![Welcome to Denver’s Hottest New Collective, Maybe Forever [INTERVIEW]](https://theelectrichawk.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/maybe-forever-banner.jpg)
As we ring in the New Year, Electric Hawk is soaring through the different scenes in our communities as our hawk eye catches the attention of the emerging group Maybe Forever in Denver, Colorado. We were given the opportunity to talk to some of the showrunners of the hottest group to take over the after-hour scene. Maybe Forever gives us a look into their past and how they operate as their huge community grows and builds together. Take a look at the exclusive interview with Maybe Forever below!
seradopa: Well, it’s lovely to meet everyone this evening; let’s start by introducing yourselves and your title with Maybe Forever!
Jordan: Hello, the best way I can describe what I do for Maybe Forever is a talent buyer and creative director.
Kevin: I have a little picking of talent buying. Mostly, I like to do the production side of things, running the show and locations and finding these weird ass venues.
Julia: My title will be the glue, I have to say. I am here to fill in whatever is needed, directing people where they need to be.
Jordan: She does a ton of the artist’s relation stuff because sometimes, when we are running the show, it’s hard. And at first, we tried to do it all ourselves, but we were like, no, we need the homies to help us out. So that’s what helped us grow the most this year.
seradopa: Hell yeah! Well, for being the hottest emerging group popping off in Denver, if you didn’t know that! So I’m curious about Maybe Forever’s origin story!
Kevin: I will let Jordan tell this story since he started it.
Jordan: Maybe Forever was an accident.
[Laughs]
Jordan: It came from the pandemic and caused all of this to happen. Basically, in June last year, everything in Colorado was opening back up. We were like, “Well, what are we going to do since it’s been a year since we could do anything?” And I told [Kevin] I wanted to do something for my birthday. So let’s support the clubs reopening and buy a table at Temple Nightclub.
seradopa: Baller!
Jordan: And he said no.
[Laughs]
Kevin: I was like, “Why would we buy a table when we could get a warehouse and hang out with more friends?”
Jordan: [Kevin] was like, “Let’s throw a party,” and I was like do you think we can do it? After a few hours and phone calls, he called a warehouse, and I texted our good friend Barnacle Boi who was living in Fort Collins at the time. He replied to me and said, “Yeah.”
Kevin: A random birthday party!
seradopa: A random birthday party! [Laughs]
Jordan: Then that turned into us doing four shows that summer.
Kevin: I would say we got addicted to it.
Jordan: Basically, the first one went down, and if Barnacle Boi couldn’t play, he contacted DJ Swisha from New York: “Hey, do you want to come down to Colorado and play?” And he was down, so it turned into Barnacle Boi and then Swisha two weeks later. [Laughs]
Then, Kevin asked one of our friends who’s close to Jacque Greene. They basically asked him if he would stay two days after his Red Rocks show with Bonobo to play a warehouse party.
Kevin: He is one of my favorite artists! [Laughs] I couldn’t not ask him. What’s the worst-case scenario?!
Jordan: Then I got a call from him at 3 a.m., and [Kevin] was like, “They want to do it!” I said, “I guess we are doing this!”
Kevin: But this time, for real!
seradopa: Well, this leads to the next question! What is the lore with the name ‘Maybe Forever?’
Kevin: That also has a long story!
[Laughs]
Kevin: He [Jordan] had a clothing brand called Always he started.
Jordan: It was more than a clothing brand! I almost want to say Always was the original idea for Maybe Forever. We would do clothing, we would do shows, and put out mixes, but it didn’t go anywhere.
Kevin: That’s why we always said Maybe Forever, like, “Did we quit? […] Maybe.”
seradopa: Maybe it’s forever!
Kevin: I used to have this project: Sometimes Never.
Jordan: He named his EP Maybe Forever last year, trying to figure out everything. If we were going to do this thing, we should call it something. And when we were sitting in the car, we thought: “Let’s use the name from his EP. It’s so cool; let’s use it again!”
Kevin: It works!
seradopa: It’s very catchy!
Kevin: It has a very open interpretation of how it can be perceived in many different ways.
seradopa: So I noticed you all have the main mission statement for all your shows. What is the reasoning for keeping your shows safe, especially with everything happening in the scene?
Kevin: We have been doing this for fifteen years as fans, going to shows and seeing how different people run things. If you see something, do something! And be more aware of your surroundings. I have been to certain after-hours where you see certain things that make you uncomfortable, and it’s not even your party. I don’t ever want that feeling at our parties. So I always advocate safety and staying hydrated; be safe, please! Then we can be here all night!
Jordan: Especially in some of the spaces we use. We do a lot of warehouse parties and restaurants. These are unusual spaces. That’s our number one thing; these aren’t traditional venues with protocols and everything. It is up to us to go in and make those rules and decisions. We invite hundreds of people into these spaces, and safety is always our top priority.
Julia: And we make that very apparent to the people that do attend our shows. It makes it easier to keep them safe. You know, we want them to feel like they are in an environment where if they see something, say something. And keeping that in the forefront is really important to keeping everyone safe.
Kevin: Especially during these after-hour events. I know when I was turning 21, I wasn’t always the safest kid out there. So even someone telling me, “Are you good? Have some water,” goes a long way.
seradopa: Recently, I have seen from your shows that Maybe Forever has been bringing many artists for their debut Denver show. Does that make you proud to hear?
Kevin: We like to give these artists opportunities. Every artist we book, most likely, we have listened to them a lot. We are not booking them because they haven’t been here; it’s more like they should be here.
Jordan: It’s almost this mentality: nobody has done it yet, and we love them, and if we don’t do it, someone else will.
seradopa: I agree! It’s really dope because these artists, and traditional venue-wise, might get an opening slot, but for you guys, these artists have a cooler and more memorable experience. And they appreciate it.
Kevin: Now that we have built a decent crowd over the past few years, they’re down to experience anything! It’s like, how about this kind of artist? Oh, hell yeah, they’ll love it!
Jordan: Sometimes it just so happens to turn into that. Especially with the salute event, we had no idea we would be the first. They didn’t tell us that!
Kevin: Yeah, they probably only knew once they got their visa figured out.
seradopa: Was that before or after Second Sky?
Jordan: Before Second Sky, literally the night before.
Kevin: He left the rave in the morning and went straight to the airport!
Julia: It was his first time in the US!
seradopa: It wasn’t just Denver. It was his first show in the US too!
Jordan: Yeah, that was wild! When we got the tour poster sent to us, I remember calling them both and saying, “We were the first show ever!”
[Laughs]
seradopa: Then you had a RamonPang debut in Denver!
Kevin: I actually had the opportunity to open for him in LA for his album release. His music is so good and very inspiring. Plus, we love the work that Brownies & Lemonade does over there. Same with BLAQ VOID.
seradopa: I totally forgot about BLAQ VOID!
Kevin: Yeah, they are killing it out there and doing everything unannounced!
seradopa: Are there any artist debuts you want to bring to Denver for 2023?
Jordan: Denver debut or US debut? [Laughs]
Kevin: I would have to say camoufly.
seradopa: That would be dope!
Jordan: We reached out to camoufly last year and keep asking him if he has his visa yet!
seradopa: I bet his manager will be able to figure that out sometime next year!
Jordan: Another one would be Skeler!
All: SKELER!
[Laughs]
seradopa: As 2022 reaches an end, what were some of your favorite memories from the year?
Kevin: For me, it’s watching the community grow. The first couple of events we did were completely different genres, but now we see familiar faces and crowds as soon as you get there.
Jordan: We had JAWNS. To me, JAWNS is an absolute legend, and he’s been at it for years now, especially when he was Gent & Jawns. So the fact that we had the opportunity to host him, I was fanboying the entire time internally!
seradopa: Did you cry?
Kevin: Did a tear come out? [Laughs]
Jordan: I’ll say this. I did fanboy a little bit. He was the first person I heard play Turnstile, and I was like, what is this? So I looked it up, went to one of their shows in Denver, and became a fan. I wore the Turnstile t-shirt when we had him out here with Nitepunk. I stopped him at one point, saying, “Yo man, I’m going to be that guy right now. You played Turnstile and talked about Turnstile all night on Twitter and made me a fan. Please play some!”
seradopa: Did he?
Jordan: Honestly, I don’t remember! [Laughs]
Julia: For me, the same as Kevin; watching the crowd not only grow but also return is really cool. There were moments at certain shows that will live in my head forever. Like when we threw that show after Global Dance Festival, with Barnacle Boi, sumthin sumthin, Jon Casey, and everyone was just incredible. The energy of the shows this year has collectively inspired me.
seradopa: I’m curious now since you are getting returning faces. Are you the known face?
Kevin: We try not to do that!
seradopa: Alright, I was checking your brand and didn’t see many faces.
Kevin: Maybe Forever is the brand.
seradopa: So are you just walking around the crowd and saying, “What’s up?”
Kevin: Or I give them a sticker, and that’s it! [Laughs] We have a whole crew behind us, and also, other than our team, we have many good friends who help us out. We show up at the venue with like 15 to 20 of us to volunteer. Otherwise, none of this stuff we do would be able to happen. Even our sound system, which is the DEMDEYA sound system. It’s a lot of love into it, and we have had them every time since the first party. Since it’s old-school dub style, it’s got that warm sound. We don’t want everyone to be like, “Oh, we got these Funktion ones and lasers,” cause that’s not what the party is all about.
seradopa: The music, the vibes, the people! Just come by!
Kevin: Exactly! Recently we’ve had our friend doing our tv installations. It’s been nuts and cool to see how we are all becoming a good family.
seradopa: It’s honestly cool to hear, to keep it faceless. We’re just doing our thing, so come vibe with us! We love this music, and it seems like you do too!
seradopa: Alright, is there any deep dark secret on how you get these venues or keep them sealed?
Kevin: There is no deep dark secret. I have probably been told no a lot when finding these venues. There is always going to be that one person that is down. Just call them. Be bold and call them.
seradopa: You are basically not scared to be rejected.
Kevin: Yeah, like tomorrow, I am checking another spot!
[Laughs]
seradopa: For Maybe Forever, can you go more depth about your art direction?
Jordan: We aren’t going for a whole social rebrand. But we thought it would be cool for some friends and artists we like to design the poster. So they will have complete creative control. The only requirement is the information on the poster, obviously. And I want them to do their own thing and create something in their style.
Kevin: We will hire the designer to match the artists or sounds we bring to the event. Like how an artist has a particular aesthetic and style.
seradopa: It definitely shows that you care about the artist and their vision, unlike a typical club admittedly.
Kevin: That all look the same!
Jordan: Yeah, we tried to move away with our posters this year. Like in June with EASTGHOST, we were going to this darker tone and choice to do a poster with this dust texture. That was totally the perfect vibe for EASTGHOST! Then for July, during Global Dance, we have free range since we aren’t allowed to name who is playing. So we were like, let’s make a cool poster!
Kevin: That one had a lot of graffiti! At our shows, we have a board that encourages people to tag it. [Laughs] We don’t even tell them to do it, I feel like if we tell them to do it, it will just be random, but when a tagger sees it, they tag it.
Jordan: And for the Hellbound! and Revel, that one turned out pretty cool. We actually worked together with their art director. We just bounced around ideas until we were both happy with something. One of the things they stressed was that it had to be a takeover. We did not hire a photographer that night, but their photographer came, as they asked.
Jordan: So when we started introducing the TVs into the party, the visuals also needed to fit the vibe. So for salute, we looked up all these old-school, European, and Japanese car commercials from the 80s.
Kevin: We ripped them from YouTube, and they’re already lo-fi on the TVs!
Jordan: And then I went through them and edited, so it was mainly just cars driving around with the occasional text appearing, so you notice it’s also a car commercial.
Kevin: And it was also around Halloween weekend!
Jordan: That’s right! So we mixed in horror movie trailers along with the commercials as well!
seradopa: Damn, it sounds like you put a lot of thought into the graphics and art for each artist you book!
Jordan: Yeah! I ask every artist if there is anything specific they want to be played before them or how the visuals and posters look. For example, capshun and their team were mainly trying to focus on these Roman statues. Then they sent me all these AI art videos of these crazy visuals of statues melting into each other.
Kevin: Yeah, they were crazy!
Jordan: Then we were like, “How can we expand on this Roman idea and how the poster will be?” The poster ended up being a collage of the artwork he sent us and other Roman statues mixed inside. And then, we ran it through this gradient processor through Photoshop that I found. From there, I built the poster on my phone and ran it through another filter.
seradopa: That would stress me out as a graphic designer!
Kevin: You want to know something crazy?
Jordan: All the posters and videos are made off my phone.
Kevin: He uses Photoshop for something small and sends it back to his phone.
[Laughs]
Jordan: That’s one cool thing about working on my phone. If we have to fix one thing from the poster, it can be fixed within minutes. It’s wild! I can’t believe that all our art comes from a cell phone. It’s a process.
seradopa: Again, everyone has their process, and if it works, it works. As a graphic designer, I didn’t notice, so you did great!
Kevin: See, no one knew!
Jordan: Yeah, whenever I tell someone I make everything off a phone, they are basically like, “what?”
seradopa: So basically, you are saying, “Anyone can cook!”
Jordan: I mean, I wouldn’t say that!
[Laughs]
seradopa: What are your goals for 2023 with Maybe Forever?
Jordan: I just talked a lot. [Laughs] One of you go first!
Julia: My goals for 2023 are I would like to add more art installations to make it more of an immersive experience. Even more special than it already is!
Kevin: I want to book my first rap show! I have been trying to convince them to do it! There is a specific artist I want to book, but I don’t want to jinx it!
Jordan: Main goal for 2023, we get asked a lot about 18+ events; it’s a very dicey situation. How could we bring the Maybe Forever experience to an 18+ crowd? It’ll be challenging, but I think we figured out a way to achieve it. Some people may like it, and some may not, but it’s all about trying it out!
seradopa: Lastly, any final thoughts you want the world to know about Maybe Forever?
Kevin: Come through!
[Laughs]
seradopa: Just come through! [Laughs]
Kevin: It’s much more than us three, and I want to emphasize that!
Julia: None of this would be possible without the people who always attend our events.
Jordan: If I’ve learned anything from this year and the growth we had with Maybe Forever, it’s like an “It takes a village” mentality. Some people may say they can do this all by themselves.
Kevin: You can. You will just hate it. [Laughs]
Jordan: I’m very grateful for Maybe Forever and the amazing team. I don’t know how we could’ve done this without the help and everyone that was a part of it. Promoting, playing, and random friends who went in the middle of the show to go to the only open Walmart for the one thing we missed in a rider. Big shoutout. Every little thing in this community, I couldn’t stress enough – thank you!
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