Jack Black, if you're looking for a band to open for Tenacious D in Newcastle, give Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers a call. They'll be more than happy to warm up the crowd for you.
In fact, the four-piece from Canberra were famously inspired to form a band at the age of 15 after watching your movie School of Rock.
"I'd never even picked up a guitar before," bassist Jaida Stephenson says.
"We were all at a sleepover, watching School of Rock, and we were like 'This looks easy' [laughs]. But it's true, we've been hassling our booking agent and saying if you don't get us on that tour, we're not gonna be happy. We've got to get that tour, I really want to meet Jack Black."
Jack? Over to you.
Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers released their debut studio album I Love You in October 2023, a follow-up to their 2022 EP Pretty Good For A Girl Band. Their song Girl Band reached number 55 on the 2022 triple j Hottest 100 countdown and I Used To be Fun ranked 53rd in this year's countdown.
It's been a busy few months for the band, who recently returned from a February tour of the UK supporting The Vaccines and have just been added to this year's Splendour in the Grass line-up. They also opened for in Australia last December, have been nominated for a 2024 Rolling Stone Award for best new artist, and are on Spotify's New Noise's Artists To Watch list.
"We never thought we'd be playing with Foo Fighters, it was insane," Stephenson says.
"We got to meet Dave [Grohl] and you know how you see people in the media, and you think they must be putting on an act, surely they can't be that nice? He genuinely was one of the nicest guys I've ever met."
But for now, life is back to normal for Stephenson and bandmates Anna Ryan (guitar and vocals), Scarlett McKahey (guitar) and Neve van Boxsel (drums).
"I've just finished work and I'm sitting on my bed. It's my first week day back at work after being away on tour," Stephenson says.
"Everyone assumes we wouldn't be working these days but the arts industry doesn't pay very well ... I see a lot of people from high school and they're like 'Wow you must be rich now' but it's so far the opposite.
"Having said that, I get to do something I love with my best friends most of the time, it's awesome, so I'm not complaining."
Touring with The Vaccines helped the band to "rediscover" their love of music.
"Obviously we've always loved it but you can get into little droughts, like with any hobby, where you get into a routine of doing things and kind of forget why you started in the first place," she explains.
"This tour brought us back to why we do music and why we love it. We also realised that we were able to tour for long periods of time. When we got offered the dates we were like 'Holy crap we're going to eat each other alive, this is insane', but it was actually quite sustainable."
Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers are touring regional towns - including Newcastle - as part of Great Southern Nights, made possible with the support of the NSW Government through Destination NSW and in partnership with ARIA.
"We have a special connection with Newcastle," Stephenson says.
"Most of our band friends are from Newcastle and we love it there, and for some reason we always have the most unhinged nights in Newcastle so we're very excited to go back - but also a little bit scared as to how the night may go."
I ask her if there are any up-and-coming bands that music lovers should keep an eye out for.
"It's funny, we went to a really small school in Canberra, there were like 30 kids in our year, and there's actually another band from our year that came out and they're killing it at the moment," she says.
"They're called Sesame Girl, they're dream pop, and we're obsessed with them. There's another band from Canberra called Sonic Reducer and they're like British punk, a Sex Pistols sound.
"And then there's Dust from Newy, I think they're the best band in Australia at the moment."
