With the release of their debut ‘Who Let The Dogs Out,’ Lambrini Girls make sure people know that they are more than a ‘riot grrrl’ band.
In a new interview with Kerrang! Magazine, Phoebe Lunny and Lilly Macieira talked about their experiences in the industry for three years and explained why they don’t want to be labeled a simple three-chord punk band.
“I personally want people to listen to our actual music a little bit more. We get labeled a three-chord punk band a lot, and that irks me a little bit because I don’t think we are,” Macieira shared during the chat. “I’m hoping people get more involved in the music and the songwriting. Obviously, we’re a really outspoken political band and that’s kind of at the core of our identity, but I think sometimes people forget that we’re, first and foremost, musicians.”
“I think another layer to it is that we’re also two very femme-presenting people, so naturally when people make comparisons about our band, we get compared to other political bands that sound absolutely nothing like us, rather than being compared to bands that we actually sound like. I find that a little bit frustrating sometimes,” she continued.
“Getting called a riot grrrl band is very much not a sign of the times anymore. We’re not a riot grrrl band, we sound nothing like the riot grrrl movement,” added Macieira. However, she is well aware of why people would want to call them a riot grrrl band. “The movement was very political so I see why people would draw parallels, but at the end of the day it does feel like we only get called riot grrrl because we’re women.”
Here surfaces another problem for the band —being called ‘female-fronted’ and being compared to male musicians. “I think it’s time for the genre of ‘women in music’ to be put to bed and to just let queer people and women make music and stop differentiating it from men making music.”
“‘Female-fronted’, ‘female guitarist’ – these are the prefixes that make the pair groan and share an eye roll. I’d love it if people stopped doing that and maybe compared us on the basis of what we actually sound like rather than the fact that we’re women playing alternative music,” the bassist added.
Lambrini Girls released their first EP, ‘You’re Welcome,’ in 2023. Since then, they’ve played at major events like Glastonbury and Reading & Leeds.
The band released their most recent album on January 10.
