ANCHR's Artist of the Week: The Linda Lindas
Photo by Zen Sekizaw
The future of punk rock seems to be safe. For live music fanatics like myself, we know and see young punk bands regularly. Every major city in the US has a scene, Chicago being no different with bars and venues like Delilahs, Cobra Lounge, Reggies, and Liars Club. Not the to mention the countless basement, garage, back yard, and living room parties, but with The Linda Lindas breaking out of the LA scene with such incredible talent and ferocity, they have shown us another example of age just being a number.
The Linda Lindas are composed of Lucia de la Garza, age 15, Mila de la Garza, age 11, Bela Salazar, age 17, and Eloise Wong, age 14. The de la Garza duo are sisters, Wong is their cousin, and Salazar is a long time family friend. Many may recognize The Linda Lindas from when their performance of “Racist, Sexist Boy” in a LA public library went viral in 2021. I remember the first time I saw the video was when RATM's Tom Morello shared it on his Instagram. Seeing these teens and tweens rock out like if they were seasoned punk vets was refreshing. The music was raw, loud, and sincere. Learning that the drummer was just 10 made them even more impressive.
I got to catch The Linda Lindas in Barcelona, Spain at the Primavera Sound Music Festival. Salazar did most of the speaking since, I assume, her Spanish is a bit more fine tuned than the others. When she introduced her band mates, along with their ages, there was a collective "Whoa!" from the audience coupled with cheers and adulation. They rocked their entire 50 minute set playing a number of songs from their debut album Growing Up and ended with the crowd favorite "Oh!" There was headbanging, guitar shredding, fist pumping, and even moshing. I've been to my fair share of rock shows, but this was the first time I've seen grown men mosh to a band with an eleven year old drummer. The band is stirring and inspiring. I hope they continue to see success and make great music.
The Linda Lindas are currently on tour. See all upcoming tour dates here, and watch the video for their debut album’s title track below.