For millennials of a certain vintage, School of Rock, Richard Linklater’s 2003 film, is a seminal comedy. But it turns out Gen Z, including the Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers crew, adore it too.
Ahead of their DJ and hosting spot one evening at Rolling Stone House at SXSW Sydney 2024, the band invited us backstage to check out their rider. Something quickly stood out: two framed photos of zany comedy legend Jack Black.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone AU/NZ, which features in our March-May issue, the Teen Jesus members offered an explanation for those photos, revealing their long-held love of one of Black’s finest films.
It turns out that it was at a sleepover a decade ago, with School of Rock playing on TV, when the four school friends hatched a plan.
“We were like, ‘Oh, that doesn’t look too hard,’” lead vocalist Anna Ryan recounted. “‘We could probably do that.’ And then we were trying to figure out who would do what [instrument].”
Teen Jesus might not have had the privilege of performing with Black (yet), but they memorably supported Pearl Jam last year.
@teenjesusjeanteasers Still in shock xxx #pearljam #eddievedder #fyp #areyoukiddingme #band #darkmatterworldtour2024 #howdidwegethere
What started out as an invitation to play the grunge legends’ Ohana Festival quickly turned into a coast-to-coast jaunt, followed by a warm-up slot alongside Pixies for Pearl Jam’s Australian stadium tour.
“Everything that has happened has been completely unbelievable,” Ryan told us in the same interview. “It’s been insane. To even be in proximity to those heavyweight bands is crazy, let alone playing on the same stages.”
And the Teen Jesus-Pearl Jam connection is far from over. In just a couple of weeks, the Australian alternative rockers will support Eddie Vedder and co. at six arena shows in the US, with three of their own headline shows thrown in for good measure.
They’ll do so armed with rollicking new single “Balcony”, which is their first drop of 2025 and first since winning the Michael Gudinski Breakthrough Artist ARIA Award last year.
Described by the band as “a loving ode to being chaos gremlins at the bar,” “Balcony” is produced by Grammy-winning Catherine Marks (boygenius, Wolf Alice, and Foals). The song also comes with an accompanying music video, which you can watch above.
The March-May 2025 issue of Rolling Stone AU/NZ is on newsstands now.
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