Teenage Joans Are On Top
Meet the punk powerhouses putting Adelaide’s music scene on the world map
Words by Zara Richards | Images by Lucinda Corin
Take one look at all the achievements Teenage Joans have ticked off in the last few years and you’ll understand their star power. Win triple j’s Unearthed High comp? Check. Open for Foo Fighters on their Australian stadium tour? Check. Have their debut album nominated for Best Hard Rock/ Heavy Metal Album at the 2024 ARIAs? Check. Join Sleeping With Sirens on a US tour as official supports? Check.
But for Cahli Blakers (23) and Tahlia Borg (22) – the dynamic duo behind Teenage Joans’ powerhouse pop-punk tracks – their global music career started in Adelaide’s homegrown pub circuit. Here, Cahli tells all about the moments that define who the band are today.
Take us back to the beginning of the band. You played some 70 shows in your first year. What are some gigs that define that period of Teenage Joans for you?
A big one for us was A Day Of Clarity in 2019, [a mini-festival] Clarity Records used to do that was free for anyone to attend. We played at the Golden Wattle. It was raining that day and we thought no one would come. But by the time our set happened, the whole room was full, the balcony was full and people were standing on the street watching through the glass, which was cool.
Why do you think people paid so much attention to you in those initial years?
I think about this sometimes and I don’t really know, because I’ve watched old videos from that year and I’m like, ‘Was everyone seeing something we weren’t’. Maybe people saw potential in us because [we] were both figuring it out. To be honest, that might have been the charm of it – watching a band really grow in front of everyone. We weren’t polished by any means. We didn’t know we had to start a Facebook or Instagram; we didn’t have a single song out until a year and a half of being a band. I think people liked how raw and real it was.
Talk to us about some of the gigs you do now. You just returned from touring the US with Sleeping With Sirens...
On the first day of the Sleeping With Sirens tour, Kellin Quinn came up to us, and he knew our names, shook our hands and said, ‘I’m so excited to see you guys’. Every show, he’d make the time to come and have a little chat. He brought a few guitars on tour and he was showing me. I think that’s more of a ‘pinch me’ [moment] than being on the stage, like, okay this person actually watches us and gives us feedback and knows our names.
Same with [opening for] Foo Fighters. Dave Grohl specifically said to us, ‘You guys are so ’90s’, because we still had amps on stage and foldbacks. It was like, ‘Wow he didn’t just ask us to play, he watched us play’.
What do you hope listeners – especially your teenage fanbase – take away from your music?
To speak true to yourself and your individuality. Everyone’s completely different for the best reasons. We really want to drive the message that if some days you don’t feel like you want to be yourself, it’s important to find a version of yourself that you love because everyone is already themselves. We’re all working through stuff, but it’s important to have individuality and to be a little weird – I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.
Playing all-ages shows is a priority for Teenage Joans. Why is it important for you to create access for kids to see live music?
When we were younger, we didn’t have heaps of access to shows. I used to do a solo acoustic thing because I couldn’t see myself in people who were in bands. Representation is a big thing – eeing different types of people playing music, especially for young people, gets that spark lit earlier on. Going to local shows [is also] important because you can speak to the bands after their set. We always have kids go, ‘I want to be in a band, what did you guys do?’. People are curious, especially kids – they’re overly curious. And as they should be! It’s important to have those spaces where the link is not so dark between you and [an artist].
What advice would you give someone who wants to be where Teenage Joans are right now?
Your individuality is the best thing about you. My advice is to be yourself. Make the music you want to make, not music that’s popular, because people see the authenticity. And say yes to every show that you can!
Listen to Teenage Joans here. Follow their journey on Instagram here.
Teen Spirit was produced in partnership between Carclew and The Note magazine, supported by the Government of South Australia via the Music Development Office (MDO), the Department for Education and Arts South Australia. Read the full magazine online here.
