Phoebe Lunny looks back on Lambrini Girls’ stuffed year – one that’s taken in endless touring, being a voice for the voiceless, and “selling out by not destroying any lighting rigs”. There’s only a few days’ festive rest, but that won’t stop them throwing a, frankly, ludicrous New Year’s bash…
Think you've put in a shift this year? Lambrini Girls put out their killer Who Let The Dogs Out? album right at the start of 2025 when most people still had the Out Of Office on, and haven't stopped touring since.
Having criss-crossed America and Europe, played their biggest shows to date, jumped off loads of venue balconies and got an education in global cigarette prices, Phoebe Lunny is looking forward to a few days' at home to smash roast potatoes and throw a mad party, before getting ready for an even bigger '26. No rest for the livid, as they say...
So, then, 2025: a very good year?
“It’s been really exciting. We haven’t stopped, so now as we get near Christmas I'm kind of on autopilot the whole time. It’s been amazing, exciting, but it's also it's really hard to understand how exciting and intense and fun and sick it's been until you look back in retrospection and you go, ‘Oh, fuck, I've done that.’ Once this tour's ended, I can look back and actually be proud of the year, but until then, I'm just like, ‘Shit, gotta keep going!’”
It's been a full year as well. Who Let The Dogs Out? Was out right at the start…
“Yeah, January 10. So it was: New Year, was super hung over for like, five days, and then straight back at it doing interview, show, interview, go to New York, do a photo shoot, come back, do a music video, call your nan, do another music video, have a burger, do another interview. And it's just been like that all year. That was just one day, but it’s all been one long day.”
How was it headlining Kentish Town Forum a few weeks ago?
“Amazing. It's hard to look at things like that from the inside-out, because you're experiencing it very much in the moment, rather than observing it and being like, ‘Looks like I'm doing well...’ But before the album came out, if someone told me that we would sell out Kentish Town Forum, I'd be like, ‘You're fucking lying,’ and I'd slap them in the face. But you don't really get a moment to look back and actually be like, ‘I'm really proud of what we've done.’ Maybe when I'm 75 and we finally stop touring I can look back and see we did alright, but until then, it's go, go, go.”
You’ve spent a lot of time in America as well. How was that?
“It's a really weird time to go to America, if you can get into the country, which is hard. Obviously, the political landscape of that country is fucking mental – as it is here, too – but it's more important that people are political there than ever. There are a lot of people in America who are pissed off at the government and are pissed off at the growth and the movement of the far right, and it's really important that there is visibility for those voices, because that's what mobilises people. If there are people with a microphone screaming what they think too, it makes it less scary, and it makes it seem like there's more hope, and feel less alone. It doesn't feel like a real place at the moment, like Disneyland's on fire. But it's also the most important time to go over there and scream about what you believe in.”
Do you think you found your people over there?
“One hundred per cent. Everyone who's coming to our shows in America have been people that want to shout about the things that we are, and they do very loudly when we play. One thing that you hear a lot is, ‘Thank God you're speaking about this. We don't get enough of this over here.’ Which is fucking wild, because you would think that people would be, but it does seem like a lot of it is bands from Europe. And then a lot of bands end up getting kicked out as well. But me being a white blonde girl, if I start criticising America's immigration policies, I come from a place of privilege where I can do that, because I'm a white blonde girlie. That makes it your responsibility to do that, because a lot of American citizens, people of colour, won't be able to do that.
“It’s an expensive place as well. It's a right arm and a leg. You can get huge jugs of Slurpee and slushies and stuff for, like, $2, but ciggies are super-expensive. If you're in New York it's, like, 30 bucks for a packet!”
What’s the maddest thing you’ve done onstage this year?
“There's been a few – jumped off some balconies, accidentally spitting drinks in people's faces, accidentally kicking people in the face, accidentally hurting myself, getting a lot of bruises… Oh, we shaved two people's heads. It was me and this guy called Nelly, who is part of our crew in America. He went, ‘We're gonna shave some heads tonight.’ I just went, ‘Fuck yeah, let's go.’ That was fun. But in general I'm breaking less shit, which is good. I haven't broken any lighting rigs, haven't broken any monitors and blown any amps. It's more organised chaos. We’re selling out!”
What are you doing for Christmas?
“We toured up ‘til the 20th, so I’ve gotta do my Christmas shopping, and then we're back at it pretty early in the New Year. I can neither confirm nor deny that that has anything to do with writing or recording. So that's alleged. And then in February, we're going to Australia, and we're just once again touring until we die.”
What’s the best bit of Christmas dinner?
“I'm vegan, so I miss cauliflower cheese, and I miss turkey when it's done well. But for me, the best thing about a roast is roast potatoes. Roast potatoes are the most important part, more than anything. And I want, like, 12. I don't want any baby shit. I don't want to be given like, three roast potatoes. I want at least 10 to 15 roast potatoes on my plate at all times.”
What’s the ultimate New Year’s party plan?
“I threw a party at this guardianship with my housemates two years ago because we were getting kicked out. It was, to this day, the most mental party I've ever been to. We cleared out our whole kitchen, got the fridges, put a coffee table behind it all, and then a DJ deck, so it was like raised DJ decks, Steve Aoki style. And we had this wet room in this guardianship, so we made that into this weird sauna.
“It all got a bit weird, but that was the best New Year's I've ever had. It went on until 11 in the morning, and apparently people turned sober after it. That's either a sign of a really good New Year's or a really bad one, but it was a successful party, nonetheless. I can’t top that for this year, but if I could, it would be one million beers, one million ciggies, Robbie Williams all night long, and at the end of the night a kebab.”
