Microwave Jenny

Having been described as a blend of Pop, Folk and Love, Microwave Jenny is a Husband/Wife duo made up of Tessa and Brendon Boney. Tessa was a small town girl growing up in Woy Woy where she helped her Dad run karaoke and enterted Central Coast talent quests. It was in her latter years of high school, having caught the train to take her unique voice to Sydney for rehearsals and gigs where she met Brendon.

Born and raised in Wagga Wagga, Brendon spent his teenage years travelling the world working away on a soccer career. It wasn’t until his last year of high school when a severe injury put that on hold and he found music. This new found love took him, like Tessa travelling to Sydney for rehearsals and gigs.After meeting and realising they both shared similar ideas for bringing love and smiles through music, the pair spent a year writing songs for each other’s solo projects before deciding to try things as a duo. A decision which has seen them winning awards, working on film soundtracks and playing such festivals as The Woodford Folk Festival, Peats Ridge Festival, The Dreaming Festival, Festival of the Sun, and Bluesfest in Byron Bay to name a few.

How have people responded to the Chasing You EP which you released this year?

It’s been an awesome response! We just wanted to make a super fun pop EP so we moved away from our completely acoustic folk sound and started messing around with some fun things in the studio and the result has been connecting really well.

You guys played twenty houses in six different states earlier this year, whats your craziest house gig story?

We have so many! One of them is where we played at a house in Mullumbimby where the girl who was hosting us warned us early in the night that her father had a habit of pulling out his dress up masks and making everyone dance around in them at gatherings. Sure enough after a few drinks out came the masks and it was one of the coolest/strangest/creepiest things we’ve ever seen. These weren’t little kids style face masks, they were legit whole head masks. We were playing to a backyard full of dancing, slightly drunk human bodies with animal heads and the one dude who’s mask wasn’t an animal head, had a mask that looked like a serial killer. It was pretty crazy.

Not only are you guys married, but you are completely self managed, has there ever been a time where you’ve wanted try a label?

Very early on we were keen to go down that route and met with a few labels but nothing ever really felt like a good fit. We’ve heard so many stories from muso friends who talk about embarrassing things they’ve had to do that were someone else’s idea and we’ve found that kind of thing doesn’t really happen with us. And if it does it’s our own fault. Also we’re at the stage now where whenever we do meet and start working with people it’s strange because it’s not a typical artist/manager relationship, it’s more a co-managing situation.

What’s on heavy rotation on your iPod right now?

Brendon: Frank Ocean

Tessa: The Weepies and Sarah Humphreys new album ‘Hello’.

Do you have any particular ritual before you go on stage, or even a lucky charm you take with you?

Tessa just likes to be really quiet and doesn’t talk to anybody. I (Brendon) like to keep some old raffle tickets in my pocket from the night I won a massive meat tray on the South Coast. Just a reminder that anything can happen

What can people expect from your set at the Sydney Blues & Roots Festival?

Just some good, fun, acoustic-driven pop songs and a good time hopefully. We try not to take ourselves too seriously and just have fun.

If you could have anything on your rider at the Sydney Blues & Roots Festival what would it be?

A masseuse and a bowl of Reese’s peanut butter cups.

Because it’s more fun to do things together, which living Australian artist would you most like to collaborate with?

Gossling. We think we could create something pretty cool and special with her.

Do you guys plan to release anymore EPs or a debut album anytime soon?

The next thing we do will most likely be a full length album. We’ve released 3 EPs so far and starting to feel really comfortable with the sound we want to bring to everybody. Also we’re starting to bring enough funding to put a full length release out and not have if be a complete waste.

Where can we see you play next, what releases do you have available and where can we get them?

We’re touring the east coast and Adelaide to help promote our new EP ‘Chasing You’ throughout October.

Lizotte’s, Central Coast- October 3

The Brass Monkey, Cronulla- October 4

The Vanguard, Sydney- October 5

Your’s & Owls, Wollongong- October 6

The Front Gallery, Canberra- October 10

The Toff in Town, Melbourne- October 11

The Pav (Kooringal High School), Wagga Wagga- October 12

The Grace Emily Hotel, Adelaide- October 13

Ric’s Bar, Brisbane- October 19

The Loft, Gold Coast- October 20