Christmas has come early for Lambrini Girls frontwoman Phoebe Lunny: Santa – in the form of NME’s photographer for their Cover shoot – presents her with a box of fireworks. Eyes bulging with delight, she’s imagining the chaos that’s about to go down. As bassist Lilly Macieira had predicted a few moments before her bandmate’s arrival: “Phoebe’s going to shit herself.”
Lambrini Girls on The Cover of NME. Credit: Joseph Bishop for NME
At first, the unruly punk duo are visibly disappointed: we’re inside an east London studio space, and they can’t set off fireworks inside. But we head outdoors, and crackles, screeches and jump-scares ensue – sounds that aren’t a million miles apart from what you’d hear at a Lambrini Girls live show.
When Lunny isn’t ripping through chords at the speed of light or shrieking down the mic, she’s probably “climbing up someone’s arse” in the middle of the mosh pit while Macieira’s hefty bass fills the space. Lunny extends an invitation, ever so sweetly, to anyone reading this interview: “If you come and see us live, I’ll probably come into the crowd and punch you.”
“We’re first and foremost musicians and secondly political ones” – Lilly Macieira
Following a brief stint together in Brighton band Wife Swap USA, the duo had a eureka moment at London venue Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes, where Macieira was filling in on bass for an old version of Lambrini Girls. In a conversation about shared values, frustrations and ambitions, it became blindingly clear: they needed to be working together. Macieira remembers the look of revelation on Lunny’s face “like it was yesterday”; when some “old faces” decided to leave the line-up a few months later, Macieira joined the group, resulting in the present-day pairing.
Having worked behind the bar at various Brighton venues (Lunny at the Prince Albert; Macieira at The Hope & Ruin, where she also trained as a sound engineer), the duo began to bulldoze through that local scene. Slowly, the rest of the UK caught up, epitomised by their 2024 festival slots at both Glastonbury and Reading & Leeds. Recently, they opened for IDLES in London and Liverpool and are set to support The Libertines next summer.
Phoebe Lunny of Lambrini Girls. Credit: Joseph Bishop for NME
The substance of Lambrini Girls’ unstoppable live show? Rampaging, noisy punk cuts with razor-sharp wit that shine a light on social ills. Their 2023 debut EP ‘You’re Welcome’ tore down transphobia, lad culture and sexual abuse, issues which have plagued many local music scenes – specifically theirs – for far too long.
“Everywhere we go, we always ask, ‘Do you have a problem here with abuse culture?’ and half the crowd will put up their hand,” Lunny explains. “Things always fall through the cracks, and people do excuse their friends.” Despite her feeling that more active conversations are happening, the disconnect between empty promises and tangible change is still noticeable.
“A lot of cis white male bands talk the talk, but they won’t walk the walk,” she remarks. “They’ll be like, ‘We want our gigs to be safe spaces for women,’ and then will put up a sign and be like, ‘Done’. All you’re doing is sticking up a piece of paper… what needs to happen is acknowledging the privilege you have and using it to prevent things happening. People will not take us girlies as seriously as men – we have to shout twice as loud for anything to get across.”
Lilly Macieira of Lambrini Girls. Credit: Joseph Bishop for NME
“A lot of people are being celebrated for shouting these slogans,” adds Macieira. “It’s the bare minimum, and everyone should be acting on it. We’ve got a long way to go.”
Since day one, Lambrini Girls have been consistent, measured and uncompromising in their activism. In May, after vocalising their support for the Palestinian people at a show in Hamburg, they kicked out half the crowd for responding aggressively. Their words and actions are neither vague nor reactionary – they’re informed and nuanced, stemming from open conversations they’ve had.
“People will not take us girlies as seriously as men – we have to shout twice as loud” – Phoebe Lunny
“Politics has always been a part of all of my friendships,” says Macieira. “Women tend to be a little bit more involved due to necessity… I have a really strong sense of justice – I’ve always got riled up about things and have been confused as to why other people aren’t.” For Lambrini Girls, activism has to stretch beyond mere intolerance and taking a stand: the clue is in the word.
“There’s a lot of ‘we don’t stand for this’ – but what about the victim?” Lunny says when asked what strong, practical allyship looks like. “In regards to sexual abuse – if you don’t know the victim personally, try to be as mindful as possible, don’t put them in any danger with what you’re going to say to anyone else. How can we make sure the victim is safe? What can you do with the spaces that you have a platform in or control over to ensure they are safe? It’s very nuanced. It takes a lot of thought to actually incite positive change and be a good ally.”
When they opened for Iggy Pop at London’s 25,000-capacity Crystal Palace Park last year, their stage screen visualiser read ‘TRANS LIVES FUCKING MATTER’ and prompted an outpouring of transphobic hate on Twitter/X. It was important, in this moment, for Lambrini Girls to remind the world that trans rights issues should never be sensationalised, nor the dialogue be distorted to revolve around the artist. All publicity is not good publicity – and such derogatory rhetoric is “so damaging it ends lives”, they declared at the time.
Credit: Joseph Bishop for NME
These are real, serious issues – hence, it’s insulting to Lambrini Girls how the capitalist modern-day industry often warps their activism into their ‘brand.’ “People sometimes seem to see us as just solely activists and not musicians,” says Lunny. “It would be different if we weren’t women. I feel like people can’t really perceive women to be more than one thing at once. There are male political bands who get asked about their music a lot more.”
“We’re first and foremost musicians and secondly political ones,” Macieira adds neatly. Their riot of a debut album – titled ‘Who Let The Dogs Out’ – will ensure you never forget that.
Picking a different fight across each track, thundering opener ‘Bad Apple’ bites back at police abuse (“Hang the pigs / That hunt your daughters”), while ‘Company Culture’ calls out workplace harassment. ‘Filthy Rich Nepo Baby’ needs no explanation (“Fetishise the working class / From your five-bed house in Surrey”), and the more vulnerable ‘Love’ is the closest we’ve come to a Lambrini Girls breakup anthem.
“If you’re preaching to your own echo chamber, all you’re doing is fueling your own ego” – Phoebe Lunny
Recorded with Gilla Band’s Daniel Fox and mixed by Seth Manchester [Model/Actriz, Mdou Moctar], the modus operandi was controlled chaos – stepping slightly away from that “tinny, garagey” DIY punk sound that had become synonymous with Lambrini Girls. “We knew Dan would make us sound fucking fat,” explains Macieira. “I went through three amps for the whole album. [Manchester had] never mixed songs with so many bass tracks. Fuck yeah! My bass sounds like something you want to bite a chunk out of… I feel like I have massive bollocks.”
“It doesn’t matter how much I fuck up, [because] I’m going to be eaten by Lilly’s wall of sound,” grins Lunny. Inherently inspired by their live shows, the meaty production across ‘Who Let The Dogs Out’ still retains that unpredictability. “I get very irritated when my surroundings are noisy,” says Macieira. “Being able to make that noise myself – feeling like I’m in the driver’s seat – gives me a sense of control. Taming noise into something musical is very therapeutic.” Lunny agrees, albeit in her own language. “Crank it up, and Bob’s your Dylan. Blast off!”
The zingers come naturally to Lunny (far too many to cram into this story). Despite the serious subject matter, Lambrini Girls’ songs are designed to make you laugh. “When you grow up with a broken nose and weird straw hair, and no one wants to talk to you, you have to become really funny in order to make any friends,” jokes Lunny. “I gained a few friends, and then I got really fucking hot. Now I’m hot and funny – job done!”
Credit: Joseph Bishop for NME
“Humour is such a good way to disarm people,” she continues before handing the imaginary mic over to Macieira, who steals the award for the analogy of the year: “It’s like wrapping a pill in a slice of ham and feeding it to a dog. That’s what we try and do with humour and politics to make it digestible. Buy them dinner first – and then fuck ’em.”
Headlining London’s 1,500-capacity Electric Brixton next April is but the next rung on the ladder Lambrini Girls are clambering up. Bigger audiences might mean a wider surface area for Lunny to stage dive, but crash-landing into the mainstream is on the agenda – by necessity. “If you’re preaching to your own echo chamber, all you’re really doing is fueling your own ego,” Lunny warns. “You’re not changing any minds.”
“If someone asked us to play with a band of seven geezers in their forties – and all of their fans are fucking pricks – or an amazing queer-fronted band, I want to be in front of the audience with loads of pricks,” she concludes, ready to go to war.
“We’ll piss everyone off, but we might change one or two minds. Ultimately, it’s about [becoming] as mainstream as we can get – shouting from the tallest tower we can.”
Lambrini Girls’ album ‘Who Let The Dogs Out’ is out January 10 via City Slang
Listen to Lambrini Girls’ exclusive playlist to accompany The Cover on Spotify below or here on Apple Music
Words: Rishi Shah
Photography: Joseph Bishop
Make-up: Anusha Amrita Kaur Solanki
Label: City Slang
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