The Linda Lindas are an all-girl punk band comprised of sisters Lucia and Mila de la Garza, Eloise Wong and Bela Salazar. After their 2021 viral performance of “Racist, Sexist Boy” at the LA Public Library catapulted them to fame, the band has been playing major venues alongside acts like Paramore, The Rolling Stones and, more recently, has been on tour with Rancid, The Smashing Pumpkins and Green Day.
By the time The Linda Lindas played Wooly’s in Des Moines this August, the four girls were all teenagers (Salazar has since turned 20). But when the band had its first viral hit, its youngest member, Mila, was only ten, which is remarkably young for mass fame. Growing Up was the perfect name for their 2022 debut album, as the band members’ adolescent years were playing out as their fame grew and the band itself matured.
“I feel like we've grown up real fast. Or like, we're learning things, or we've had to be put into a situation where we've learned a lot in a short amount of time, which has been really cool, but also I think we're still learning and still figuring things out,” Salazar said.
In the mere six years since the band’s conception, The Linda Lindas have contributed to other soundtracks like Inside Out 2, The Claudia Kishi Club and Amy Poehler’s Moxie. And week before The Linda Lindas' appearance at Wooly's, Apple TV released the bananas soundtrack for Yo Gabba GabbaLand! season one, including the band and their song "I'm So Happy To Be Little," alongside an all-star lineup of features (Anderson .Paak, Local Natives, Kurt Vile, Thundercat and so many more).
The band has covered some serious touring ground in their few years as well, and have played Coachella, at SoFi Stadium, and even performed for the Scripps National Spelling Bee. There are still quite a few venues left on their must-play list, though.
“Oh my god, we are so ambitious, I'm not even joking,” Lucia said. “We really want to play a lot of places, like I think Bela would say Latin America, for sure. We would say Australia. We haven't been there.”
“I'm so excited, we're gonna play Gilman at the end of this tour,” Wong continued. “It's the place where Green Day and Rancid started out, you know. So it's cool that we're playing this big stadium tour with them, and then we're playing our own show at this club that they started out in.”
While they only have about 20 minutes to play their opening set on the Green Day tour, the girls are able to use the time to play quite a few songs, as their riot grrrl-inspired punk songs are pretty short. After their set, they enjoy spending the rest of their evenings watching Rancid, The Smashing Pumpkins and Green Day perform.
Their latest record, No Obligation, was released Oct. 11. Like many of the songs on their first record, The Linda Lindas found inspiration from their own lives for their songwriting.
“It's just what is going on in our lives. And just kind of, it's a reflection of whatever goes on in 'Linda Linda' brain, I guess. The collective, yeah, it's just boiling in there,” Lucia said.
“Oh, like soup! I like soup,” Wong chimed in.
For their show at Wooly’s, The Linda Lindas’ openers were students from Girls Rock! Des Moines, a local organization that teaches local cis-girls, non-binary and trans youth about playing instruments and the music industry. When asked what advice they would give young people trying to make it as musicians, The Linda Lindas said it was important for girls to commit to their music careers and surround themselves with supportive people.
“I think first of all, you have to just go for it. It's easy to be scared of what other people think of you, but like, I think it's really important to try to place yourself around people that are just gonna lift you up,” Lucia said. “And it's important that you know it's not really about if you sound perfect the first time, or if you have a perfect show. It's about if you have the energy in the room, and if you're happy to be there, and if you really enjoy it and you're there with people that you care about.”
The band shows no signs of slowing down either. In October, they announced their 2025 headlining tour, with stops all over North America. The best is truly yet to come for these young rockstars.
