Lambrini Girls: "We're a party for pissed off, gay, angry sl*ts!"

Huge congratulations are in order for Lambrini Girls, who kickstart 2025 with their first-ever Official Top 40 album Who Let The Dogs Out.

Watch our interview with Lambrini Girls' Phoebe Lunny now.

Taking the unapologetic ethos of the riot grrrl movement and framing it through a 2025 lens, Brighton punk duo Phoebe Lunny and Lilly Macieira's sociopolitical statement is often as amusing as it is arresting. By their own admission, this is 'a party for pissed off, gay, angry sluts;' a palatable comment on the current landscape.

With Lambrini Girls being a name you'll be hearing a lot of in 2025, we got to know them a little better ahead of the band's recent sold-out Rough Trade East instore.

Phoebe! Your debut album is officially out in the world. How's the response been so far?

It’s pretty mad. You only get one debut album, no pressure! You speak to so many people and they’re always like ‘this is the hallmark of your career’ so, once that’s out there, that’s it. That’s done!

It’s crazy so far. It’s nice to see the response and that people have come out to buy it at their their independent record shops.

You've released the vinyl in some inspired shades, too. Tell us more...

We’ve got it in four different shades: ‘golf is for idiots’ green, ‘gay Smurf dick’ blue, ‘my grandma died on this couch’ oxblood red and then the original.

Me and Lily came up with the shades together. The last one we came up with was ‘gay Smurf dick’ blue, but if all goes well I think it could be PANTONE colour of the year 2026.

Well it's certainly more eye-catching than 2025's Mocha Mousse. Now, this album is quite the sociopolitical statement - talk us through the mission statement.

We want people who may be apathetic to listen to this, and the issues that we raise, and question their privileges and their bias. At the same time, on the flip side, for someone who’s affected by these issues, we want people to feel validated, affirmed and less alone.

It’s a party for pissed off, gay, angry sluts.

It's nice that we still have that license to party, in spite of the circumstances...

When you look around you, sometimes you’ve just got to have a laugh.

With all of the social ills and the state of the world, our political landscape is in the gutter. All that you really have is community; all you can really do is party through it. Also, the more accessible something is, the more likely people are to listen. If you make something funny, engaging and exciting, people are more likely to tune in. It’s like tricking people into [caring] about serious things.

MORE: Official Charts' Ones to Watch 2025

What's your current favourite track on the record and why?

It changes a lot, because you have a favourite track then get really bored of playing it, but No Homo is my favourite.

It’s about internalised homophobia; really fancying a girl, not knowing if she’s queer too, and feeling really ashamed in yourself to do anything about it. You’re scared of rejection, and still have that internal shame that you’re queer. That’s really hard for a lot of queer people to shake.

You can be the gayest person in a room and still have that fear. It’s something that needs to be spoken about. Being queer is a massive part of the zeitgeist now – and thank fuck it is – but it’s important to address that everyone has still been conditioned, since birth, that being queer is wrong. I still have to catch myself out on my internalised homophobia; it takes so much learning and growing. We wanted to put that into a fun song and reclaim it.

Who were your biggest musical inspirations growing up?

Mine were Savages, Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, Huggy Bear and L7. Lilly loves a lot of music like Gilla Band, The Jesus Lizard and she’s a big Steve Albini fan, so it was nice to combine our tastes and make it a melting pot of the two.

For anybody new to Lambrini Girls, can you give us a little summary as to your story so far?

We were a small, local Brighton band. Credit to Brighton, the grassroots music scene there really uplifted us. They’ve been supporting us since day one, we wouldn’t be here without them. 

It’s mad to look back on. I remember we played to two people in a 30 capacity venue once, at one of our first shows. Nobody cared, nobody wanted to see us. It’s kind of wild, now, to do a sold out instore tour and see our debut album do so well.

That is credit, a lot, to grassroots music scene in Brighton, London, Manchester, Glasgow; we’ve been very lucky to go there and meet amazing people who’ll put their life on the line for a local band.

We love how vocal you are about the importance of the grassroots scene...

We owe our career to grassroots music venues and communities. We wouldn’t be here without it. 

Existing within that community, in itself, is just as credible as going into the music industry and the mainstream. There’d be no way artists were able to elevate their careers if it wasn’t for that organic fanbase, unless you have a butt-tonne of money, which a lot of grassroots music artists don’t. Really, once you leave that scene, it’s equally important that you remain vocal and give those scenes the visibility and love they deserve.

Go to music venues. Buy drinks, buy gig tickets, go and buy the artist’s merch. Show up for your mates.

Lambrini Girls' Who Let The Dogs Out is out now via City Slang.