The band name Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers “just felt right”, vocalist Anna Ryan said.

The band – Ryan, guitarist Scarlett McKahey, drummer Neve van Boxsel and bass player Jaida Stephenson – formed in Canberra in 2015.

Ryan said the name came from one of McKahey’s father’s friends, “Who was trying to come up with the most ridiculous band names they could think of.”

“We were just like ‘it’s definitely something people will remember’ – and it just felt right.

“We didn’t realise we’d have it for the next 10 years of our lives but I’m glad it’s stuck.”

As previously reported in CD, the bandmembers, who were all 15 at the time, were inspired to form in 2015 after watching the School of Rock movie at a sleepover. They all attended Orana Steiner School in Weston.

When asked about the highlights of the band’s almost 10 years, Ryan referred to the last week (or so) alone.

Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers won an ARIA on 20 November, played a set at The Canberra Wave against coal and gas protest outside Parliament House on 27 November and supported 90s American rockers Pearl Jam on their recent Australian tour.

“I feel like we’ve had a lot of highlights just in the last week, so that’s definitely up there,” Ryan said.

“We weren’t expecting to win an ARIA, that was just something we were striving for. It was crazy.

“I’m trying to not watch videos back and just remember it how I remember it – instead of watching it back and thinking ‘Oh my gosh, why did I say that?’”

The band have also been the support act for the Foo Fighters at a Melbourne show in 2023.

“It’s just unreal. It’s just crazy that we’ve been given this awesome opportunity,” Ryan said.

“I didn’t expect we’d ever be able to share a stage with these bands I’ve known the names of my whole life. We feel really lucky.

“When we had a conversation with (Pearl Jam frontman) Eddie Vedder at one of our last shows with them, we said: ‘Thank you very much for giving us this opportunity, it’s been awesome.’

“He said ‘You’ve earned it.’ He’s obviously looked into our music and been vocal about how he likes our stuff.”

Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers have played at various festivals in Australia, and have toured in the USA, the UK and Europe.

When asked who the band would like to support in the future, Ryan said there were many big artists to choose from.

“Fontaine DC are really awesome and we’re big fans of them and massive, big bands like the Arctic Monkeys or The Strokes, or pop artists like Chappell Roan or Olivia Rodrigo, Idles,” they said.

Ryan said after “cruising” through to the end of the year, the band planned to write and release more music.

“Hopefully we’ve got albums and albums in us,” they said.

“We all write. A lot of the time we’ll write together and sometimes we write songs at home and then show the rest of the band, and sometimes we do writing sessions with other musicians.

They said the band was also learning how to collaborate more with other artists.

“We would love to collaborate with any of the artists I listed before but there’s the most amount of music now than ever,” Ryan said.

“There’s just so many good opportunities out there.

“We’re keen to keep on doing more overseas stuff as well and expanding.”

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