The Linda Lindas: Punk Band Gets Record Deal After Anti-Racism Song Goes Viral
What do you do when a classmate openly tells you that they were warned to stay away from you based on your race? Cry? Run Away? Instead, 10-year-old Mila decided to write a song about it with her band, The Linda Lindas.
What came next was a viral success story: their performance at the Los Angeles Public Library for their song “Racist, Sexist Boys” blew up online and now the band — Bela, Lucia, Eloise and Mila, ages from 16 to 10 — have signed to Epitaph Records, according to Variety. Epitaph, founded by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz, has put out records by punk rock bands including Offspring, Rancid, the Dropkick Murphys, and Bring Me The Horizon, among many others. A rep for the label confirmed the low-key signing to the outlet.
Self-described on social media as “Half Asian / Half Latinx. Sisters, cousins and friends who play music together because it’s fun!!”
The girls started off in 2018 playing punk rock covers. The media outlet says they’ve opened for Best Coast, former Beastie Boys keyboardist Money Mark and veteran L.A. punk acts like the Dils and Alley Cats, they were invited by Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna to open for them in 2019. In their viral video, Mila is seen wearing a Bikini Kill t-shirt.
The video of The Linda Lindas’ library performance, which was part of a celebration of Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month, has gotten respect from Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello. The video posted from the library’s Twitter page was viewed more than 3.8 million times.
Song of the day! https://t.co/OotI1DcxWd
— Tom Morello (@tmorello) May 21, 2021
Mila’s dad is Grammy-winning producer-engineer Carlos de la Garza, who has worked with Paramore, Cherry Glazerr, Best Coast and Bad Religion. Eloise’s father is Martin Wong, co-founder and editor of Giant Robot magazine.
Mila introduced the video by saying, “A little while before we went into lockdown, a boy came up to me in my class 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.” 13-year-old Eloise added, “So this is about him and all the other racist, sexist boys in this world!”
Watch the video below:
The set also includes an original song they wrote for Netflix’s “The Claudia Kishi Club,” documentary, as well as cover of the Muffs’ “Big Mouth” and Bikini Kill’s “Rebel Girl.”
Full set below:
SETLIST:
03:27 – Claudia Kishi
05:25 – Missing You
07:50 – Never Say Never
10:41 – Monica
12:34 – Interview
30:53 – No Clue
33:47 – Racist Sexist Boy
35:56 – Rebel Girl (Bikini Kill Cover)
38:39 – Big Mouth (The Muffs Cover)
