They released their debut EP What The Fuck Was I Thinking last year, comprising of dreamy pop tunes that feel somewhat summery in sound. Perhaps this coastal vibe isn’t surprising, considering frontwoman Jade McInally hails from Queensland’s coast.
“I moved to Melbourne from the Sunshine Coast in 2006, I think, and I remember feeling pretty overwhelmed by the whole prospect of playing music,” she reminisces. “Then I just kind of started jamming with this girl Sarah who I met through work, and we started a band called Tantrums.”
Twelve years on, and McInally has really carved out a name for herself in Melbourne’s music scene. Her initial band, Tantrums, was her first foray into the industry, but it took a lot of chopping, changing and playing with other musicians to finally find her place.
“Tantrums kind of finished and I went overseas to get some perspective on life,” McInally explains. “Then I came back, and I wanted to play music again in Melbourne and I met Jess Cornelius at a one-off job that I was doing, and she invited me to play with Teeth and Tongue.”
“Then I met Jess Ribeiro at a friend’s house and she was like ‘hey, do you want to play bass with me?’ So I ended up playing heaps with those two bands, and was kind of getting a bit unhappy with playing in other people’s bands, as great as it was, so then I realised I needed to start doing my own thing.”
By this time it was 2016, and McInally’s stints in various bands meant she had mates from all over the local scene. Having these connections came in handy when she set out to form Jade Imagine – recruiting James Harvey, whom she’d played with in Teeth and Tongue, his brother Tim Harvey, and Liam ‘Snowy’ Halliwell from The Ocean Party.
“I saw Snowy playing with The Ocean Party and he was playing bass at a show and I was like ‘woah, who is that guy? He has so much pizazz, he has this real good look and really cool way of playing’,” she recalls with a laugh.
“After he got off stage I was like ‘hey, do you want to play music together sometime?’ and he was like ‘yeah, sure’. I thought he was joking … but then I sent him a message saying ‘are you actually serious about playing with us?’ … [and] then yeah, it just kind of happened.”
This sense of openness and collaboration is something McInally appreciates about Melbourne’s music sector, and they’ve been a big part of the Jade Imagine story. Their EP featured a revolving door of guest artists, like Jen Sholakis of the East Brunswick Girls Choir and Dave Mudie who plays with Courtney Barnett, both having a hit on the drums.
“When I was recording the EP, it was really in the spirit of generosity. Everyone who came to record and work on it was kind enough to put in their time and didn’t really ask for anything in return, which was good because I couldn’t really give them anything in return anyway. I was broke,” she laughs.
“Heaps of people are just kind of keen to work together, collaborate, start new random bands, and, you know, contribute to other people’s songs. I think that’s a really nice thing.”
It’s fitting then that a band so bound by community would be on the bill for a community-centred festival like Darebin Music Feast, which kicked off last week. Jade Imagine are one of 18 acts playing at the festival closing party, alongside musicians like RVG, Banoffee, and McInally’s old friend and former band-mate, Jess Cornelius.
“We got invited to play the closing party which is such an amazing lineup, there’s so many cool people,” she says enthusiastically.
“Jess Cornelius is coming back from LA to play so it’s going to be a big ol’ catch up time. It’ll be really good to see her play.”
