Shall we take a little trip to Essex? It’s east of London but it’s definitely not east London, the land of Blur, Depeche Mode, The Prodigy, Dr Feelgood, wheeler-dealers and dodgy geezers, Maldon sea salt, blokes who wash their Ford Mondeos religiously every Sunday morning, Tiptree jam, Grayson Perry, nosey neighbours, rowdy clubs, Joey Essex, Dermot O’Leary, Squarepusher, Basildon Man, a place where ring road towns lazily bleed into beautiful stretches of countryside underneath widescreen skies. It’s down the A12 and to the birthplace of radio that we’re headed. Keep going past Brentwood and all its TOWIE tanning beds and take a left into Chelmsford, the home of RAT BOY. After a decade of global tours as far afield as China, Japan and the US, a period that has included diversions into hip-hop, US-influenced ska-punk, RAT BOY have come back to base. Their excellent new record ‘SUBURBIA CALLING’ is all about returning to their roots.
No Obligation, the second full-length release from The Linda Lindas further advances their unironic, joyful, and exciting trajectory of mashing up L.A. punk with post punk, garage rock, power pop, new wave and rock en español. Written and recorded by the band during spring breaks, winter breaks, and long weekends (Lucia and bassist Eloise Wong are still in high school, drummer Mila de la Garza just finished middle school, and Bela Salazar is patiently waiting for them to get done with it already), the new album has been in the works for the last two years whenever they weren’t at school or touring. “I don’t got no obligation,” roars Eloise in the opening, title track of the album - “just brush off all expectation.” From the first moment of their sophomore release it is clear that The Linda Lindas are here to defy expectations and challenge norms.