“Thrash Unreal” is an abstract representation of a song by the band Against Me!. The layered red and black represent the power struggle that the singer was experiencing when the song was written.
Against Me! was a band from Gainesville, Florida headed by frontman Tom Gabel. Through endless touring and record releases, Against Me! and Tom's growling deep and angry voice quickly became the modern cornerstone of anarchistic radical punk rock and Against Me! became known as "The angry white man band."
In 2005 the band came out with an album which quickly received mainstream success with the song 'Thrash Unreal.' Though still remaining true to their original sound, the album showed much more confessional and emotional lyrics that made a small group of fans believe they were "selling out" from their original roots. During this time he received a very long letter from a fan named January describing how lyrics in one of his songs completely changed her life. Tom kept the letter to himself.
In the 2007 album Tom input more direct lyrics that he believed would help expose his struggles. Unfortunately, no one he knew picked up on the encryption. When the band was dropped from their record label in 2010 he began to act out.
It was then that he met up with fan January in a New York cafe knowing that she would be one of the few to understand. In reading Tom's 2005 lyrics, January had received the courage to transition to being a woman, despite being involved in the masculine punk scene. Tom then revealed to her that he himself had extremely intense gender dysphoria - a dissatisfaction with his gender identity. He had been stealing women's clothes and cross dressing in secrecy since youth and wanted to become a woman.
Tom now identifies as Laura Jane Grace. Laura continues to be the growling and intense front of Against Me!, only now in high heels and a dress.
And happy.