radionotes podcast episodes

Basic Love is the title of the debut album from Jade Imagine, released through label Milk! Records and Marathon Artists. Though, as you’ll discover in this episode’s feature chat there was more than simple moments to get to the name-sake of their release. Speaking with radionotes Jade from the band spoke about their Pozible (crowd funding) campaign… that included Tarot readings as one of the ‘rewards’ to some that pledged, as well as more usual items – like signed albums and merchandise… including from label mate Courtney Barnett in the mix.

Ahead of soundcheck for their Adelaide show – supporting Stella Donnelly – Jade from the band had a chat…

To listen, click the green ‘play’ triangle… [note: may take few seconds to load] 

(Transcript of JADE IMAGINE chat below, check to delivery in audio)

IMAGE CREDIT: radionotes – shot outside CIBO, Glenelg post chat

JADE IMAGINE in November 2019 heading to the UK to support POND, then returning to Australia to headline their own Basic Love album tour from 22nd November 2019.

SHOW NOTES: Jade Imagine episode

Where to find the show to subscribe/follow:

  • PlayPodcast – this link directs you, to the Podcast app on your device (subscribe to not miss an episode)

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The socials…  Instagram  –  Facebook  –  Twitter

In The Box:

Feature Guest: Jade Imagine

Milk On Milk:

During the chat Jade mentioned them covering a Tiny Ruins tune Dream Wave, here is the pre-order link for the release that includes Jen Cloher doing Evelyn Ida Morris cut (with next episode’s guest of the show – The Letter String Quartet) and as for Cloher tune that’s Loose Tooth doing their take on Name In Lights. The Jade Imagine tune Tell Her She’s Dreamin’ is done by Tiny Ruins.

Discoveries/Across Desk:

Next Episode: The Letter String Quartet

…so, if you have not already subscribed or following the show – now might be a great time to start. On Spotify, Apple and Google Podcast, Overcast, PocketCast and more…

More details on playpodcast here, thanks to Matt from them.

[Radio Production – notes: ORCHA takes the full episode and best cut to spin is Depths… the latest Single]

CREDITS

Theme/Music: Martin Kennedy and All India Radio   

Web-design/tech: Steve Davis

Voice: Tammy Weller  

You can make direct contact with the podcast – on the Contact Page

TRANSCRIPT

For direct quotes check to audio, first version of transcript by Chantel B at REV

John Murch: Jade from Jade Imagine. Thanks very much for joining radionotes.

Jade Imagine: Thanks for having me.

John Murch: When did music start in your life?

Jade Imagine: Like many, many years ago when I was a baby, we had guitars around the house. Dad played guitar. My uncle Andrew played guitar and they would always be around the house.

John Murch: What sort of guitar did Andrew play?

Jade Imagine: He actually had a … I don’t know if he had one when I was growing up, but now he has a Baritone guitar, which is coincidentally what I play as well, like a Baritone Danelectro. He actually used to play Bass guitar in a band called the Water Rats’ Picnic in Brisbane in the 80s, which is like a kind of Ramonzy punk rock band. But yeah, so when I was growing up, from as long as I can remember, there were always kind of people around the house playing music and stuff. But I didn’t consciously want to play until I was a bit older in maybe my like early teens where I wanted to learn chords and would get dad to bring home … Or we’d go to music shops and I’d get chord books and try and teach myself how to play stuff.

John Murch: During those teenage years. You had a close relationship with the surf?

Jade Imagine: Yeah, we used to get in the water every day and a big part of the culture up there I suppose, and a big part of being mentally and physically healthy and happy. Didn’t really influence me in the sense that I liked bands that sounded surfy, but I think maybe it influenced me in, I felt my best when I’d just gone for a swim or a surf and that’s when I felt like being creative and then that would always spark a song or something.

John Murch: Possibly those experiences that you had underwater? Was there some memorable ones?

Jade Imagine: Good question. I always really enjoyed the feeling of the sounds being underwater like in the ocean, and the silence, but then also the sounds would start to come in and that maybe that was some kind of source of inspiration. And I referenced that a lot in some of the songs on the album. Trying to find sounds that sounded watery and using reverbs.

John Murch: Does the recreation of those sounds live take you back to Noosa in any way?

Jade Imagine: Definitely when I’m playing some of the songs off the album I feel like I’d get mental pictures, especially when we’re playing songs like, I’ll take you there, which is written specifically about Sunshine Beach where I grew up and stuff.

John Murch: Now you’re based in Melbourne. Is that your getaway of choice?

Jade Imagine: Not necessarily, but I feel like whenever I’m feeling kind of low or depleted, it’s probably my most natural instinct is to go back there. I’m lucky that I can relatively easily go there. For some people they feel most at home on the other side of the world and then it’s like a big effort to try and have that.

John Murch: What was your favorite spot growing up in Noosa?

Jade Imagine: The Sunshine Beach, dog beach it’s-

John Murch: It’s a pretty good beach, isn’t it?

Jade Imagine: It’s so good. Yeah. That’s like-

John Murch: Just letting them off the leashes, off they go.

Jade Imagine: Yeah, it’s a nice vibe up there.

John Murch: Is it a homeliness now that you feel about it?

Jade Imagine: I think so. If I ever talk about that I’m from Noosa. People like, “Aw, what a touristy place, why would you want to go back there?” But for me it’s more around the Headland. Sunshine Beach is kind of for me the heart of being, or a state of mind. I feel like the sense of community there is really strong. A lot of people have really healthy ways of life and you know it’s the early start and get out into the water. A really nice rhythm and a nice pace. I’ve got other connections to the place. Like my stepdad, Dave, he passed away a few years ago, but when he was younger he got a leg amputated because he was in an accident.

Jade Imagine: But he had a rubber leg, a surfing leg that he would use whilst surfing. He’d put on his rubber leg and go surfing. Yeah. And stuff like that. His ashes were sprinkled out just off the beach there. He has two sons who are really successful filmmakers now Kai and Kale Neville, they with a lot of other like local surfy guys and girls from the area. They all paddled out and formed a big circle and did that ceremony. So it was really nice. So yeah, there’s lots of kind of physical and emotional connections to that.

John Murch: And his name was Dave. It’s so Aussie.

Jade Imagine: I know. He’s a lege.

John Murch: What kind of music were you sharing together?

Jade Imagine: He just put on like, it was almost like the equivalent of Gold FM in the house. Oh, he loved like Rod Stewart and stuff, old 70s. We didn’t really listen to a lot of music around the house.

John Murch: Did he teach you swimming. Who taught you swimming?

Jade Imagine: No, he was on the scene a bit later in my life, but I learned how to swim, mom and dad. And with the schools that I went to. It was kind of like in Queensland it’s a big thing, learning how to swim is a high priority maybe-

John Murch: Yeah. There’s a lot of bodies of water.

Jade Imagine: It’s a lot of water.

John Murch: Yeah.

Jade Imagine: I actually remember the moment where I learned how to swim. I was in a pool, which was really lame, but it would have been cooler in the ocean, but I was in a pool and I just, I got that feeling of like, “Ah, that’s how you keep yourself afloat.” Because the whole time before that I’d just, my feet were on the floor of the pool. I remember feeling like, “Aw, that’s cool. I can float.” On tour, we’ve been managing to get some good swims in. We swam in a place called Meelup Beach outside of Margaret river.

John Murch: Over in WA.

Jade Imagine: Yeah. It was freezing. Like the water was cold, but the weather was hot. You run in to the water and it’s like, “Takes your breath away.”

John Murch: How’s this touring experience been like?

Jade Imagine: Stella and her band are amazingly beautiful, welcoming kind people. The week before we started the tour actually got a call from Stella just to say, “Hey, I just realized that when you’re over here.” She was like, “Do you want us to pick you up from the airport in Perth and also do you need somewhere to stay while you’re in Fremantle.”

John Murch: Yeah.

Jade Imagine: And she’s based in Frio and she’s like, “You guys can totally stay with me.” And she hooked up accommodation for us and everything and just stuff like that. Usually when you play with other bands, bands that are considered bigger than you and or you’re supporting them or whatever. Commonly there’s a lot of … There feels like a divide between the headliner and the support band and it’s a very clear distinction and quite often the headliner won’t really make an effort to say hello or anything. Most of the time when we play with other bands it’s like, ” Actually we’ve been playing music for like 15 years now and like, ‘Yes we are supporting you but also maybe just take a minute to get to know us because maybe we’re just like you.'”

John Murch: This particular tour. So let’s focus on the current tour. What have you learned on the road from Stella?

Jade Imagine: Even people who seem invincible can get sick. She got bronchitis last week, it sucked because she has such an amazing voice and she just ended the last song of the set last week. She just lost her voice and the crowd had to finish the rest of the song for her, which was really sweet.

John Murch: You have to tear up.

Jade Imagine: Yeah. We played in Ballarat last week and the whole wall-to-wall crowd knew all of the words and she teared up. It was really cute. And then her band mates came on and gave her a hug and it was all super cute. And another thing that has really struck me with meeting Stella is that she is really kind, she has such a demanding schedule and she’s constantly meeting people, but she remembers everyone’s names. And it’s a really beautiful thing when you see that and she genuinely cares about-

John Murch: They are rare diamonds in the music industry.

Jade Imagine: Yeah, totally. And she just really goes out of her way to make sure that everyone’s, you know.

John Murch: I want to talk about one of the key themes of the album that comes through at least one of the many themes obviously. Basic Love, Jade Imagine is the artist who we’re currently speaking to on radionotes here in Glenelg. Having a chat with her, one of those themes that runs through, is that of friendship?

Jade Imagine: Yeah, a lot of it was kind of one of the reasons why we chose to call the album Basic Love was because of the connection. Yeah. Just the basic friendship that we as bandmates shared. Totally. That’s definitely a theme amongst others.

John Murch: Pack of cards. Do you mind if I ask the question since was part of the forcible campaign?

Jade Imagine: Oh yeah. You’re talking about tarot cards. My manager Lorrae bought them in Paris and they were really special deck of cards for her. I had the idea that I could draw a tarot for people if they wanted one, and she said, “Use this, use this deck of cards,” and I was like, “No, no, no, that’s a really special one that you’ve bought in France.” And she said, “No, you should have it, it’s special.”

John Murch: So from France to Melbourne to somewhere in the world.

Jade Imagine: Yeah. Yeah. Maybe back to France. Who knows. I’ve been trying to get in the zone for that. Feel like you got to be in the right headspace.

John Murch: How long have you been doing tarot?

Jade Imagine: I have a weird relationship with tarot. Not just tarot, but spiritual things, sometimes I go off it. That’s a really vague thing to say, but-

John Murch: Is it when it freaks you out or when you feel just uncomfortable with the idea of the spirituality?

Jade Imagine: I go back and forth thinking that I’ve had a lot of experiences in my life. Maybe I attract people that want to tell me my fortune or whatever, but tell me my future. But I’ve had like a lot of experiences in the past with people telling me with 100% conviction that something will happen or something won’t happen. I’m wary about stuff like that. So I’m not going to go pulling tarot cards and say, “Hey, you’re going to die next or something.”

John Murch: Just read the death card so to speak.

Jade Imagine: Yeah, yeah.

John Murch: I want to ask about whether or not it’s because you’re a little skeptic yourself. You’re a little bit of a skeptic yourself about it.

Jade Imagine: Yeah, 100%. I think I am, seeing as where here in this conversation.

John Murch: Yeah.

Jade Imagine: Like one of the moments for me that where the album title came about was I went to see a clairvoyant who many people kind of stood by and said, “These guys, this is a-

John Murch: Legit, real deal.

Jade Imagine: … this is legit.” Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I went to this person, and they basically told me in the space of an hour that my relationship was only basic love. It would never be transformative, unconditional forever love and it severely damaged the relationship that I had with this person and it took many, many months of working through and kind of almost unpacking what happened in that session. It affected the course of a relationship, which was quite severe and quite … I look back on what this person was saying about my life and I just think, “Yeah, it’s all well and good to think about” … You go to someone, whatever, tarot person or a clairvoyant person, it’s great if they’re saying positive things and you want to believe the positive things and then if they say something negative, you don’t want to believe that, but you feel like you have to because they’ve roped you in with the positives. So you’re like, “If I believe the positive, then the negative is going to happen as well because I so badly want the positive.”

Jade Imagine: I guess the bottom line is that for me, I wanted to name the album Basic Love because I wanted to process that and also I wanted to flip it. Basic love. That sounds to me like the only type of love that is out there. If it’s complicated love, then is that love any … Like maybe it’s not.

John Murch: Did you then query yourself whilst you’re going through that process of why you, Jade put trust in a clairvoyant, into someone else who was outside of what you committed yourself to?

Jade Imagine: Yeah. Oh totally.

John Murch: Because you were committed at the time.

Jade Imagine: Yeah, I deeply questioned and I think I’ve always put trust in the universe that things that happen are for the best and that kind of thing. It made me stronger, I suppose, in the sense that I started to slowly but surely when you sit with your questions and you ask yourself what is the right thing for me? And if you listen to that, then eventually, hopefully you make the right decisions for you, not according to someone else. Eventually it became clear what the right things were and I felt stronger in my own self and opinions, but it definitely took a long way to get there.

John Murch: So let me take you back to tarot then.

Jade Imagine: Yeah.

John Murch: How does tarot fit in? Is that a sense of guidance more than direction?

Jade Imagine: Yeah, or maybe just a source of contemplation or I guess it’s just a jumping off point to think about something.

John Murch: The pack though came from France as you said, from the manager. When you’re uni, you studied Art and French. Why was it Art and France?

Jade Imagine: I was going through a phase of wanting to, like … I’ve always tried to learn a second language and I just really wanted to. And I’d learnt a bit of French in my schooling and I spent a bit of time in France with basic level language knowledge. The first band I had, well the first like real band I had back in 2009, ’10.

John Murch: Yes the TANTRUMS, which I played the song Maylands.

Jade Imagine: Oh wow. Cool.

John Murch: Back in 2010.

Jade Imagine: Holy moly, you have a good memory.

John Murch: It was a good song. It was an electronic guitar band.

Jade Imagine: Yeah, totally. We recorded an album in the UK and after that I went to France and spent some time there just hanging out. I met some people, I did some couch surfing, I stayed with some friends of friends and that kind of thing and yeah, and just tried to get better at speaking it.

John Murch: And so when you came back you were at university and that’s where Arts and French came into the picture.

Jade Imagine: Yeah. I mean I felt like it was really good and a good challenge, but it was also at the same time that I was playing in quite a few bands and I started to get burnt out and I started to get unhappy and kind of just a bit over it all. And so I quit studying and I quit the other bands that I was playing in and I went back to Sunshine Beach and then I started writing. That became Jade Imagine, which I didn’t know at the time what it was going to be, but that just became the next thing.

John Murch: I just want to quickly get back to the TANTRUMS if I can for just a moment. From memory though quite Dave Lynch like.

Jade Imagine: Love his work. I feel like he’s a bit of a touchstone, artistically. His output, I love the soundtracks to Twin Peaks. Got into his Crazy Clown Time album. It’s really weird and cool. Funnily enough, he produced a song that my band did a cover of recently, a Tiny Ruins song called Dream Wave, but it’s not released yet so it’ll come out at some point.

John Murch: You’ve appeared on other people’s records and notably Gena Rose Bruce, you played bass on.

Jade Imagine: Correct.

John Murch: How did that happen?

Jade Imagine: My guitarist, Tim Harvey and producer Tim was working with Gena on her songs to record an album and he said, “Hey Jade, do you want to play bass on this?” I’ve played bass in other bands throughout my life and I feel like Tim and I have a good language, musical language of working together, so I feel it would be easy for him to pick me to play bass because the way he speaks in his references for how to play, I understand. I met Gena and she’s really lovely and sweet and awesome and I listened to the songs and I was like, “Yeah, I’d love to do that.”

John Murch: That album, by the way, is called Can’t Make You Love Me. Jade, back to your album though, it is called Basic Love. We have got in our chat behind the story of where it came from. Such a rocky road, but you seem to be so happy.

Jade Imagine: That’s good.

John Murch: Has this album, Basic Love given you a chance to get through that and into the next phase of your life?

Jade Imagine: I think so. I feel really grateful to have an amazing band and just my friends around me, playing with me. We’ve known each other for many years now, so it feels like a family. We support each other through band stuff and life stuff. It’s really nice. It feels good to have an album out and not be still going, “Oh, it’s coming.” Be able to think, “Okay, what next.”

John Murch: An outstanding debut, a national tour that you will be headlining currently touring with Stella Donnelly. You need to leave us now because you’re about to do sound check for that very gig. Jade Imagine. Thanks very much for joining radionotes.

Jade Imagine: Thank you. Thanks so much.