Punk Goes Country With Teenage Joans’ New Track “Bandits”
Adelaide punk power duo Teenage Joans are back with their highly anticipated first release of 2026: Bandits. Ditching the Doc Martens for cowgirl boots, Bandits sees punk and country collide to tell the story of a modern Bonnie and Clyde-style romance. Combining their trademark hard-hitting drums and gritty pop-punk vocals, the track features country-esque electric guitar riffs made for rolling the windows down and chasing the sunset.
Teenage Joans shared, “Bandits is the first glimpse into the next chapter of TJ’s. The chorus came to us so easily, and we kept it from a writing session knowing we had to use it because it was too good to lose. Early 2025 we went on a beach trip to write some songs and this one was one we ended up finishing.
We really wanted to blend a country vibe with our classic pop punk. The song is about feeling an intense connection to someone, so much so that you would do anything for them and rule out the worst because you love them so much, like a Bonnie and Clyde style romance.”
Marking the beginning of a new era for Teenage Joans, Bandits is the first taste of what’s to come from Australia’s favourite ‘juice-box pop-punk’ band in 2026. Teenage Joans will be performing at A Day in the Gully festival in South Australia later this month along with a Melbourne support slot for US emo legends Hot Mulligan in April before jetting off to the UK for a headline tour and festival appearances at Liverpool’s Sound City and Brighton’s Great Escape in May.
Their most recent release My Heart’s Dead! was met with widespread acclaim, praised by Rolling Stone as a “catchy, high-energy track with fun vocal hooks made for singing along live”. With their live sets in high demand, Cahli and Tahlia joined Canadian punk heavyweights PUP and Melbourne icons Slowly Slowly on tour, also sharing a stage with the likes of The Strokes at Adelaide’s Harvest Rock festival. Eager to take their mosh-ready new track on the road, they closed the year out with a headline Australian tour before jetting off to the UK to perform at the iconic Live at Leeds Festival.
Bursting onto the scene in 2020, taking out the triple j Unearthed high crown and making their Hottest 100 debut, Teenage Joans have gone from strength to strength. Their 2021 debut EP Taste of Me won a record breaking 7 awards at the 2021 SAM Awards and landed Teenage Joans another spot in the Hottest 100. The highly anticipated 2023 debut album The Rot That Grows Inside My Chest was recognised with 7 ARIA chart appearances and an ARIA nomination for ‘Best Heavy Album’ in 2024. They’ve also taken home SA Music Awards’ ‘Best Punk Artist’ in 2022 and 2023 along with ‘Best Group’ and ‘Most Popular Punk Artist’ in 2024.
Going from strength to strength, Teenage Joans have spent the last few years on tour around Australia and the US with the likes of Foo Fighters, Sleeping With Sirens, Sum 41, Noahfinnce, Amy Shark, Pale Waves, Ball Park Music, The Chats and many more as well as selling out multiple national headline tours. They’ve also hit a stack of festival stages including Good Things, Unify, SXSW Austin, Splendour In The Grass, Groovin the Moo, Laneway Festival and Spin Off with many more to come.
Bandits is available now wherever you consume stellar tunes
