Linda Lindas Interview
The Linda Lindas are an awesome band consisting of girls around my age! My friend Sadie and I interviewed them in 2019 for our second issue of That's Interesting Zine (buy one!) , and since then, they have come out with their first EP, cameoed in the movie Moxie, and recently did a show in the L.A. Public Library, where they performed a song that they wrote about racist, sexist, boys. The Linda Lindas are so incredibly cool, and I wanted to re share the interview that Sadie and I did with them a while back.
When did you all start playing your instruments?
Lucia (12): [Mila and I] have played piano for a while. I started in preschool. I started guitar when we started the band though.
Bela (15): I’ve been playing guitar for three years…not very long, so...
Eloise (11): I started piano the summer after kindergarten, and then I picked up bass like three months before our first show.
Lana: Was it easy to pick up instruments, or still kinda hard…?
Mila (9): Well, I think piano is a good base, so it helped definitely.
Lucia: I’ve mainly played guitar in this band. I’ve played one bass, I’ve played like, two keyboard, and then everything else is guitar. I’m playing a drum song now which is cool! I started a guitar a year ago. I think I have an okay memory which helps (laughter), it’s better than bad memory. So, I don’t know...it was hard--It is hard at first...It is not easy to start something new.
Eloise: I think for me, it was easy to pick up bass because it’s just one note compared to doing like many notes on the piano. Bass has been really fun for me.
Who are some of your inspirations or people you look up to?
Bela: I would say like Psychedelic Furs.
Lana: Oh, so like, Pretty in Pink?
Bela: Yeah.
Eloise: There are so many people!... Let’s just list.
Mila: Papi!
Lucia: [Re: Mila] Our dad… What are some artists that we like?
Eloise: Bikini Kill, Blondie, Go-Go’s--
Lucia: Joan Jett. She’s cool. We saw her.
Lana: So, like, a lot of female artists?
All: Yeah.
Eloise: Alice Bagg. Phranc!
Would you guys consider yourselves extroverts when you are not onstage?
Eloise: Yeah, I think I consider myself an extrovert when I’m not onstage.
Bela: For me definitely not. I cannot talk to people. I have a very hard time with that.
Lucia: It depends. Sometimes, its like if the person is like, an adult, or if the person is younger, then I don’t know…
Eloise: I feel like I’m better with adults. How ‘bout you, Mimi?
Mila: I don’t know…
(Laughter)
Eloise: Do you know what it means?
Mila: No.
Bela: When you’re outgoing and stuff, like somebody who talks, and an introvert is somebody that’s like shy--
Lucia: We all feel very comfortable onstage, I think.
Bela: Onstage it’s different.
Lucia: I don’t think I have ever had stage fright really.
Lana: Then what’s the difference? I don’t think I ever had much stage fright, but to go up in front of tons of people and do something really personal, versus just talking to people. You’ve just never had it?
Bela: For me, it’s ‘cause I can’t see anything onstage, so it’s like, you know!
Lucia: I perform a lot. I dance. I don’t know. It’s-- I’ve grown up… it’s...yeah...
Obviously, there’s a bit of an age gap here, is that ever an issue when making a decision or something?
Bela: Not really-- the only time it’s like, an issue is late at night.
Lucia: [Re: Mila] Do we ever underestimate you, or overestimate you?
Bela: I think we treat Mimi pretty fairly.
Lucia: How about Bela, since [she’s] the oldest.
Bela: I don’t know. I think we all kinda take charge.
Lucia: We all kind of-- well it’s actually me and Bela that are like the bossy ones.
Do you have other aspirations generally? Do have other things you want to do related or unrelated to this?
Bela: I don’t know. I really enjoy music, but I don’t know if I want to study music. So, that’s like the biggest thing for me, like I love it, but it’s kind of like, a fine line between-- ‘cause I want to be a doctor, so I don’t know if I really want to do music or not yet. But for sure for fun, or a minor in music would be cool.
Lucia: I mean, music is just a big part of all of our lives.
Bela: Yeah, it’s a big part of our lives. For sure.
Eloise: I like to draw so I might like to do something…
Lucia: She’s good. She drew our merch.
Do you have a set goal for what you want The Linda Lindas to be?
Lucia: We’ve never really thought about that!
Bela: we’ve just been lucky, I guess… We wanna make sure we have fun with it.
Lucia: We enjoy it. I mean, it’s hard and frustrating sometimes. I cry sometimes during songs.
Do you have a favorite song that you’ve covered? Like, to each person, or as a group?
Lucia: I like all the songs that I sing ‘cause I like to sing! And I sing backup on a lot of songs.
Mila: I like playing Cherry Bomb.
Eloise: I think when we did Rebel Girl, that was fun ‘cause I got to sing.
Bela: I think my favorite song so far has been one of the newer ones we did in Spanish, so I thought that was fun.
Eloise: [Bela] sang it.
We think you guys are really cool. Why do you think you’re cool?
Lucia: We are… like a kid band. We’re like non-adults that impact.
Bela: And it’s cool in being an all-girl band, I think.
Do you have a favorite show that you’ve done?
Bela: The palladium!
Eloise: That was really fun!
Lucia: That one was really junk-foody.
Eloise: But then we saw next door Bikini Kill had like--
Bela: Real food!
Eloise: They had like peanut butter jelly sandwiches,
Bela: And we got like, Hot Cheetos and Takis.
Eloise: They had bread.