Grungy glory _{by Madelaine Empson}

Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers, aka “one of Australia’s most exciting acts” (The Guardian), have just dropped an extended version of their critically acclaimed 2025 sophomore album GLORY. I nabbed a quick Zoom with guitarist Scarlett McKahey to chat about the indie-rock band and their new record GLORY (Deluxe), which they’ll celebrate with their Kiwi fans at San Fran on the 23^rd of May.

I have to start with the story of your band name!

When I was about 12 I was in the back of the car with my dad and his friend going to Salvos, and they were joking around: ‘What are the dumbest band names you can think of?’ My dad said a couple and his friend Davey said, ‘What about Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers?’ I was like, ‘Hahaha,’ forgot about it, and then years later when we started the band, it was like a vision. ‘Wait, I’ve heard this before!’

Like it was rocking around in there for a few years.

Bouncing around in my brain – finally put it to good use!

From forming in high school some 10 years ago, to seeing your debut album I Love You reach the top 10 of the ARIA Charts in 2023, to picking up a slew of awards along the way… What have been some of the pinch-me moments?

We try and stay aware of how crazy and amazing it is as much as we can. Not take it for granted – pinch ourselves that we even get to do it at all. Touring with Pearl Jam in America in May last year was major. They were really lovely, very welcoming. Winning an ARIA – just ridiculous!

GLORY (Deluxe) features two new songs – BATH WATER and GO WASTE MY TIME – and stripped-back versions of four fan-favourites from GLORY. Does the meaning of a song change for you when you reimagine it?

When you strip it back to its fundamentals, it does change the song a bit. For example the song Mine – the original is punky, really fast, heavy guitars, it’s super fun and energetic. The reimagined version is almost spooky: it’s very stripped back, mysterious, has more synths, feels a bit more sinister than the original. A couple of others sound much more sad. I think it means the core of a song can shine through a bit more.

Tell me about the Aotearoa tour and the Welly gig – what can audiences expect?

We’ve never been to New Zealand before so we’re very, very excited! It’s been on our bucket list for so long. And we’re very excited to play some of these new songs we haven’t played before. We want it to be really fun for everybody and really appreciate people coming out to watch us and share that with us. It should be really wholesome and really fun!