“We plan to have two new songs out by the end of the year, but more importantly, one around Halloween that fits the theme,” shares vocalist and bassist Kate Fern, adding that the spooky season aligns with May Be Fern’s overall vibe. “We are the Hall-O-Queens of Denver.”
Fern, Hannah May (vocals and keys), Madi Spillman (guitar) and Evan Jeffers (drums) all giggle at the off-the-cuff tag.
“Overflow,” the band's latest single, released in April, does feel a little more Midwest emo than previous material, so a Halloween May Be Fern song seems fitting. But we’ll just have to wait and see for now.
The queer, non-male, funk-rock band has been busy making more and more of a name for itself locally, especially after debut record Okay Grandma, Your Turn came out last year and earned the 2024 Best of Denver award for Best Debut Album.
The four-piece is also fostering the local community with the Four O' Fern showcase at Bar 404.
Courtesy John McSweeney
“We were doing our best. Like, I was smacking my bass pick-ups,” Fern adds.
“We were getting creative, but it wasn’t the vision that we wanted,” May continues. “We just had the backbone of the songs — like, no leads were taken or anything like that.”
That’s when Fern recruited her longtime theater friend and guitarist Spillman, who brought in Jeffers, and May Be Fern really bloomed throughout 2022, which is most evident on Okay Grandma, Your Turn. The group is also the house band at Bar 404 and hosts the local music showcase Four O’ Fern there.
After playing the Westword in-office, members-only concert series this summer, and with fall plans already in the works, May Be Fern is winding down the sunny season with a show at the hi-dive on Friday, August 30. Isadora Eden and Pill Joy are also on the bill.
If you’re unfamiliar, it may be best to check out May Be Fern now, in a more intimate setting, before the four-piece inevitably starts to play bigger venues. The initial seven-track offering, paired with this year’s new tune, boast a wide range of funk-filled grooves (“Maggie Jane”), indie-rock sentiments (“COLOR ME STOKED”) and soulful jazz (“Lady Bass”).
“Man, just adding two more instruments made such a huge difference,” May admits.
“It also made writing a lot easier,” Fern adds, while explaining that the group approaches the process in a “uniquely democratic” way.
“Every single song is completely written four ways,” she continues. “Usually someone will bring what we call a seed. We have a rule against fully-fledged ideas. You are not allowed to bring a fully buffed-out idea, because then it doesn’t have room for three other people to build it. You’re only allowed to bring a seed.”
Spillman points to “Jack Jones” as a good example of how a song grows in the May Be Fern garden.
“It started as a concept of repeating the phrase ‘Jack Jones,’ and we built around that idea. We didn’t have anything musical to add to that at first,” she says.
“But it was a seed,” Fern affirms.
The idea, from the inclusive writing process to empowering performances, is to ultimately create and spread more positivity and compassion.
“We wanted to connect with people through music and art in every form of that,” Fern continues. “We wanted to create a feeling for people. The feeling was, ‘We love each other and we love what we’re doing.’ Adding more hearts and love into that just made it real and actualized it a little bit more.”
Plus, representation matters, especially in places that don’t have a queer scene as healthy as Denver’s.
“It’s definitely important to see queer people on stage in the spotlight not holding anything back,” Spillman says, adding that the band really saw how meaningful that can be while on tour this summer.
And that goes both ways, according to Jeffers.
“When we are ourselves on stage, that draws an audience of people who are also themselves, and you can look out at other people in the audience who are existing and having a good time and are safe,” Jeffers says. “I think that’s just as powerful as seeing people up on stage — seeing people in the audience having room to be themselves, too.”
It’s almost studio time, so the friends start to shift their focus, but not before Fern closes with a final thought.
“I just want people to be inspired, but at the very least, I want them to move,” she concludes. “I feel like good music makes you move. If they just tap their foot or bop their head, then that’s an accomplishment.”
May Be Fern, with Isadora Eden and Pill Joy, 8 p.m. Friday, August 30, hi-dive, 7 South Broadway. Tickets are $15.
