Photo Credit: Liam Woolcock
Teenage Joans have come all the way from Adelaide, Australia to play at Sound City before heading out on their UK tour. Vocalist/guitarist Cahli Blakers and drummer Tahlia Borg took some time to chat with Bring The Noise UK a couple of hours before they performed at the Arts Club Loft.
Can you start by telling us a little about your music background?
Cahli: I started playing violin when I was five and switched to guitar when I was ten.
Tahlia: I started playing drums when I was seven or eight. My cousin used to play drums and I used to go to his shows when I was young and say I wanna do that!
What bands influence your music?
C: Our main inspiration is Five Seconds of Summer, I really love pop music.
Can you walk us through the songwriting process?
C: Usually I will start with an idea and a little guitar, add a melody or some lyrics then bring it to Tahlia and we kind of sit and flesh it out together. We can just be sitting in a bedroom and flesh it out with an acoustic guitar or something or just record something into Garage Band, for example.
We love the cover of your album The Rot That Grows Inside My Chest. What is the inspiration behind that?
C: We kind of just came up with the concept I think, it sort of ties in with a lot of the visual stuff, we made a short film that is on YouTube. It was an Australian artist who designed the cover, she has did stuff for bands such as Cat Empire.
T: She spent 30 hours on that cover!
How has the debut album been received back home in Adelaide?
T: We did a tour to promote it, but on the day of the album release we had a pop-up shop in Adelaide, with merch and free tattoos etc. The line was so far up the road, we rocked up at 9am for an 11am start and the queue was massive! There were people that had been there since 7am lining up.
Where did you record the album?
T: We did it in Adelaide. We have an awesome relationship with our producer, his name is Jarred Nettle. His studio is ten minutes up the road from us so it’s ideal.
You supported Biffy Clyro in Australia, how did that go?
T: We did Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane with them. The band were so lovely, we actually had a good chat with the replacement bass player about Dr Pepper, as that’s my favourite drink!
What songs do you enjoy playing live the most?
C: Our favourite one to play live is Five Things I Can Taste, that’s off our debut record. It has fun instrumental parts and we get the crowd into it.
What bands from back home do you like or follow?
T: We are really good mates with a band called Sly Withers, they are quite inspired by Biffy Clyro as well.
Will we get to hear any new tracks tonight or on the tour next week?
T: Coming Up From Hell will be released on 8th May 2026 and we will be playing that one live tonight.
Thanks for taking the time to chat to us!
Interview by: Alan Brown
See Teenage Joans live with Violent Soho at the following dates:
September 2026
Fri 11th – SYDNEY, AU – Enmore Theatre
Sat 12th – SYDNEY, AU – Enmore Theatre
Fri 25th – BRISBANE, AU – Fortitude Music Hall
Sat 26th – BRISBANE, AU – Fortitude Music Hall
