Growing Up

The Linda Lindas

You might've caught wind of The Linda Lindas before with their feisty live performance of Racist, Sexist Boy, a video seen by many thanks to the high praise from notable rock legends like Tom Morello, Thurston Moore, Flea, and Kathleen Hanna. The experience of drummer Mila de la Garza (10 years old at the time) facing discrimination because of her Chinese descent fueled this scathing take down of her young oppressor. The song felt timely given the heightened level of discrimination and violence towards Asians for their perceived responsibility for our current pandemic. With the performance gaining so much attention online, things started to move quickly for the young quartet. Within days of the performance being uploaded to YouTube, The Linda Lindas signed to notable punk label, Epitaph Records. Now we're nearly one year away from the anniversary of that video's release, and we finally have the debut album Growing Up.

The short introduction isn't a very cohesive one though. Some tracks go in a more 'classic' punk rock sound akin to The Runaways (Oh! and Nino). Others flirt with some sunny beach rock (Growing Up and Talking to Myself). And then there's some tunes that border on petulant punk and hardcore (Fine and Racist, Sexist Boy). Add in the fact that each member seems to spearhead their own distinct sound in the group and you get a collection that doesn't feel very focused. Typically, I would say this is a hindrance, but given the ages of the members, I think it adds an element of charm to the record that informs me not to take things so seriously. It reminds me of what it was like to be in my first bands; having no direction, experimenting wildly with style and genre, and just trying to figure out what it means to be in a band.

The song topics differ wildly too. One moment, Bela Salazar is talking about how being bold and highly principled often leads to tough social situations (Oh!). Sometimes things come out wrong and our point doesn't get across, or sometimes we stand alone in our opinions and that can feel very isolating. Despite this, Salazar still declares that she will always try because being complacent would fill her with regret. That's a pretty serious topic, especially for someone of that age who is still figuring out their place in the world. So it might catch you off guard to hear Salazar singing in the next moment about her lovable, yet vicious to all natural prey, pet cat Nino. This all goes to show that there is an element of maturity and social awareness that the group strives to incorporate into their music, but there's no real rush to grow up either.

Growing Up is certainly not the most sophisticated or powerful debut, but it is fun and lighthearted. It's enough to get me in their corner. Should the band continue to make music, I foresee the performances and energy only getting stronger, the commentary and songwriting sharper. Their future is looking quite bright.