The Linda Lindas Are ‘Growing Up’ in Public in Teen Punk Band’s Full-Length Debut: Album Review
variety.comRoy Trakin At perhaps one of the lowest points in the pandemic, in May 2021, a video appeared, like a rose growing out of a crack in the concrete, of a group of teenage and pre-teenage girls of Chinese, Mexican and Salvadorean descent, a veritable melting pot from Los Angeles taking the acrid anti-Asian racism in the air and transforming it into a marvelous punk alchemy and expiation, an about-face that turned victim into victor.That viral clip was “Racist, Sexist Boy,” a reaction to an experience 11-year-old drummer Mila de la Garza had with a classmate who was warned to stay away from her because she was Chinese.
Along with Mila’s 15-year-old sister Lucia, who plays guitar alongside Bela Salazar, a lifelong friend who was the oldest at 17, and Eloise Wong, a cousin of the de la Garzas, 14, on lead vocals and bass, they formed the Linda Lindas, originally a new wave cover band.
Their performance at the Los Angeles Public Library proved a living example of punk’s persistence with a nod to garage-band “Nuggets” pop and attracted industry attention.
Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, fellow Asian Karen O, Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino and Dum Dum Girls’ Kristin Kontrol (who put them together) were among their earliest enthusiasts.
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