Gotta Get Out

The Linda Lindas — 2026

“The Linda Lindas have always had the chemistry. Gotta Get Out is where that chemistry turns into something bigger.”

The Linda Lindas were kids screaming about injustice in a public library when a lot of us first met them, and watching them grow up across three records has been one of the more fun stories in punk to follow. Gotta Get Out is their third album, and it is the first one where everything feels focused enough to let the songs fully develop. The band retreated to Palm Springs and Long Beach and wrote together in the same room for the first time, and you can hear what that closeness did for them. This record feels big. The songs are sharper, the choruses land harder, and almost every track carries some extra touch, a fade-out here or a call and response there, that lodges in your head and refuses to leave. They even carve out room for a song sung entirely in Spanish with “Helado de Limón,” which shows just how much ground this band wants to cover.

Then there are the moments that rattle the whole thing loose. “Blood On Our Hands” and “Break” come tearing in with a real hardcore intensity, both blasts clocking in at under two minutes. The band screams its messages of “there’s death on our money” and “where do you stand” with a visceral urgency that dares you to look away. That contrast is what makes Gotta Get Out work so well. One minute they are stacking bright modern melodies, the next they are snarling with an edge that recalls The Muffs at their most confrontational, complete with that classic Kim Shattuck bite. Hayley Williams also turns up on “Closer,” but rather than feeling like a marquee guest spot, she slides naturally into the song and gives its already massive chorus another lift.

What ties it all together is how confident the record sounds. These songs move with the confidence of a band that has stopped second-guessing itself while still holding onto some of its youthful edges. From the raw scream-rock blasts to the quieter emo turns, it still sounds like the same four people telling the same story. The Linda Lindas have always had the chemistry. Gotta Get Out is where you can hear that chemistry turning into something bigger, which is even more impressive considering the band still ranges in age from just 16 to 21. Three albums in, they sound less like a young band finding its way and more like one beginning to realize just how many directions it can go.