LA's Linda Lindas find their next chapter on major label debut

Over the Linda Lindas’ career, talk about the band has often centered around how young they are.

They broke through as tweens and teens when a 2021 performance at the library in Cypress Park went viral after it was posted online, in part because they sounded so commanding for their age. The drummer, Mila de la Garza, was 10 at the time.

Five years and several albums later — Gotta Get Out, their third album and major label debut, just dropped yesterday — the Linda Lindas are outgrowing their old image.

“I do think people still hear 'kid band' when they think of the Linda Lindas,” said Lucia de la Garza, Mila’s older sister and one of the guitarists. “It's like we're not actually really that young anymore.”

It’s been eight years since the sisters joined cousin Eloise Wong and family friend Bela Salazar to play a local music fest. What was a one-off gig turned into a real band that always seemed to have homework to do.

“We'll play a show and then go backstage and finish an essay,” Lucia said.

“Almost like we're Hannah Montana,” Mila said.

“Without the secret identity,” laughed Lucia.

Then came the library video, a record deal with punk label Epitaph and their 2022 debut album Growing Up. 

They started touring the world opening for their heroes like Green Day and Paramore. (Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams is featured on the single “Closer.”)

And as of this summer, more big leaps: They signed with Warner’s Reprise imprint, and all but Mila have graduated high school.

As they’ve grown, so has their songwriting.

Where they used to write individually, for their new album, they holed up in L.A., Long Beach and Palm Springs to write in the same room from the beginning. No phones allowed. Just riffing.

“We believe in each other and each other's ideas so much that we were kind of just pushing each other to go for it,” Lucia said. “What if we added synth here? What if the drums dropped out?”

By the end of the sessions, they had amassed about 30 songs and the 12 tracks on the album were split evenly between the three writing locations, produced by the sisters’ dad, Carlos de la Garza, who’s worked with Paramore, Bad Religion and Best Coast. (He actually started working with Best Coast after meeting them when the duo came to a Linda Lindas rehearsal in the family's backyard, according to Lucia.)

The album moves beyond straight-ahead punk, dipping into new wave, power pop and hardcore.

That range tracks with the members’ own eclectic listening habits. Lucia has been listening to indie artists Blondshell, Francis of Delirium and Indigo De Souza. Mila cited Julien Baker’s Little Oblivions, while Eloise, who plays bass, has been digging into local hardcore punk like Special Forces from San Luis Obispo, not to mention the Heated Rivalry soundtrack. Guitarist Bela has been listening to pop from Hollis and Mexico's Belanova.

Meanwhile, their lyrics tackle the issues staring down their generation, from climate change to fascism and economic injustice.

On “Blood on Our Hands," Eloise belts out an indictment of not just the government but the complicity of bystanders.

Eloise said the song isn’t just about calling people out about the state of the world, but “making everyone think about all of the little things that we can do to try and make it better, you know, and make it more sustainable, and make sure that people can live.”

Elsewhere on the album, like on the single “Burning Out,” the band reflects on that strange space between youth and adulthood and seeing friends move into new stages of life while wondering if they’re being left behind.

Whatever uncertainty they may be feeling, the Linda Lindas say one thing is for sure: It’s all about their music now.

Next month, they head out on their biggest tour yet as headliners with dates across the U.S. and Canada.

For a band whose early years involved squeezing in homework between soundchecks, life has simplified in at least one respect.

“It's pretty much all about the band,” Eloise said.