The Linda Lindas are on a roll. The AAPI femme-fronted young punks dropped their debut album, Growing Up, this past April and have already performed on The Tonight Show, had Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna in their music video for “Why,” and are opening for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Japanese Breakfast later this year.
So as their star rises, The Linda Lindas are giving a glimpse into how they began: As a cover band. They’ve just released a cover of The Go-Gos 1981 tune, “Tonite” and it feels like one budding L.A. punk group tipping a cap to the L.A. punk legends who paved the way for them. The Linda Lindas’ version has a little more fuzz and it’s a cool veneer on the early 80’s tune. The band shared a statement on the song:
“The Linda Lindas started out as a cover band, and we’ve played more songs by The Go-Go’s than anyone else. And even after we started to write our own songs, we never stopped playing ‘Tonite.’ We love the idea of us going out and owning our town, and ‘Tonite’ is as fun to play as it is empowering––especially the part where we all sing together. ‘We rule the streets tonite until the morning light’ and so should our fans. Because the cover is such a hit at shows, we decided to record a studio version to pay tribute to the greatest all-female rock band of all time, a crucial part of the L.A. punk scene, and our heroes.”
Listen to The Linda Lindas cover “Tonite” by The Go-Gos above.