Still Pretty Good (For a Girl Band): Teen Jesus and The Jean Teasers on New Album, ‘Glory’
No one channels chaos and charm quite like Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers. After a decade of making music together and three years after the release of their first EP, Pretty Good For A Girl Band, the Australian quartet returned with their powerful sophomore album, Glory. Fusing punchy riffs with sharp lyricism, the band is stepping into a new era, weaving together post-punk sounds with moments of honesty and vulnerability. Glory showcases a more mature, refined version of Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers without losing the fiery spirit that made them stand out in the first place.
Pleaser had the chance to chat with Jaida Francetti, the band’s powerhouse bassist, about the quick turnaround behind Glory, the growth that’s come with age and experience, and the thrill of taking their new songs on the road.
PHOTO BY BRIANNA DA SILVA
PLEASER: Your new album Glory is set to release soon. How do you feel about this project going out into the world?
Jaida Francetti: So excited! I think this project’s a little bit different to our last ones because I feel like a lot of artists record an album years prior to release, and by the time it comes out, they’re kind of sick of the music already. We only recorded this album a couple of months ago, so it’s been such a quick turnaround.
We’re still loving all the songs and [are] just so excited for them to be out in the world and for people to hear them. We’re so proud of it. It’s my favorite body of work that we’ve ever done. So we’re super keen!
Was the writing process itself pretty quick as well?
JF: Yeah, the writing process was a little bit different. We wrote most of it throughout last year. There were a lot of co-writes this time, we did some cool co-writes with Alex Markwell from The Delta Riggs and we did one with G Flip. I’m not sure if that one made the album, but it was fun, and a few songs [just] ourselves. Then we recorded it with Catherine Marks, who’s the most incredible producer ever, and she really helped us flesh out the songs in the studio.
When you’re writing, is it a wholly collaborative process where you do everything together, or does each member of the band bring in their own individual bits and pieces?
JF: I think it’s a bit of both. Most of the songs we write by ourselves, and a few we do together. We’ll do a writing week or we’ll come together and all collaborate. But mostly people will bring a song forward, and then we’ll all make our own parts for it, unless there’s a part that’s essential. Scarlet [add position] might write a song that has a bass line that’s essential to how the song sounds, so I’ll just play that bass line. But, yeah, we usually all bring our own stuff to it. We’ve known each other for nearly 20 years now, so we gel together very, very well. We grew up together, so all of our tastes tend to align with everyone else’s, which is so cool.
You’ve been a band since you were, what, 15?
JF: Yeah, yeah, a long time!
Ten year anniversary this year!
JF: Oh yeah, the ten year anniversary, true!
How do you feel like it’s evolved over the years, from being 15 to now being 25? How has your music, writing process, and creative process changed?
JF: It’s changed so much. When we started, I don’t think we were very good, to be quite frank. We were having so much fun with it, but that was it, I guess, just fun. We never expected it to go as far as it did. But I think our songwriting has really evolved. Even our last album and all our previous bodies of work were very… you could tell we were teenagers when we wrote them. They were all like, “I’ve got a crush,” or “I broke up with my boyfriend,” you know, that was kind of the track. Nearly every song was like that. This album’s songwriting is a lot more mature and has more complex ideas throughout the songs that aren’t just very up-front and blatant emotions.
Were there any songs that came together unexpectedly or changed drastically in the studio from when you wrote them to when they were produced?
JF: There were a couple of demos that, when we went to the studio, we thought were surely going to be on the album. We were like, “This is gonna be a single!” But then we got in there and they didn’t vibe very well. “Mother” nearly didn’t make it onto the album. We all really liked it, but we were thinking, “Will people receive it well?” And I think that’s become our favorite song on the whole album. It’s funny that it nearly didn’t make the cut.
Who were your biggest inspirations behind this album?
JF: This album’s inspirations changed a bit from previous ones. We went and saw Fontaines D.C. at the very start of recording, and that actually changed the trajectory of the album completely. They were a huge influence. Bloc Party too, there are a lot of Bloc Party references through the bass lines and drums on the album. The rhythm section from that first Silent Alarm album was a big inspiration. And then just a few of our other favorites, like Wolf Alice, who always sneak their way in there, and Idles. We all have similar music taste, that post-punk sound.
PHOTO BY BRIANNA DA SILVA
You are a fully non-man band, how does it feel navigating the music scene, especially the indie rock scene, which has been so heavily dominated by men for so long? What’s it like carving out your space?
JF: It’s interesting. It’s something we try not to focus on too much, because when we were starting out there were definitely fewer non-males in the industry. Sometimes we just wanted to be seen as a band, not as “this girl band.”
Our first EP was called Pretty Good for a Girl Band because people would come up and say, “You guys are pretty good for a girl band,” and we’d be like, “We’re just a band!”
At the same time, I’m so proud that pretty much our entire team is women or non-males. I think our booking agent is a man, but everyone else is all super awesome women. It’s nice that we’ve built up this community of people, and I’m happy that the scene, while there’s still a lot more work to do, has changed since we first started. It feels a lot more welcoming now, and I feel very sure of our place, which is awesome. But I also know that comes with a bit of privilege. We’re in a position now where we don’t have to fight as hard for our voices to be heard anymore, whereas a lot of up-and-coming non-male bands might still have that issue.
You are about to go on tour as well. Is there a specific city or venue that you’re super excited for?
JF: The Forum in Melbourne has been my dream venue since I moved to Melbourne when I was 18. My first show there was at the Forum, and I was like, “I want to play here one day.” We’ve already played it, but we’ve never headlined it. I’m cheesing that we get to do that, it’s going to be a big bucket list moment. Also New Zealand! We’ve never been to New Zealand. I’m a huge Lord of the Rings fan, and our manager’s from New Zealand too, so I don’t know why we haven’t been yet. I’m just stoked for all the shows we’re playing there. I’m going to try to go on a Lord of the Rings site tour if I can squeeze one in.
Has there been a show in the past that stands out as super memorable?
JF: This past year we’ve played some pretty crazy shows, so they’ve all been memorable. But one of them was probably last year when we played our first stadium show with Foo Fighters. That was really, really cool. It was such a pinch-me moment. We all grew up listening to Nirvana and Foo Fighters, Nirvana was the reason I got into music, so getting to play on the same stage as Dave Grohl and meet him was insane.
Earlier this year we went on tour with Pearl Jam in America, which was obviously incredible. The last show finished on my birthday, and it was just crazy, it couldn’t have been any better. Eddie Vedder sang happy birthday to me on stage. It was a pretty hard birthday to beat. I remember thinking, “Wow, this is the best night of my life.”
Did going on tour with big bands like Pearl Jam and Foo Fighters change the way you guys go about performing?
JF: Yeah, it was really cool to see how they function and how tours of that scale work. It’s funny, they feel a lot more corporate than other tours. Because you’re playing stadiums, there’s so much security and so many people, hundreds working on one event. But it was really cool, and everyone on the tour was so nice. That’s something we’ll take forward, you might think big bands and artists would have an ego about them, but the whole crew was lovely. It showed us there’s no excuse to be a jerk in the music industry. If a band that size can have a lovely team around them, then any band can.
Do you guys have any pre-show rituals?
JF: Yes, we do. It’s very hard to contextualize verbally, you kind of have to see it, but we stand around in a circle, kind of thrust, then shake our hands, and say “F**k yeah!” lots of times. Sometimes we play the game Ninja if we have a few minutes before going on stage and we’re freaking out, we’ll play to distract ourselves.
Are there any songs you’re looking forward to playing on tour from your new album?
JF: Obviously all the new ones! But my favorite is “Mine,” which isn’t a single, but it’s super short and punky, and I think it’ll be really fun live. Also “Talking,” it has a very cool bass line that I’m excited to play.
Looking back on the making of this album, what’s the biggest lesson you think you’ll carry forward into the next project?
JF: Just to trust our gut. With our last album, I feel like we got pushed and pulled in a few different directions. We were kind of asking everyone else, “What do you guys think?” instead of trusting ourselves.
With Glory, we were thinking, we don’t even care if people don’t like it, we just want to make something we’re really proud of.
So we trusted our gut, and it’s one of the first releases where I genuinely think, “If I found this album in the world, I’d think it was really sick.” Just to continue making music that we would want to listen to.
