Mark of Cain singer comes out as trans ‘to finally live as myself’ | Australian music
The guitarist and vocalist of Australian heavy metal band Mark of Cain has come out as a trans woman and wrote that seeing young trans people living freely “lightened the possibility that perhaps I could finally be myself in my autumn years.”
On Monday night, Josie Scott wrote: Statement to fans from the band’s social media accountShe explained that her family knew her as Josie or Jo and that “given where I identify on the gender spectrum, I fit the paradigm of being a trans woman.”
“As I got older and death approached, I decided to accept who I was rather than endure it,” the 63-year-old author wrote.
Josie and her brother Kim have been with Mark Of Cain since the band formed in Adelaide in 1984. Their debut album Battlesick was released in 1989 to critical acclaim and was later released in the US by Black Flag and Rollins Band frontman Henry Rollins.
The band were inducted into the South Australian Music Hall of Fame in 2022, joining acts such as Masters Apprentices, Angels and Cold Chisel.
Scott wrote that she has struggled with gender dysphoria since she was a little girl. “I always thought I would live my life, complain a lot, and die leaving clues in my songs and diaries that my family would read and think, ‘Oohaahh what a strange (albeit talented) person’,” he wrote.
She said gender dysmorphia was reflected in the band’s music on their 1995 album Ill at Ease, produced by Rollins, and touched on this struggle “though I was trying not to be too explicit.”
“TMOC was often interpreted as a very masculine, testosterone-driven group, and this group functioned largely as a ‘beard’ for me in many ways. Much of what was interpreted as masculine mostly stemmed from my internal anger about my own dissatisfaction with myself and the paralysis I felt at not being able to live as myself,” she wrote.
As she recovered from long Covid in 2022, she began to wonder “when the time comes to leave the world, can I do it without regrets?”
“My response was: ‘No, you were never realistic,'” he wrote. “I knew I would always regret not having the courage to live my life. Seeing so many young people now able to embrace who they are and live authentically without as much bullshit as I did when I was younger opened up the possibility that maybe in my fall years I could finally be myself.”
“Finally living as myself has been liberating, albeit challenging at the same time, but the happiness I feel outweighs all the obstacles I have faced so far,” she wrote.
“I think the true fans of the band, who found us through their own feelings of alienation and otherness, will understand the challenge I face, the difficulty of feeling different and being left out, and will accept my announcement.”
She said her gender would not affect the group. “We will continue to write, record and perform hard heavy music, and I may seem a little more androgynous, but everything else will remain the same.”
Hundreds of Mark of Cain fans responded with messages of support. “Listening to Ill At Ease over and over again when I was younger helped me a lot in my coming out journey,” one wrote. “The most rock and roll thing you can do is truly be yourself,” another wrote.
“An absolute legend,” wrote punk band Frenzal Rhomb. “Josie, you’re in charge.”
