by Jaxon Whittington
The thing about being called the future of punk is that eventually the future arrives. It can’t get here soon enough for The Linda Lindas if, by “future,” we mean everyone else finally catching up to them as an actual band.
When their 2021 Los Angeles Public Library performance of “Racist, Sexist Boy” went viral, Bela Salazar, Eloise Wong and sisters Lucia and Mila de la Garza were suddenly everywhere. Their ages, then 10 to 16, became nearly inseparable from the story: four kids making a glorious racket about societal defects and the general bullshit of growing up.
And that wasn’t even their first milestone. Two years earlier, Kathleen Hanna invited them to open for Bikini Kill in 2019. Lucia later recalled how the riot grrl punk legends treated them not as children or a novelty, but as musicians. Peers. Not that punk requires a permission slip or that the The Linda Lindas were waiting around for anyone’s approval.
Their 2022 debut, Growing Up, gave way to the more expansive, scrappier No Obligation in 2024. Then came tours with Paramore and Green Day and a turn opening for the Rolling Stones, the perfectly normal trajectory from public library branch to rock ’n’ roll institution support act.
Their just-released third album, Gotta Get Out, makes the kids-playing-punk description feel especially dusty and patronizing. The quartet pushes outward into hardcore, emo, post-punk and new wave, with Paramore’s Hayley Williams joining them on “Closer,” a song fittingly preoccupied with time refusing to slow the hell down.
Growing older hasn’t made The Linda Lindas easier to define; it’s made them harder to contain. Four songwriters and singers tug at the band from different directions while years spent playing together keep the whole beautiful mess tethered to the same noisy center.
The exciting thing about The Linda Lindas was never that four girls could play punk rock. It was what might happen if everyone shut up about their ages long enough to listen. Here’s hoping the future is now.
The Linda Lindas with special guests The Rat Utopia Experiment perform 7pm Tuesday, October 27 at the Culture Room in Fort Lauderdale. thelindalindas.com ~ Abel Folgar
