EDITOR’S NOTE: This weekend, organizers say, brings the 25th and final Underground Music Showcase “in its current form.” To mark the occasion, Denver Gazette Senior Arts Journalist John Moore – who started The UMS in 2001 – is bringing back the poll that started it all.

In 2001, Moore surveyed local music experts about the underground bands and artists they felt were most worthy of more mainstream recognition. The results became the basis for an annual live showcase of local bands that grew into The UMS, which this weekend will feature 200 bands across 12 indoor venues and four outdoor stages along a 1-mile stretch of Broadway in the Baker neighborhood.

Moore stopped conducting the annual poll in 2010. But with the festival now coming to a probable end, here’s one final introduction to 10 local bands and artists our panel of industry insiders recommend you check out. In all, nearly 100 bands received votes. All this week we are counting down the top 10.

6. MAY BE FERN

When they dropped in seemingly out of nowhere two years ago, I described May Be Fern as “a nonviolent femme band that is quickly making its mark in the Denver music scene.” Now, a panel of local music experts has deemed this power-funk trio one of our 10 local bands most deserving of more mainstream attention.

And while their ascension should serve as an encouragement to other young femme artists, this is, in its way, a win for the local theater community as well.

Kate Fern and Madi Spillman grew up doing local theater together, often performing in the annual Magic Moments jukebox musical that gives able-bodied and disabled actors the opportunity to take the stage side by side.

But astute theatergoers’ ears might perk up to hear that Fern is actually Kate’s middle moniker, which makes it something of a stage name. Kate (Fern) Lubotsky has been appearing in major local stage productions since her age was in the single digits. She starred as Annie at Boulder’s Dinner Theatre in 2009, and was Little Cosette in the Arvada Center’s seminal staging of “Les Misérables” in 2008.  

“As Annie, Lubotsky shows a big voice and poise beyond her 9 years, hitting all her marks and watching over her scene-stealing sidekick, a blonde Labradoodle named Maggie (the stray dog, Sandy)” wrote Mark Collins for the Daily Camera.

Now that these old young friends are part of a super-hip, cool-kid, openly queer band-of the moment, you might think they’d want to keep their theater roots on the D.L. And if you do, you May Be Wrong.

“Kate and I both still love theater, and we fully embrace that part of our lives,” Spillman said. Theater gave them uncommon poise and comfort at a very young age, and “it definitely comes through in our stage presence,” she added. “We get a lot of comments about that from our audiences.”

May Be Fern quickly established itself as a fresh voice on the local scene with its infectious energy, dynamic rhythms and engaging melodies. One of the band’s strongest validations came with its selection to play in the 2024 Underground Music Showcase. Now it has been invited back to play for a second and final time at midnight Friday at the Skylark Lounge.

“We had a blast last year, and we are super honored to be back,” said Spillman, who, like many others, will be curious to know just what festival organizers meant when they announced that this year’s 25th UMS will be the last “in its current format.”

“We will be interested to see what happens next year,” she said. “We think somebody will step up and replace it with a true, local event. We can see the bars along Broadway uniting to make something happen together.

“We always thought the best thing about the UMS was getting people who wouldn’t normally come to a local show out to see what Colorado has to offer.”

• Web site: maybefernband.co

• Year started: 2021

• Members: Madi Spillman (guitar), Kate Fern (bass and vocals) and Hannah May (keys and vocals)

• What makes you local: “Kate and Madi met doing local theater. Kate and Hannah met working at a coffee shop in Evergreen. Kate and Hannah started the band, and then Madi reached out after not talking to Kate in years to ask if they wanted a lead guitar player.”

• Seminal single: “‘Maggie Jane‘ is our most popular song (and was our first single), but we just released a new single called ‘The Way We Do‘ that is a dance song about friendship and its beauty.”

• Describe your music: “We usually say that we land at the corners of funk and rock, but we write from the heart and sometimes the heart wants to write a ballad, dance song, etc.”

• Musical influences: Fleetwood Mac, Chaka Khan, Tadeschi Trucks, St. Vincent

• Watch it! “Blood Beach” (above)

• One favorite Colorado band: Rootbeer Richie and the Reveille

• When did you know your band was for real? We knew from our very first rehearsal. We created an arrangement of a medley of ‘Rhiannon’ and ‘Dreams’ at that rehearsal that we still play live to this day.”

• Catch us live: “We play at the UMS at midnight Friday at the Skylark Lounge. After that, we are playing at Bar 404 on Aug. 15. We have a monthly residency there where we have brand-new-to-the-scene bands open for us as a learning experience and jumping-off point into the Denver music scene.”

• Next music drop: “We will be releasing our first full-length album complete with 15 songs this fall. The date has not been announced yet.”

• Our live shows are like … “if the Hex Girls were in a live-action movie that premiered at the height of the funk music revolution.”