What a Wonderful Year Interview Series: Foes of Fern

For so many musicians, artists, writers, and human beings in general Asbury Park has been an integral part of our lives. No one celebrates and appreciates this more than Matt Fernicola aka Fern. Fern is the man behind the musical collaborative known as Foes of Fern, one of the people behind Telegraph Hill Records and one of the people who’ve put What a Wonderful Year together.

While many of us can be cynical about the direction that has gone in over the past 10 years, just take a second and read what Fern has to say. You’ll put the cynicism aside and remember how much this scene means to people today, and what it truly has meant to all of us throughout the years.

We caught up with Fern himself, Matt Fernicola, to discuss his love and appreciation of Asbury Park, the motivation behind What a Wonderful Year, new music and more as Foes of Fern prepare to perform at What a Wonderful Year at The Wonder Bar in Asbury Park on December 27.

Matt, you’re one of the people behind What a Wonderful Year. This year you’ve done a photo shoot for all the bands, set up this interview series, done tons of promos. My question is — why? Most people throwing shows are like “Hey, you’re on the show … see you then.”

We don’t have to. It costs us money to put on. We don’t pay ourselves, so we burn our own resources. And we’re definitely lighting the candle at both ends, but I’m really grateful for the last decade of being in this band, The Foes of Fern, and the town here. They really gave you a fan base, it gave me a reason to play, it gave me multiple gigs, and not just me it gave a whole bunch of people that. I’ve been fortunate in my life to have some really good opportunities given to me, and Pom as well Jim, and Melissa. All of us just feel that if you’re given something other people should be given something too.

We all have day jobs, a life outside of Asbury, I work in a family business and I hate it. I would rather just be running my reality TV show idea that I have, or playing with my band that I’ve been working on. I’m sure for every artist in here that has to work a day job. They feel that way too, so it’s just nice to be seen. We try to book people that have been active in 2025. It’s called What a Wonderful Year so, we try to find people that have released music, or have done a tour, or worked on a really cool music video, or a project they have gotten recognition for. Sometimes it’s just nice to get rewarded for the things that they did. Because most of the time, all of us artists here, we spend 100 hours on our single. 200, 500  or 1,000 hours on whatever. Then you release it and release day is awesome, it feels great, and then it’s over.I’m not saying we deserve a whole bunch of money for that, like, that is what it is. We choose to do this. It’s like releasing it and having it is the reward of its own.

I know it’s nice at the end of the year to be seen for something that they’ve done, especially in a world where we’re not being seen. Spotify isn’t pushing our music out, the YouTube algorithm isn’t pushing us, the Instagram algorithm isn’t pushing us. It also gives a reason for people to create.

The fest has also gone out of its way to book young talent. This was intentional, right?

Yes. I’m like, guys, we gotta get some 22-year-olds to play our shows. How do we bring up the 18-year-olds? One thing I really want to do is to just find a place to put on a dope, music night like every Wednesday — like an open mic, but it’s open till midnight and there’s no alcohol there so it can be all ages. I would love to find that for the younger community, because that’s how I found all my musicians. I met all my band members while working at the Inkwell [in Long Branch] during the open mic or the Internet Cafe [in Red Bank].

Oh man, I told my 17-year-old niece about that place, and she’s like ‘Why was there a cafe with internet?’ And I had to explain not everyone has the internet at the time.

I remember that open mic, dude. We’re old heads, that’s why we do it.

You have an awesome new single, “Hide and Seek.” I also love, first, who does the artwork?

Joe Ruff does all my stuff, mainly. He was in the band The Afraid Brigade.

Tell me about how this song and how it stands out from everything else that you’ve done so far. Like, what type of sonic direction are we going in?

The song itself is the first example of what the new iteration of Foes of Fern sounds like. We have a different  drummer on this record. We have new singers on the record as opposed to my first two full-length albums. I still think it sounds like us but maybe it’s more of a ‘Hey, you get to play one part.’ Before, we’ve done like overdubbed 17 parts. know?

There’s still a huge amount of instrumentation on there, don’t get me wrong, except the violin player. The violin player did seven tracks, because we were pitching that down. We had parts for the guitar, clarinet, trumpets, keyboard and it pushed us in the direction to be able to be a live-sounding band. We want our record to sound different, don’t get me wrong. But this gives us the chance to replicate the song better when everyone has one part rather than a song like “Carpe Diem.” There’s two different drummers on it, there’s so much and it’s impossible to replicate that song.

The song itself is a growing older song. My first couple records are very much centered around heartbreak. This is more leaning into the monotony of life and being okay where it’s going, but also really holding on to what makes life special. And it’s a love letter to Asbury Park. It’s about running around town, you know, and then hiding at your job.

If you come into my  work, I am a frickin’ robot. And I’m seeking art. I’m seeking the chances to create, and be around those people that also still want to create, and be up until 3 a.m. and play a hundred shows.

For a long time, I didn’t even want anyone to know my name. I went by Fern for so long, and now I’m back to Matt again. After 6 years, everyone’s gonna find out your name, I guess. But, I very much like that persona, and that’s  what the song’s about — hiding away the parts of you that you don’t want out there.

But why is that?

It’s not why I do what I do, you know? To sell a bunch of jewelry to some really rich people, you know? I want to do this show and give back, because we’re all fighting for  a couple thousand bucks, and, like, I see people come to work and drop $40,000 on a thing. I’m like, okay, cool, that could have funded a lot of different things!

I’m a hypocrite, because I’m still going there to work every day. I’m taking that money, so  that’s a different struggle that I’m having. That’s what I’m writing about more and more, and that’s kind of where the next record is going. But the song itself, someone just told me, like, ‘Hey, write a song called “Hide and Seek” right now.’ I was on the porch, and I was like, ‘Alright, I’ll give it a shot.’ It was nice, it was a nice little thing. I got to write it.

It was almost finished, but there was no bridge, and my bass player, Matt Raspanti, constantly was like, ‘We can’t play this song until there’s a bridge. We can’t play the song until there’s a bridge.’ So then, my violin player, Victoria, and my backup singers, Corinne, Bree and Adel, wrote the bridge for us. The song came together, and that was a really nice moment for me. It’s the first tune that defines this new moment of the band.I’m really happy with it.

You’ve talked about Asbury and I wanted to get your opinion on the scene as its constructed right now and where’s evolved from when you first started.

It’s given me a sense of purpose. It’s given me an identity that I feel proud of. I love being able to race home and just shut off that work life, and run out to a gig and have meaning. It’s given me meaning. I get to play my music and there’s a couple hundred people in the audience. And close to a hundred, maybe even more of them know the lyrics to my songs. That’s mind-blowing.

It feels like forever and yesterday. I feel like I’m playing my first show with The Burns in town, and now all these years later I’m just grateful for it, and I want it to continue. I want the younger kids … maybe they’ll never get to tour, or never get to do the things that they really want to do, but at least in this small little two-mile area, you get to live it up. You get to play the Asbury Lanes, or Low Dive, the Asbury Hotel. The fact that we have 10 to 20 different places to play music in this small little town, it’s awesome.

I know a lot of people feel like, ‘Oh, I’m trapped here,’ ‘I can never get out.’ Maybe you can’t get out, and that’s all that you had, but at least we’ve had this. I haven’t really been able to get out. I would love to tour and travel and play my music at a whole bunch of different places, but at least I’ve been given a chance to have my fantasies play out. There’s a town where I can walk down the street, and someone just starts yelling my lyrics at me. My own lyrics! It makes me feel like it was worth all the time, and it makes me still want to create.

The theme of the festival is What a Wonderful Year, so tell me about 2025.

We released the song, we produced this game show and we tied it into the reality TV show. We also were in the studio a bunch this year, so we have our next album coming out. We laid a lot of groundwork for it. I have some new players. The DNA of the band has morphed, and I found 13 people to really care about the project, and do the songwriting with me, and help pick the set list out, and build out the EPKs. It’s really cool, because for a long time, it was like this mismatch of whoever shows up. We’ve leaned into ‘This is us now.’ And it’s really cool to see. I’m blessed as hell, man. I love it. But I’ll go with “Hide and Seek,” the song and the game that we built.

Finally, a lot of new faces on the show this year. Who should we be on the lookout for at this show and heading into next year?

Des and the Swagmatics. Des and the Swagmatics. Des and the Swagmatics. Des and the Swagmatics. Des and the Swagmatics. Des and the Swagmatics. Des and the Swagmatics. Des and the Swagmatics.

Alexander Simone as well, he’s been releasing a lot in general. Alex has been putting out great music. He has a Christmas song coming out with Pom. Pom himself has been putting out music for the first time this year. He’s stepped in front of the camera for a little bit, which is awesome.

With a cowbell.

…with the cowbell. Pom is also a Grammy Award-winning engineer. He’s done so much, man, and I tell him all the time, like, the cowbell is what the cowbell is, but maybe lean into the other things a little bit more. He just runs around town with that thing.

Also, I think Malibu is gonna put out music again soon which is awesome. We love Malibu. This is their return year.

Catch Third from the Sun at Telegraph Hill Records’ “What a Wonderful Year” Music Festival, Saturday, December 27th.  Tickets are on sale now.