Dynamic duo, Teenage Joans, has been growing and thriving since their beginning in 2018. The Australian pop-punk band’s sound is full of heart. With pounding drums, powerful groove and melodic vocals, their debut album, “The Rot That Grows Inside My Chest” showcases their sound
The two sat down virtually to discuss touring with Sleeping With Sirens, their latest record and their favorite songs.
Could you introduce yourselves?
Cahli: I’m Cahli, I play guitar and I sing.
Tahlia: I’m Tahlia, I play drums and I sing as well
When did you get into music? Did you also know that was what you wanted to do? Was there a specific experience that influenced you?
Cahli: For me … my dad was in bands when I was a kid. He’s still in a band, actually. So he always encouraged me and my brothers to learn music. I guess I always had it around when I was young.
Tahlia: I was the same, I always grew up around music. My parents were always playing music. I had a cousin who played drums and I was like, “That’s cool, I want to do that.” My parents were like, “Okay, you can play drums.” I started playing drums at school and stuff. I just kind of grew up around it.
How did you form the band? Did you meet through music?
Cahli: Yeah, we met to start a band pretty much. I had some songs and got asked for a few shows and wanted to put together a band. I got recommended Tahlia as a drummer and we just met and hit it off. We talked about 5 Seconds of Summer, ‘cause that’s our favorite band, and Adam Sandler all day. We did one practice and then we just talked about all of the things we liked at the time, it was cute. But, we couldn’t find any other members, so, it’s just the two of us.
How does the production process differ with only having two members? How do you go about writing things like the bass lines?
Cahli: To be honest, I just play bass as a guitarist. It’s probably not correct but we just want to figure out the bass in the studio. We just make it up. I don’t know, I probably wouldn’t be regarded as a good bassist by bassists, but it works.
I read that you write the songs to perform them rather than to record them, what inspired you to do that?
Tahlia: When we first started, we were always just playing live. We weren’t really thinking about going into the studio, that wasn’t really on our minds. So we were just like, “This could be really cool live.” Especially with Cahli, ‘cause she’s kind of the only melodic thing that’s going on. So she kind of has to write riffs and stuff around. Being able to play it live, and being able to do all the parts at the same time.
Does writing this way make it easier to perform the songs?
Cahli: Yeah, kind of. I mean, as Tahlia said, I sort of build the riffs into the chords so it’s like I can play it live. When we play, it’s completely live. All the bands we loved growing up were great live bands, so being a tight and good live band with good energy, that was always at the forefront of our minds. Before recording, before any of that, we wanted to be a good band to see live.
Let’s talk about “The Rot That Grows Inside My Chest.” What inspired that album? Was there a reason for the songs to be in the order that they are in the album?
Cahli: I mean, kind of. We had a bunch of songs that we had written, and we were like, “We’re gonna write an album.” There were a few songs, like “Kaleidoscopes,” is the closing track that we just knew was gonna be the closing track. It just felt like a song that needed to be at the end of an album.
And so, a lot of the songs we already had. Some songs we wrote. For example, “Hospital Bed,” the opening song, we wrote that as an opener. We wanted a short song that just introduces the album. We just formatted it so that the album has its ups and downs It’s also a little bit chronologically of when we were in it to some degree.
“Superglue” and “Honey (And Other Sweet Things)” were some of the first songs we wrote for the album. There’s sort of a chronological.. method to the madness I guess.
Tahlia: Every song on the album is in a place. We consider the album like a whole body of work. Some bands just slap some songs and will be like, “Yep, this is an album.” But, yeah, every song has its purpose.
Are there any songs from the album that stand out to you that you think people should listen to?
Cahli: I think my stand-out, an underrated banger, would be “Ruby Doomsday.” It’s kind of in the middle of the album; it was never a single or anything. I think it’s a secret banger.
Tahlia: I think “Kaleidoscopes” is mine, just because it’s super different from the other stuff that’s on there.
Continuing on with music you’ve released recently, you released a song with Between You And Me, “1-800-Painless.” What was the recording and the production process like for that?
Cahli: It was very chaotic, we stuffed the two bands together in a room for the weekend. There were instruments set up everywhere and we were just running between instruments trying to write riffs or something. The first day we got two ideas down I think? They were alright.
On the second day, we were jamming with Bassi from BYAM in another room. And, we went into the room with the console and the producer, and JT was riffing out with the producer. He came up with the riff for the song. I had an idea for the chorus that came to my mind. Everyone was just coming up with ideas for the song.
I think, as soon as we heard it we knew that it was going to be the one. We all just kind of glued ourselves to that song and sat in the room for the rest of the weekend and smashed it out. It was pretty tight for time as well, so we wrote and recorded it in three days. It was pretty chaotic.
Switching gears, you are on tour right now with Sleeping With Sirens and Holding Absence, how is the tour going?
Cahli: It’s been so cool, Sleeping With Sirens are the nicest guys. They’re so lovely, and it’s a bit of a dream come true for us.
Tahlia: Definitely, I used to listen to them when I was like 13-14 at the start of high school. It’s a full-circle moment to be playing shows with them. It’s really cool.
How did you decide on the songs that you put on your setlist?
Cahli: For this setlist, we kind of … it’s sort of a newer one. There are a few songs on there that we haven’t really played before. We used to just choose them half an hour before we went on stage. But now, we’re a bit more planned.
Tahlia: A bit more organized.
Cahli: We practice a bit more now. But, I think we choose based on the crowds that we’re going to be playing to. If it’s more of a pop artist then we’ll choose more of our pop-sounding songs. Whereas, this crowd is obviously used to heavier, guitar-bass songs. So we choose our more energetic and fun kind of songs. It really depends on the bands we’re playing with and the crowds they pull.
Do you have any fan favorites that you think will stay on the setlist forever? Any songs that you don’t like to put on the setlist?
Cahli: Our song, “Something About Being Sixteen,” off of our first EP, ever since we wrote it, it’s been on our setlist. I don’t think we’ve ever not played it at a show. it’s just so much fun, we love playing it. The chorus is five words, it’s super easy. I feel like everyone really loves that song.
We previously didn’t play “Ruby Doomsday,” but we specifically learned it for this tour. There were a couple of people, last time we came to America, who asked for it. And if there are people in America who are asking for it, that’s pretty crazy, we should probably learn how to play it. It’s a hard song to play, so we notoriously didn’t play it.
Do you have any current songs on rotation? Any songs that you’re currently obsessed with?
Cahli: I’ve been really obsessed with “Bleed American” by Jimmy Eat World. It’s a great album, I’ve been thrashing that album lately.
Tahlia: I’ve been thrashing, it’s actually on my recently listened to, Bilmuri’s “Motor Sports.” It’s like country-hardcore, it’s so good I love it.
Do you have any genres that you’d like to branch out to?
Cahli: I think on the next album we just want to write songs that are completely random. We’ve got a country song that we’re working on, which is pretty funny. We just want to do random stuff, I’d love to dive deeper into heavier-hardcore sort of stuff. And do the complete opposite music, like Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan meets Teenage Joans.
Do you have anything for fans to look forward to from you after this tour?
Cahli: Not yet, we don’t have plans to come back but we will come back at some point, to America. We’re working on new music and our debut album, “The Rot That Grows Inside My Chest” is out to the world in the meantime.
Teenage Joans is currently on tour with Sleeping With Sirens and Holding Absence. The tour will continue around the U.S. until Oct. 20th at the When We Were Young festival.
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