The Lindas Lindas have spoken to NME about their third album ‘Gotta Get Out’ and shared new emo Hayley Williams collaboration ‘Closer’ – check out the track below, alongside the full interview with the band.
Williams has been a longtime supporter of the LA punk outfit, and has praised them in several interviews. The band also covered ‘The News’ for Paramore’s ‘This Is Why’ remix album.
Last summer, she joined The Linda Lindas onstage at London’s O2 Academy Islington to perform their breakout 2022 hit ‘Racist, Sexist Boy’ and last month, guitarist Eloise Wong teamed up with Williams at the LA date of her ‘Ego Death At A Bachelorette’ tour.
However, ‘Closer’ marks the first time they’ve joined forces in the studio. “The collaboration has been a long time coming,” said Lucia de la Garza, whose dad Carlos produced Paramore’s ‘This Is Why’. “She’s seen us grow up.”
The band floated the idea of a collaboration to Williams a while ago, and she happened to be in town when they were recording their new album ‘Gotta Get Out’.
“It was super exciting writing in the studio with her, and seeing the gears turning in her head,” Wong told NME. “When she started singing, we all looked at each other because she sounded so amazing.”
While Williams explored scuzzy punk, new-wave and dream pop with her recent solo record, ‘Closer’ is a return to the dramatic emo of Twilight fan-favourite ‘Decode’. “We gave her some options, and that’s the one she gravitated towards. We were really surprised by that, but it’s so good,” said Mila de la Garza. “Now we have the challenge of singing it live, though.”
‘Closer’ is the second track from The Linda Lindas upcoming third full-length effort, out on August 28, after they shared summery pop-punk gem ‘Burning Out’ earlier this year.
The record is the band’s follow-up to 2024’s ‘No Obligation’, which arrived after the four-piece supported Paramore and Green Day on huge US tours. “I think we’ll shock people with this album,” said de la Garza. “There are so many things happening on it. It’s full of joy, surprise and a sense of relief and belonging.”
Check out the full interview with The Linda Lindas below, where the band also talk about the importance of live music, getting praised by “super inspiring” Olivia Rodrigo, how feeling stuck shaped ‘Gotta Get Out’, and having “more freedom” in the studio.
NME: Hey, The Linda Lindas. ’Closer’ is out today – what was that song written about?
Bela Salazar: “Life passing you by really quickly. I just felt like I was getting really old, and my childhood was ending.”
Lucia de la Garza: “It’s cool because Hayley had her emo era almost 20 years ago and she’s grown so much since then. Now we have this generational thing on an emo song about not wanting to get older.”
She’s been a vocal supporter of the band since the very start. What’s it been like to have Hayley in your corner?
Wong: “She’s been so supportive. Right when we were starting out, she made a point to pull us aside and say, ‘Hey, it’s OK to say no to things’. We’ve been really lucky to have a lot of people supporting the band, including Karen O and Bethany from Best Coast. I don’t think they had the support of other musicians who might have gone through the same thing [when they started out]. They’ve all really nurtured us and checked in to make sure we’re doing ok, as well as being inspirational musicians and performers.”
Lucia: “It makes us feel included in something bigger than ourselves.”
And what do you hope this collab means to other people?
Salazar: “That it’s OK to feel things.”
Wong: “We’re taught to hold in and suppress a lot of darker emotions like sadness, anger and frustration, but it’s so important to be able to express those. We do it through music. It’s so cathartic to scream onstage about everything that we’re feeling.”
And another famous fan is Olivia Rodrigo, who said she loves the band.
Lucia: “She’s great. It’s so cool that she’s doing the Daisy Chains Fields Festival, which is full of these cool, female rock bands such as Die Spitz, and she’s taking The Last Dinner Party on tour.”
Mila: “You can tell that she really loves music and does what she feels is right.”
Wong: “Not only does she support women in music, but she supports women everywhere with the charities she supports and the effort she puts into uplifting them. It’s super inspiring.”
‘Closer’ is the next single from album three. Does ‘Gotta Get Out’ feel different to what’s come before?
Lucia: “We’ve grown a lot, and the whole process was different. With previous records, we’d all bring in song ideas that we felt made sense for The Linda Lindas. For this album, we were all together in a room so we could throw out any idea and it would make sense in the world of The Linda Lindas. We weren’t afraid to try new things and experiment, which made for a really fun-sounding record. We’re a very curious band, but I don’t think we necessarily pictured the record turning out how it did.”
Wong: “We also wanted to be super intentional with every decision we made. Previous albums were made up of whatever songs we had but for this one, we wrote 30 songs and then narrowed it down to our favourite 12.”
It sounds like there was a lot of confidence and trust in the room?
Wong: “There was more comfort, which inspired more freedom.”
Lucia: “We’ve been doing this for almost eight years now, and we’re in a place where we all just really admire each other.”
Musically, who were you inspired by?
Lucia: “We all listen to different things, but the stuff we’d listen to together in the car [on the way to the studio] was Remi Wolf, Fontaines D.C. and The Cure.”
Wong: “I was really inspired by local hardcore bands. I love going to loud, sweaty shows where everyone’s crawling on top of each other and screaming. I wanted to spread that energy.”
So why call the album ‘Gotta Get Out’?
Mila: “It was the first song we wrote for the album, and we just kept coming back to it. At first, the lyrics were completely different and didn’t really have a meaning, but we changed them just before we went into the studio to record. Now, it’s about trying to break out of old habits and feeling like you’re stuck. That theme can be found throughout the album.”
Where did that stuck feeling come from?
Lucia: “I didn’t realise we were all feeling that way, but it happens. We’re all living our lives at the same point in time. We’re in this weird place where we’re a young band that’s trying to be a part of the wider music community, but there aren’t many people our age [around], so we do feel like outsiders sometimes. It’s also to do with feeling frustrated with everything [that’s going on in the world] in general. It’s hard, but music is the outlet.”
Wong: “When you feel like you can’t do anything about what’s going on in the world right now, that feels really alienating and lonely. We’re lucky we have each other.”
Would you say it’s a political record?
Wong: “We write about what we’re going through in our lives, and a big chunk of that does happen to be political, but a lot of the songs touch on more personal things. It’s a reflection of our mindset when we wrote it. It’s hard not to make it political when the world around us is so terrible, though.”
You’ve been talking about political issues since the very beginning. Does it take a lot of energy to stay motivated and engaged?
Lucia: “Sometimes it is hard to find the energy. We’re all feeling a little bit sad and a little bit drained [with what’s going on]. But there’s always something to be excited by. We’re very lucky to live in this community of art and joy. That’s why we do this – we find so much hope in live music. That’s where you get the energy to [keep going].
Wong: “When you’re sitting at home, watching the news [or doomscrolling], it can feel like no one’s really paying attention. But then you go to a gig, and you discover this community that cares and does want change.”
What do you hope the message of the record is?
Lucia: “I hope people feel like we’re all in this together.”
Your first breakout moment was that 2021 video of you performing ‘Racist, Sexist Boy’ live, you’ve just put on your own charity Schools Out, ICE out all-dayer, and you’re performing at Tom Morello’s Power To The People Festival later this year. How important is playing live to The Linda Lindas now?
Mila: “Live shows provide such meaningful human connection, and they’re very reviving. AI can’t do that.”
Wong: “Live music is what keeps me going. Playing shows is what I’m most excited about for this new album. It’s so easy to descend into hopelessness, but hopefully live music can give people the hope and energy they need to keep going.
“What’s great about live music is that you can really find your people. You can’t really achieve that sense of community online. There’s nothing like being in a room together, singing and dancing to the same songs. It’s so magical.”
The Linda Lindas’ new album ‘Gotta Get Out’ is released on August 28 via Reprise/Warner. Pre-order/pre-save here, and see the full tracklist below.
- ‘Gotta Get Out’
- ‘Burning Out’
- ‘Helado de Limón’
- ‘Blood On Our Hands’
- ‘Closer’
- ‘Nothing Left’
- ‘High Horse’
- ‘Break’
- ‘I Could Be Wrong’
- ‘Everybody Told Me’
- ‘Okay’
- ‘See You Next Time’
