Six of Spades is a group of five H-F High School juniors who sing and play guitar, bass, flute, keyboard, ukulele, various percussions and other instruments. After singing together in the H-F Choir, in early 2022, Six of Spades members realized how much they enjoyed it and wanted to take their music outside of school.
Members said they’re excited to perform for the Trail Mix Concert Series show on Friday, May 12. Six of Spades recently added to their Instagram bio the link to where you can buy Trail Mix tickets. While Six of Spades has performed live shows before, this will be their first time opening for a non-local artist.
Ave Van Til, Kendall Laven, Ruby Moxley, Kelly Parker and Jazmin Rhodes make up Six of Spades. The band originally had six members – hence the band’s name. One of the original members moved to Michigan, but Six of Spades members said they kept the name because it felt right.
“I think it’s safe to say that, along with a bunch of other students in the H-F Choir, we’re kind of leaders in the choir community. Everybody in choir knows that we do Six of Spades and they’re really supportive about it,” Rhodes said.
A performance from Six of Spades includes singing from all five members and often the changing of instruments in between songs.
“We kind of play with it. We don’t really have an established person for each instrument,” Moxley said.
Members said that when they perform, they vibe off each other’s energies. Six of Spades members laughed, smiled and pointed at each other as they talked about the good times they’ve had singing, rehearsing and performing together.
“We really want to create the best art that we can create, and we work really hard for that. But that would not work without us being able to have fun together, being really comfortable with each other and genuinely enjoying what we do and rehearsals,” Van Til said.
While Six of Spaces only performs cover songs for now, the members said they plan on writing songs of their own in the future. Six of Spades original songs will have the same vibe as what they’re currently covering.
The songs covered by Six of Spades are selected as a group. Members said they particularly enjoyed covering songs from indie rock musician Phoebe Bridgers and her all-girl band Boygenius. Six of Spades also covers songs from Taylor Swift, Joseph, U2 and others.
“We choose songs that we all relate to and all like before we try to learn it, because part of being able to perform it well is having a connection to it – so then the audience can also feel that connection,” Parker said.
Music is cathartic. It helps them cope with teen angst and other emotions, members said.
“My mother loves to say, ‘Kelly, why can’t you guys ever sing a happy song?’ And it’s not that we’re unhappy. It’s just that we’re teenagers,” Parker said. “If we got on stage and performed happy-go-lucky songs all the time, we wouldn’t be giving you an authentic representation of how we’re feeling.”
“[Music] is something that we love to do because it’s not only therapeutic, but it allows for emotions to come out that sometimes wouldn’t. It allows for a release,” Laven said.