Planetary Group took some time to get to know Teenage Joans…
Planetary Group: Tell us about your latest release. How did you come to create it?
Cahli: Our latest release is an EP called Taste Of Me. It’s got five songs on there and we wrote those songs between like what 2018?… End of 2018 to 2019. Yeah.
The songs are kind of about us growing up and experiencing the world as young adults. Hence the song “Something About Being 16” – that is a song about being 16. Usually I would start the songs in my room. I’d write the guitar and like the chorus or something and then bring it to Tahlia’s room and we would write them together. And then the songs kind of evolved as we’d play them live.
PG: Share a bit about your musical journey, from when you first started making music until now.
Cahli: So my musical journey started when I was five. I started playing violin because I saw Elmo play violin on Sesame Street, and I wanted to be like Elmo. So I started playing violin and then I played that for five years and then I didn’t like it. So I switched to guitar because I wanted to play rock music. And now we’re here!
Tahlia: Funny story: I started doing ballet first – crazy, so out of character! – but then my cousin, he plays drums and he used to play in a band, and my mom used to take me to his shows all the time when I was little. And then I was like, that’s cool! I want to do that. I don’t want to do ballet. That’s boring. And then I started playing drums.
Cahli: And then I started writing music when I was like 14, 15.
Tahlia: Same with me actually!
Cahli: But [we weren’t writing] together though. We didn’t know each other at this time. And then we met and then we started writing music together, which is nice.
PG: Let’s talk about the music that you love. Pick one album for each category below & tell us a bit about it!
- An album you grew up listening to:
Tahlia: This was a hard question, but I grew up listening to Needles and Pins by Smokie… It’s a good album!… Because my Nan used to play it in the car all the time.
Cahli: I’ve never even heard of that band or album.
Tahlia: Well, they’re a bunch of men in their seventies and they’re very old.
Cahli: This was a hard question for me too, but I picked Red by Taylor Swift. That was the first album that I ever listened to myself, like without my parents’ influence. It was the first CD I ever got. I got it for my 13th birthday. It’s a good album.
- An album that inspires you as an artist (I’m sure there are many, but pick one of your choosing):
Cahli: I think for me, it’s Sounds Good Feels Good by 5 Seconds of Summer. I love the production on the album. I like that it’s really pop-driven, but with super heavy guitars, drums and stuff. And I love the lyrics; the lyricism in the album? Beautiful, amazing! Production? Incredible. Sonically it’s amazing.
Tahlia: I think it would have to be the self-titled 5SOS (5 Seconds of Summer) album. That got me back… because I stopped playing music for a while when I was younger, and then found 5SOS and I was like, I’m going to play drums again.
Cahli: It’s a good album. Early 5SOS: that’s what influences us the most apparently.
- The album you currently have on repeat:
Tahlia: Mine is ‘you’ll be fine’ by Hot Mulligan. SUCH a good album; there is not a bad song on the album.
Cahli: I’d say mine is SUP by Super American. Our manager showed us that album on tour the other weekend, and it was a very good album. It’s very cool. I like the way they combine old pop punk with newer pop punk.
PG: What do you want people to take away from your music?
Tahlia: Music is so subjective. So as long as you can relate to it somehow, that’s all we care about.
Cahli: Yeah. Actually, so many people have said that “Something About Being Sixteen” has helped them get through their breakup, which I think is really wholesome, really nice. It’s a bit of an anthem song, a breakup anthem song.
We just want people to feel inspired and feel like they have a place where they belong, even if they don’t feel like they belong anywhere else. To feel the love that we have for music, through our music.
What’s next up for you?
Cahli: We’re finishing our EP tour in March and April, so keep your eye out for that if you live in Australia. And hopefully we’ll release new music. Who knows?
Tahlia: Keep your eyes peeled besties!
