Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers: We don't want to be the biggest band in the world. It's just fun playing with our besties'

"If you want to rock, you've gotta break the rules. You've gotta get mad at The Man, a wise man (Jack Black) once said (in School of Rock). And in 2015, four 15-year-olds in Canberra watching the Richard Linklater film at a sleepover decided they wanted to do just that, forming a rock band the morning after that has become one of Australia's most exciting acts: Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers a joke name suggested by one of their uncles that stuck."

"Adults around them would assume they were in their early 20s, when they were actually 16 or 17. Our parents would tag along and we'd have lemonade on the rider. We'd have our little school backpacks, then go to a pub to play a show when you look back now it was really strange. We thought we were really cool, laughs guitarist Scarlett McKahey, now 24. To be fair, it was pretty cool, adds singer Anna Ryan, 24."

"Their 2022 EP Pretty Good for a Girl Band was named for the backhanded praise they often heard; it included the hit Girl Sports, inspired by Stephenson who, after knocking her teeth out in a skating accident, was told by a male dentist that she should stick to girl sports. (The chorus kicks off with the chant: Fuck off, fuck off!) It was meant to be ironic, because it's obviously deeply offensive, says McKahey, of the EP's title."

Four 15-year-olds in Canberra formed Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers after watching School of Rock in 2015, adopting a joke name suggested by an uncle. The band’s punk energy earned early bookings at venues they were too young to enter alone, prompting adults to assume they were in their twenties. Early performances included Nirvana covers; later achievements included opening for the Foo Fighters. The group experienced impostor syndrome amid growing crowds. Their 2022 EP Pretty Good for a Girl Band addressed backhanded praise and included the single Girl Sports, inspired by an incident where a female member was told to stick to girl sports. The chorus begins with the chant: Fuck off, fuck off!

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