Project Description

Interview with

IMPERIAL JADE

Interviewer – Mirrin Gray

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Barcelona’s IMPERIAL JADE have now released their epic sophomore album ‘On The Rise’ via Listenable Records! To celebrate, the band have unleashed a brand new video for the album track ‘Heatwave’!

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For any new fans, how did Imperial Jade come together?
It all started in 2012, Fran and Alex (drums and guitar) decided to strart playing together, they where studying together with Arnau (vocals) and they where all playing in different bands. They soon decided to form their own band and looked for a bassist. Ricard joined soon and they started to play some gigs and make their first compositions under the name of Blackway.
Two years later, in 2014, they decided they needed another guitarist, and as I was a close friend of them and we where already playing together in jam sessions and all that stuff, they asked me to join. I felt very lucky! We recorded an EP with five tracks as Blackway and a year later, when we where going to record our first LP, we decided it was the best moment to change our name as we didn’t feel much comfortable with it now that our style had developed a bit more and it was a bit different from what we had previously done. And so we did, Arnau came up with the idea of Imperial Jade and after lots and lots of options we decided it sounded cool enough.

Which musicians are your greatest inspiration?
There are way to many to start mentioning! Mostly artists from the 60’s and 70’s, we feel like that era in music was really bright. People did what they felt like and record labels would give a chance on anything. There is too many music from those times to listen… and so many different styles. We also like older music, we have listened to a lot of jazz and old blues, there is a lot of inspiration in that too, in the end it is the music that inspired the musicians that inspired us. In the latests years we are listening to a lot of more modern music too, there are a lot of great things going on nowadays, you just have to look closer and keep your mind open. Some of the current artist we like are John Mayer, Anderson Paak., The Lemon Twigs or King Gizzard

How would you describe your sound? What makes Imperial Jade unique?
I am not sure… It is just rock and roll, with everything it implies, and done by us. See, in rock music I believe almost anything has already been done, so what’s left? If we are playing classic rock I think the only thing we can do to keep it fresh and “unique” is doing what we feel like, just share our vision on this “concept” that is rock and roll.

Why do you think people resonate with your music?
I don’t know. I have thought about it, what makes people like the music they like? I have gotten to the conclusion (it might be wrong, or there might be more to it) that people likes the music they can relate to, as long as it is for the music itself or the lyrics, in case it has got. So I don’t know, maybe the people that like us it is just because they can hear through our music the music that has influenced us and that they have provably listened before, but in new songs… I’m not sure if I expressed myself hahaha It is such a complex question.

The album On the Rise came out in December 2018. How have you found the response?
We’ve found a very good response, but a small one, as it hasn’t gotten to a lot of people. With the new release under Listenable we hope to get to a larger audience and luckily get the same good response we had about a year ago!

The re-issue is due for release on the 25th of October with two bonus tracks. Can you tell us about Hand of the Puppeteer and Believe?
Sure, the first bonus track of this album is Hand of the Puppeteer. This song was composed in late spring 2018, right after we recorded On The Rise. The fun fact about this track is that originally it was just a project for the Liceu’s music conservatory where I study in Barcelona. The homework consisted in making a composition inspired in a photograph by Italian photographer Tina Modotti. The photo was named The Hands of the Puppetteer, and it was a black and white close-up of two hands pulling the strings of a puppet. In the end it was the title of the piece what inspired the song, more than the picture itself. In the song I try to talk about the major powers that rule our world and decide what we watch on tv, what we read on the papers, what we eat or the things we have to buy, without most of us even noticing; and encourages the people to reveal against this powers. It is the first song of the band where the lead vocals are not interpreted by our lead singer Arnau.
Believe is another special track as it is a song that originally had to be featured in the album but we never got to finish the lyrics. The instrumental part was recorded during the same sessions but as it was unfinished we kept it out of the album. Also we have been playing some of the ideas in this song, like the opening riff, for many years, even before we called ourselves Imperial Jade, so we can say we where very stuck with this one. Finally we found what we wanted to talk about and the right words to fill the new melody added to this complex composition by our guitarist Alex Pañero, we added a few synths and details and it turned out to be one of our most psychedelic/progressive tracks we have to the date. The song tries to explain what are our thoughts on what happens when a person dies, from the point of view of that person and it was our first song to feature strings (cello and violin), which were recorded by our friends Xiluva Tomas and Nerea de Miguel. Fun fact: Xiluva also recorded the backing vocals on Lullaby in Blue. 

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What was it like creating the video for Sad for no Reason? What was your inspiration?
It was great fun! We recorded everything in a whole day. It was a lot of work but we had a great team of friends who are really professional and did the best job they could possibly do. I don’t think there was an actual inspiration for the video, it was just an idea our friends from LAWAWA films came up with, and we liked it. We are very happy with the result.

What’s the process of writing/making music like for you as a band? Is it very collaborative?
It depend on how stuck the composer is with the song! Sometimes one of us brings a song more or less finished and we work on it together to polish it. Other times it is just an idea, riff or melody, and we have to develop it together. Both are great in my opinion.

If you could perform with anyone, who would it be and why? (Dead or alive)
The Beatles! Just to see them live. I’d die. Zeppelin or Hendrix would work as well.

What is the best thing about performing to a live audience?
The level of energy you can achieve with the audience when everything works out fine and the audience is giving it all, just like us on the stage.

What’s the number one city you would like to tour?
Any city with people willing to hear us would be great. But if I had to mention one I’d provably say LA, or SF. The scene there in the 60’s and 70’s was huge, and I’d love to go to California someday…

What’s the next achievement you would like to take on in your career?
I think the next thing we gotta do is a decent EU tour. I hope it doesn’t take too long and I know people at Listenable are working on it. So i hope it is very soon!

Finally, a few questions for some quick answers –

FAVOURITE:

Album – Skiptracing by Mild High Club (changes every week)
Artist – The Beatles
Movie – Mr. Nobody (it changes too)
Place to visit – California
Venue to play – Sala Bikini in Barcelona is the best we’ve played so far.
Food – Fried Chicken!!
Drink – Water, water is the best. After that beer, cause you can’t get stoned on water
Person in History – I haven’t known personally any important person enough to say it is my favorite, so I’ll leave this one blank.
Tattoo – (If you don’t have one, what would you get?) I haven’t got any, but if had to get one I would provably tattoo something that relates to my town. 

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Check out IMPERIAL JADE below
Website | Facebook  | Twitter 

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AMNPLIFY – DB