and check out their dates.

TOUR DATES:
9/03 — Louisville, KY @ The Whirling Tiger *^
9/04 — Memphis, TN @ Growlers *^
9/06 — Pensacola, FL @ Handlebar *^
9/07 — St Petersburg, FL @ The Floridian Social *^
9/08 — Orlando, FL @ The Social *^
9/10 — Gainesville, FL @ The Wooly *^
9/11 — Athens, GA @ 40 Watt Club *^
9/13 — Charlottesville, VA @ Jefferson Theater ^
9/14 — Ft. Monroe, VA @ Supernova Ska Festival
9/15 — Atlantic City, NJ @ Anchor Rock Club ^
9/17 — New York, NY @ The Liberty Belle *^
9/18 — Asbury Park, NJ @ House of Independents *^
9/19 — Syracuse, NY @ The Song & Dance *^
9/20-22 — Chicago, IL @ Riot Fest

* with Catbite
^ with Taylor Hollingsworth