We’re getting candid in our interview with Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers.

Teen Jesus are a 4-piece punk band from Australia, who recently signed to Mom + Pop Records. The band just released an extended version of their album, titled I Love You, Too, and features collabs from The Linda Lindas and Softcult.

We talk with singer Anna Ryan about how the band members have grown as friends and musicians since they were teenagers, the process of sitting down to write a full length album, and the irony of being called “pretty good for a girl band.”

Listen to the full interview with Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers on Name 3 Songs podcast and find a transcribed excerpt below.

Name 3 Songs: We’re very excited because you guys are coming over to New York very soon. You recently signed with the NYC-based Mom + Pop Records in conjunction with putting out the deluxe edition of your album, I Love You, Too. This album features a song called “Dull,” which is about sitting in your feelings instead of constantly needing to distract yourself from life. And I think this is one of those realizations that we all have at some point in our lives. So for you, was there kind of like a catalyst or a moment that made you want to then put it into song?

Anna (Teen Jesus): We all sort of get stuck in trying to be busy all the time because it is really uncomfortable to just sit there and be like “you know, I don’t have to do this and this and this all the time” and be really fast-paced. But we all do that because it’s scary to stop. We were talking about this in the studio when we were putting the song together. We started writing a song ages ago and then we left it for a bit and then we came back and we talked about it more and it all sort of came together. But yeah, I think everyone sort of had those feelings and it’s not like a new feeling and I think nobody’s even really talking about it.

It’s so funny, I feel like Sara and I have also had these conversations recently about our personal lives, but it’s one of those things where sometimes you’re just living on autopilot and either you know you’re purposely avoiding things or you’re literally just so caught up in the rat race that you don’t even realize “How am I actually feeling about this? Am I just continuing to run a marathon I don’t wanna be on?”

Yeah, literally. I found myself sometimes even going out to meet friends for a drink – I love doing that but there’s a point where I’m like “well, okay I kind of just want to stay home” and that’s okay. Like it’s fine. Like I don’t have to feel bad about it but then there’s the voice in the back of your head being like you’re missing out. But it’s like, you’re actually, everything. They’re just at the pub, you know, you’re not missing out on much. It’s okay.

I feel like personally I’ve gotten over the fear of missing out. It’s just that if I sit at home I have to unpack what I’m dealing with right now and that literally sounds worse.

Yeah exactly, exactly. So that’s the thing, it’s like just always distracting yourself because it is just a little bit uncomfy.

Also, this is such an interesting approach in song, because I feel like there’s so many ways in which people deal with their emotions through songwriting. Like “okay, here are my emotions, here’s how I’m going to deal with them and move past the situation.” I feel like you don’t hear that perspective as often. In a lot of ways, this can be closely intertwined with mental health because of that. And so I’m curious, was this like an intentional style of writing?

I think a lot of the time with our music, everything we write is just like a little bit of an accident. Like, we don’t really know what we’re doing, but then we’re there and we’re like, this actually makes heaps of sense. We never really go into a song and be like, we want to write it about this and this and this. We just have a conversation and things come up and then we sort of put it into a song, but we’re never like, we’re gonna write about this problem or this problem or tackle some big thing. It’s exciting to see what comes out of it really. It’s a surprise to me.

The process of songwriting can be very personal, where you’re just writing about whatever is happening at the moment. And then you have that recorded version of history that you look back on later and you’re like, “actually, I was feeling this way, but I didn’t even realize it at the time.”

Yeah, yeah. Like, I think there’s only a few songs that have been written start to finish after an intense feeling or something’s happened or whatever. Because, we don’t really tend to write for the purpose of writing a song. We just sort of want to do it. Then it’s really cool to see what we come up with.

You guys have been playing together as a band since you were teenagers. Since music has been such a part of your life for such a long period of time, do you feel like it’s been an avenue for you to be able to express things that you otherwise wouldn’t?

Yeah, absolutely. I’m terrible at talking about my feelings. I’m so bad at it. Like I literally can’t, I won’t. But I will write a song and be like, here’s the song. And then everyone’s like, “are you good?” I feel like it’s definitely a good way of communicating. You don’t even really know what you’re writing about either until afterwards. 

I was watching a video of Billie Eilish and she was talking about “What was I made for?” being written for the Barbie movie, and she didn’t ever mean for it to be about herself. But then afterwards she was like, “wait a minute, I feel everything in this song.” I feel like that’s happened to me a bunch of times where I’ve written about a situation that I think is detached from me. And then I sort of take a step back and be like, wait a minute, I’m literally just writing about myself again. It’s fun to see how that can happen without us realizing.

Listen to the full interview with Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers on Name 3 Songs podcast available on your favorite podcast platforms.

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