Imaginary Jack

The self-taught, self-released, self-abusive “Semi-Acoustic Indie-Folk-Punk” band IMAGINARY JACK is the manifestation of two years of super-sad-suicide folk songs and two previous years of bleached-out garage rock. It began as a two-piece high school band called “The Kerosene Grapefruit Experience”. It was comprised of a scrawny, pale, 17-year-old Joseph Hines and an even scrawnier 16-year-old Ian Ahola. Neither of them knew anything about music and had never picked up an instrument until they decided they wanted to start a band. The result: a terrifically harsh garage rock duo hell-bent on self-destruction.
The band didn’t last long. The two neurotic teenage friends eventually drove each other so crazy and anxious that they didn’t speak for a year. Joe continued as a solo folk performer under the stage name “A Boy in the Woods”. His craft developed organically creating a unique, dark and charismatic sound.
After a few years, Joe felt the need to expand. He got together with a couple of friends from Hamline University (Dana Harper & Mark Kartarik) and made amends with Ian to create IMAGINARY JACK.

IMAGINARY JACK has been together for two years. Their entirely self-created 21-track debut album, “A Window in the Wall” was released September 2007, featuring all aspects of their sound, from dark acoustic folk stories to high-energy electric indie-punk. The album begins and ends with two spoken stories written by D.H. book-ending the 60 minute musical exploration of the human condition.