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First and Forever finds success being themselves

Watercolor show to open at Civic Center Library

BY ALEX GALLAGHER Progress Staff Writer

Alex Ryan felt nervous to admit that he enjoyed the sounds of the altrock subgenre known as “emo” music when he was growing up.

As kids he grew up with talked about becoming firefighters and other careers they wanted to pursue, Ryan couldn’t shake the desire to grab a mic and belt out lyrics like his idols did.

“I never really told anyone that I was into emo music,” he said. “As I got older, I realized that this was such a big part of my life, and I was tired of hiding it.”

After landing a career in construction management that moved him from Chicago to Scottsdale in 2016, Ryan grew tired of hiding his voice from the world.Nearly two years after moving to Scottsdale, he decided to pursue his childhood dream of becoming a rockstar.

“I came down here for business reasons and then woke up one day and decided I wanted to start a band,” he said. Ryan went on Craigslist and found David Pratt, a drummer, and Marcus Leopard, a guitarist, to round out the band.

The band mainly jammed covers for a few months and wrote a few original songs, but it didn’t feel serious at that time.

After a few months, Ryan had to move back to Chicago for his job and had to put his dream of music fame on hold.

Though thousands of miles away from his bandmates, Ryan knew there was something special about his band back in Scottsdale.

“Before we had ever released a single, I had to move to Chicago – which essentially killed the band,” he said. “One day, I was sitting at my desk and I thought about how much I missed the band. So, I called the guys and asked if they would be willing to record one of the four songs we had written.”

The result was a tune titled “Chicago” and it took off faster than the band could have predicted.

When a brief lyric video for the poppunk track was first uploaded to Ryan’s personal Instagram in November 2018, he had no idea what was going to follow.

He was quickly bombarded with text messages from his friends and knew he had made the right call to release the song.

“Our goal was to have 1,000 streams on that song, the song now has over 1.3 million streams,” Ryan said. “We have really exceeded our goals.”

The dream began to take greater shape as First and Forever began to get a handful of gigs booked.

First and Forever was riding high after opening for the pop-punk band With Confidence at the Marquee Theatre in December 2019 and had hopes to tour the following year.

We all know what happened next.

As venues closed doors and musicians hunkered down in their residences,

So, First and Forever had an idea.

Alex Ryan, David Pratt and Marcus Leopard comprise First and Forever. (Special to the Progress)

seeEMO page 31

PROGRESS NEWS STAFF

Ajuried exhibition from the Arizona Watercolor Association begins a three-month run Monday, Oct. 4, at Scottsdale Civic Center Library.

The exhibition, which runs through the end of the year, 43 paintings chosen by juror David R. Smith from among more than 150 submissions.

Smith is a Michigan-based, internationally known and award-winning watercolor artist and instructor. He’s a member of both the American Watercolor Society and the National Watercolor Society.

Marion Droge, juror workshop chair for the association, said Smith carefully selected quality and talented works.

“Being part of this show is a tribute to members whose work was accepted,” said Droge, a Phoenix artist whose painting “All in the Same Boat” is on exhibit. “The community has the opportunity to see a wide variety of watermedia from many talented artists of Arizona.”

The AWA was founded in 1960 by professional watercolor artists and instructors to advance the art of painting in

On display during the Arizona Watercolor Association exhibition are, from left, “Anticipation” by Andrea Merican and “Rush Hour” by Glenda Folk, both Scottsdale artists, as well as “Emille” by Annette Smith of Mesa and “Himalayan Hiker” by Ar-

SCOTTSDALE PROGRESS | WWW.SCOTTSDALE.ORG | OCTOBER 3, 2021 31 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Need a classy home accent? Arts auction has it

PROGRESS NEWS STAFF

The Sonoran Arts League has slated a fundraising auction that might give some people a classy accent to their home.

The free-admission fundraiser auction – 5-8 p.m. Oct 23 at the league’s gallery at 7100 E. Cave Creek Road in Stagecoach Village – will offer at least 25 works of artists who rose to the challenge to “Re-Imagine, Re-Purpose, and Re-Create” household furnishings – including but not limited to chairs, tables and dressers into functional items for the home or garden. Themes run a range of styles, including country chic, glam, Hollywood noir, Americana and more.

Proceeds will help the Sonoran Arts League’s mission of supporting art, artists, and art education.

Three chairs were donated by area businesses: The Grotto, Local Johnny’s and Big Earl’s. A few League board member/ artists who are participating include Joanie Wolter, Jane Boggs, Pat Isaacson and Sarah Byrne.

All items will be available for viewing at the Arts League Gallery on Oct. 6 with an online auctioncharityauctionstoday.com/auctions/ sonoran-arts-leaguechair-ity-auction-24927 running from 8 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 9 through 7 p.m. Oct. 23. At that time, bidding will begin on a live auction of select pieces at the Arts League Gallery.

Food and beverages will be provided from 4:30 to 8 p.m., with catering by Cave Creek resident Laurie Thrasher of Can Do Staffing.

Wine, beer, vodka and

Artist amd Sonoran Arts League board member Joanie Wolter created this

chair. (Special to the progress) juices will be available for purchase and some wine was donated by Arts League member Shannon Taggart from her family’s winery King Estate. Special gift certificates for the auction have been donated by Whole Health Everyday, Tonto Bar & Grill, El Encanto, Blu Burger, Wines for Humanity, Phoenix Art Museum and Desert Foothills Library.

Rebecca Clubb, owner of Whole Health Everyday, is also an acrylic and oil painter, and is giving two gift certificates from her company.

To learn more about the Sonoran Arts League visit www.sonoranartsleague. org, email info@sonoranartsleague.org or call 480-575-6624.

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With the explosion of the social media site TikTok in early 2020, the band started making videos that displayed their goofy personalities and offered fans transparency into who the band members are.

“My social media presence is me going on there and acting like an idiot,” Ryan said with a laugh. “I like to go on there and have fun with it and I don’t take myself too seriously.”

“I’ll spend like four hours on a TikTok and it will only get 2,000 views or I’ll make something up in 30 seconds and it will get like 500,000 views,” he said.

The band’s presence on social media garnered enough attention to be spotted by Adventure Cat Records, which signed it to a record deal.

“They found us right before we put out the last record and they have been phenomenal partners,” Ryan said.

“Every time we do something is always the first step for me,” he said. “The label has been very helpful in guiding us through the music industry.”

Ryan said Adventure Cat Records has helped him tremendously with the business side of the music industry, but even with the help of experienced musicians, it can be hard to predict when a song will be a hit — much like with the content he makes for social media.

“On our last record, we were convinced that the song ‘One More Time’ was going to be the song that people loved and we were supposed to make a video for,” said Ryan. “The song has done quite well but the last song we put out with the record, called ‘Let This Love Lie Dead,’ turned out to be a hit and we had no idea that was going to happen.”

“Let This Love Lie Dead” was released on March 12 and gave fans five songs. Unfortunately, the songs have not been played live until Oct. 2 when the band opened at Riot Night at Rockbar, Inc.

With one performance in the books, First and Forever is eager to get its sound to more stages across the world.

“We just want to get in people’s ears by releasing music and putting out things that boost our content,” Ryan said.

First and Forever plans to do so with the release of a new single titled “Sick Little Games” on Oct. 8 and by playing a show later this month.

WATER ���� page 30

water-soluble media and promote public awareness and interest through education and exhibitions.

The group meets for demonstrations, critiques and networking on the second Thursday of each month from September to November and January to June.

Wendy Raisanen, curator of collections and exhibitions for Scottsdale Public Art, said she is excited to exhibit their members’ work. “This is Scottsdale Public Art’s first time partnering with the AWA, and I’m thrilled to show the gorgeous work from artists across the state,” Raisanen said. “Watercolors are easy to start with, as most schoolkids know, but difficult to master.

Betsy Aguirre, the AWA exhibition chair, coordinated the show with Raisanen. Droge called Aguirre’s work on the exhibition “invaluable.”

In addition to the exhibition itself, there are a few events associated with the show, including an opening reception 10 a.m. to noon Oct. 15 at the gallery inside Scottsdale Civic Center Library, 3839 N. Drinkwater Blvd.

Information: ScottsdalePublicArt. org/exhibitions, AZWatercolor.com.

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