During a recent concert at the Los Angeles Public Library, four girls reminded the internet punk is absolutely not dead.
In fact, it's very alive, extremely loud and has no tolerance for racist, sexist dudes, no matter what age they are.
The punk band in question was the Linda Lindas, a part Asian, part Latinx quartet—according to Bandcamp—invited to kick off the LA Public Library's "TEENtastic Tuesdays," a month-long celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month.
Coming on the heels of a brutal year of increased anti-Asian hate and anti-Asian violence, the Linda Lindas channeled their rage into a calculated fury that left people on social media as shocked as they were hopeful for our future.
The band went viral when their performance of "Racist, Sexist Boy" began to make the rounds.
Their drummer Mila—who is 10 years old—shared the backstory for the song before they blasted into it.
"A little while before we went into lockdown a boy in my class came up to me and said that his dad told him to stay away from Chinese people."
"After I told him that I was Chinese he backed away from me."
"Eloise and I wrote this song based on that experience."
That song is better heard than described.
The Linda Lindas are a quartet made up of Mila—10, Eloise—13, Lucia—14 and Bela—16.
They describe their sound as a fusion of original punk, power pop and new wave.
People who saw the performance were head over heels excited about discovering the Linda Lindas.
Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello called it the "Song of the day."
Over on YouTube, people were equally enamored.
Gnormous/Youtube
Laura Westenra/Youtube
According to Rolling Stone, the Linda Lindas have already received some well-deserved recognition.
Since they formed in 2018, the Linda Lindas have opened for Bikini Kill, Best Coast, Alice Bag, and several other L.A.-based punk bands. After their viral fame, they've been signed to Epitaph Records according to Variety.
So it seems pretty likely we'll be seeing plenty of the Linda Lindas in the years to come.
How can we best prepare?
By watching their entire LA Public Library show, of course.
Brava ladies, brava.
@kileywrestling/Bluesky
