We wanted to learn a little bit more about this unique band and were lucky enough to catch up with band leader “Fern” from Foes of Fern.
- Let’s start with the band name, Foes of Fern. Where did that come from?
So I had spent a lot of time In bands where a lot of great music was made but the band would end and then the music would die with it. I wanted to create a project that could live on as long as I wanted to keep pushing the project. I decided to go with my nickname Fern and then just brainstormed ideas around that. Fern and Friends just felt too flat so I flipped the idea and got “Foes of Fern”
- Can you tell us a little about the band members, like how did you meet or did the group evolve over time?
This is such a loaded question for this band and I love it haha. Okay so everyone calls this my “solo project” and that is just so far from the truth. This band has had so many members in it throughout the years. My original Foe would be Joe Pomarico who I have been creating music with since 6th grade. At first the band was filled with other hometown friends that I had played music with throughout the years. Eventually Victoria Laurence joined with her Tuba, Jessie McCormick with their uke, and I joined forces with a ton of fantastic horn players, drummers, bassist, background singers, etc. Now it is at the point where we have about 13 solid members of the band. We played a show yesterday in Asbury Park and had 3 of our drummers on stage, 4 horn players, and 3 background singers. All are fantastic musicians that I have met through the Asbury Park music scene. Check out our website for a full list of foes.
- The new single “Time Management” is great and sonically it also has a very big sound. Can you talk about the production and also the arrangement of the tune?
Yes! Our songs are definitely known for having a big sound / arrangements. We released our first album in August and we tracked an orchestra for some of the songs and had over 50 foes track on the record. We went to record Time Management with the hopes of packing as many foes on the track in as quickly a time as possible. We recorded the drums, bass, rhythm, guitar and vocals at once and then overdubbed the background harmonies and horn parts. Shout out to my horn players Steve Heimbuch (sax), Andrew Ludwig (Trombone) Kyle Thompson (Trumpet) Matt Honold (Trumpet) for rolling through and coming up with the horn parts on the fly. We tracked one instrument at a time and then would just keep building parts from the previous takes. This was one of the first times we did not score the parts out and just went into the studio to hit it. We also dug back into our hard drives and found takes of our old Tuba player Victoria playing Time Management on our old demo. We dropped her takes from last year into the session, adjusted the notes to fit the new tempo, and that’s how the full horn section came about.
There’s a ton of little gems like that in the track. One that I love is the snore in the second verse. Our trombone player fell asleep in the session and I brought a mic out and recorded him snoring in real life. That along with all the chatter from the background singers, all the percussion from my three drummers (Andrew Oliva, Joshua Van Ness, and Owen Flanagan) and the production magic of Joe Pomarico and Zach Kornhauser, brings the party vibe of Time Management into existence.
- The Foes are known as an “Asbury Park Band” but where did this all start for you?
It all started in Holmdel NJ on Telegraph Hill Road where me and Pom started our first band in 6th grade. Since then we have recorded and worked with so many fantastic Asbury Park musicians through our indie record label Telegraph Hill Records.
- Can you tell us a bit about “Telegraph Hill Records”?
Telegraph is a label that myself and Joe Pomarico created back when we both graduated college. He got an MBA at William Patterson and I had just graduated from The Berklee College of Music. We wanted to use the knowledge and connections we both collected to help out the local musicians of Asbury Park that we both love. That was back in 2016. Since then the label has grown by adding great bands and fantastic team members that truly care about music.
- What’s next artistically for the band? Will “Time Management” be on an upcoming album?
To quote our bassist Matt Raspanti, “How can we be a band without doing music” Matt has been building us a new patreon-ish website that we are calling “Only Foes” where you can subscribe for different Foes content. We are talking about podcasts, web series, short skits, and other fun non music content to broaden our fan base.
As Matt and the team are working on that I will continue to write and also pick which songs will be coming out on the next album. Time Management for sure will be on it along with a few fan favorite songs like our tune “The Ocean”. We have a big collection of music to choose from for our second album. The current plan is to pick 7-10 songs that fit well together and help tell a cohesive story.
- What do you do when you’re NOT working on music?
Personally, I like to spend my time playing chess, enjoying nature, or just lounging on the couch and enjoying the little things from life. A nice cup of tea in the morning, afternoon or night time really goes a long way.
As for the other members of the band – Apparently most of them love Star Wars more than life itself. The last couple of band practices has me in the corner with a guitar as they very passionately debate the history of Mandalore or some other nerd shit.
- What sort of non-musical influences do you have?
My friends and the people in my life are huge influences on me. I am lucky enough to be surrounded by some really talented people that continue to inspire me to create,
- Before we go, what do you want to say to fans of the music?
THANK YOU for sticking with us! We as a band are really just having a great time working on our music videos (currently we have 6 out on youtube) recordings, live shows, and other fun ideas. We love it when people get to know us and join in on that fun. I also hope that you can hear that joyful environment on “Time Management”.