First and Forever is a pop-punk band that has been making waves over on pop-punk twitter for the past year, and as a band that started as a craigslist ad and a dream, has continued to make strides. Last month I was able to talk to Alex Ryan, lead singer of First and Forever, about their upcoming unnamed EP, the community that comes from music, and what he hopes the future brings for First and Forever.
How did First and Forever get it’s start? What made your band decide to go in the direction you have?
The band started on craigslist if you can believe that! Basically, I have always wanted to be in a band and I was too afraid to actually do it so I just went on craigslist. I was like I’m going to do it; I have some time; I’m going to start a band. So, I went online and I sent one email, it was to David [Pratt], who’s our drummer. [Him and I] worked together for three months, until we came across Marcus [Leopard]. We put up a cover online of “I’m Not Okay” [by My Chemical Romance] to find bandmates, I think we got twenty or thirty responses, but Marcus was easily the best!
In purpose of direction and how we ended up going the pop-punk and emo route. Honestly, these two guys are the only friends I’ve had in my whole life who have been into the same music as me. My whole life I’ve always gone to shows by myself all the time, I was the kid standing in the back listening to My Chemical Romance, that was always me. It was really cool to have these friends who are into the same music as I was, so when I found them it just so happened that those two friends were really skilled at guitar and drums, so it worked out really well.
That’s really cool! I can definitely relate to the standing in the back of a show and trying to find others in the same scene.
Yeah exactly! I think that the other really cool part about this is that I really- through Twitter and social media – I’ve found a community for myself. I think that’s the most beautiful part of this whole experience – that I finally feel at home. I’m with like-minded individuals and I’m really happy for us. I’ve found people who I care about and who care about me.
Your band’s connection to its fanbase on twitter, and just across the board online, is amazing and genuine! How did your band manage to achieve such a tight-knit – and positive- community, something that occurs in few fanbases?
I think this touches on a really big point for me. We never really set out to do any of that. And I think that’s part of the reason it stuck so much. Really, I tried to go on twitter and try to meet people that were like-minded as me. With every interaction I had it was a really genuine interaction with going out and meeting someone and learning about them, and them about me. I’ve always felt like it’s really lame how a band and their fan interactions feel one-sided. The fans love the band, and the band gives back but it’s not in a very genuine way. I feel like with our group; they’re giving to me and I giving back to them. We’re both rooting for each other and we’re both growing.
I don’t think it serves any purpose to pretend to be something you’re not and I also think people can see through that. I think people can tell I you’re not being yourself.
I don’t think it serves any purpose to pretend to be something you’re not and I also think people can see through that. I think people can tell I you’re not being yourself.
You can definitely tell the cookie-cutter responses and interactions from the genuine ones!
Yeah! It feels fake, it doesn’t feel like a real interaction. It feels like you’re interacting with a robot or something, it’s not real. I think the beauty of our band is everything we try to do is one hundred percent us – always. Like “this is who we are – and we hope you like us – but if you don’t like us that’s okay!” You can go anywhere else in the world, there’s like a ton of areas where you can hang out and make friends. We just want to make friends with people who want to make friends with us.
I actually discovered your band through an interview with Innovators of Pop Rock Society and in that interview, you mentioned how you wanted to build a community of friendship as opposed to rivalry.
Yeah! That’s exactly right and nothing has changed. There’s been no change in how we think about it, that’s what it’s always going to be. That’s how the band is made, that’s how our friends are. I just want everybody in the community to be a part of it. It’s not mine, the band is not mine, it’s everyone else’s. I’m just the lead singer of it.
Your band has seemed to have a quick rise to popularity, at least online, with your single “Chicago” going viral (and getting airplay in not one but two states (Arizona (ALT AZ 93.3) and Illinois (101 WKQX)), and gaining traction online. How has it been behind the scenes though?
It’s so funny because we never set out for any of that. It was all just for fun, me and my friends wanted to make a song that we hadn’t heard before. We wanted to make music that we listened to. We’re huge fans of the mid-2000’s pop-punk scene you don’t really hear that type of music coming out anymore. When we put out the song [“Chicago”] we really had no idea. This was my first band ever. I have never been in a band before, I had never been a lead singer before, I’ve never written a song before, I’ve never done anything like it.
So, when we had some success – and very small success in the grand scheme of things – it was so flattering and unexpected. It was really cool to put your heart and soul into something and then other people feel that same way about it and want to share it. So, with the question is “Has anything changed with the band” I would say the answer’s no, I would say the success of the band has allowed us to do though, is lead us to more. When we put out “Chicago” we never thought we’d record another song – we thought that was it. We really were just doing it for fun, so with the success of, it’s like wait – “If we could do this one, maybe we could do this twice.” So, we wrote “A Violet Ending” and “Nothing Left to Burn” and that’s okay, “we’ll maybe we can do this another time” so then we did [our song] “Hold Me Down.”
That has led to really incredible opportunities, that if you had told me when I was nine years old, I would have told you “no way!” If you had told me last year, when we put out “Chicago”, that a year from now I would be in the studio in Hollywood, for two weeks, recording a five song EP I would’ve thought you were crazy. Nothing has changed with the band, we’re still the same people, but it’s just the success that we’ve had so far has really opened doors for us.
You all had your first show this past summer in Arizona, congrats! From Twitter and Instagram, it looked like it went amazingly! Are there any plans to tour some more in the immediate future or maybe in the new year?
We’d love to tour, and when the right opportunity comes, we’re certainly going to do it. I think there’s value in waiting until the right time and not putting yourself out there and touring if you’re not quite ready as a band. We want to do the right thing. One thing about our band that I really cherish is that we don’t make decisions on next steps, just to make decisions. We don’t feel like we need to put out a song just to put out a song. We always wait until the exact right time, when were ready, when its necessary, when the timing is right and when it feels right. We would love to tour – I will absolutely put that out there – we’re just waiting for the right time and opportunity.
That’s a pretty wise decision. I think it’s a cool decision, and definitley a refreshing one to hear from a newer band. You tend to hear that from more established bands.
We want to be the best band that we can be and the bands that we really idolize – and are fans of – are the bands that do that. They make good decisions all the time and I think that it’s important to always be cautious of the decisions you’re making; what you’re putting out there and the content you are creating. That’s the same reason why we haven’t put out a music video, I don’t know if you noticed that, but we don’t have a real music video – with us in it. Real as in traditional! We have that amazing fan video for [our song] “Chicago”, but I’m talking about a classic, or in studio, music video. And the reason we haven’t done that, is because we don’t think that we could put out a quality product by ourselves. We’re waiting to find the opportunity and the team to help us put together what we think is the content that everyone deserves.
How was recording your first EP? Was it everything you expected?
It was the most incredible two weeks of my life. When I look back on this which I’m seventy, I’m not going to think about the streams. It’ll be about how awesome it was with my two best friends being in Hollywood with the coolest producer in the world who’s done huge records, and we were not worthy of being there, ya know? We were so happy and excited and just the fact that we even got this opportunity, we’re so humbled and flattered. It was the most beautiful, wonderful, and incredibly challenging thing that I’ve ever been a part of.
It went so well, we learned so much, and we all became better musicians. We had trails and errors, we rewrote songs that we thought were perfect, we wrote a brand-new song from scratch – that I honestly think are the best song that we’ve ever written by far. We wrote that while we were [in the studio]. Everything that happened fell perfectly into place. It was not the easiest thing I’ve ever done – it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done – but I have just felt since I’ve got back, so accomplished. It was a good experience and I am in like a high right now. We’re so proud of and we can’t wait to share with our friends.
Creating something and making it better when it comes out than when you went in is always pretty cool. I’m glad you all got to experience that!
You really find happiness when you’re truly invested in something, like when you truly believe it. Like when you believe you are there for a reason and you’re fully focused and you end up giving it all that you have.
You really find happiness when you’re truly invested in something, like when you truly believe it. Like when you believe you are there for a reason and you’re fully focused and you end up giving it all that you have. That’s when you really find happiness when you’re in those moments.
Will the sound of the EP be different from the singles you have released?
No, we wrote five brand new songs. So, we have more than doubled our total output of songs that we currently have out. By the time this [EP] drops we’ll have nine songs to our full catalog.
Will any of the already released songs be featured on the EP?
This EP sounds nothing, literally nothing, like everything we’ve done before. I love all of our songs that we have out currently, but I honestly feel like everything we’ve done in [the studio] is sort of above and beyond our old songs. With the first few songs I see a band trying to find itself, trying to figure out what kind of sound they wanted to go for, and I feel like this is the next step in our evolution of finding our sound.
I think you’ll really hear that on the record. We have one really pop-punk song, and really the rest of them don’t sound pop-punk at all. I’m not going to give too much away on it but, I think this is going to be a band that has grown up and matured and really has come into its own sound. I can honestly say that I don’t think our new sound sounds like really anything in the scene right now. I think people are really going to appreciate that. We’re so excited to share it.
That’s rad! I know, personally, I am very excited to hear it! Is there a name decided on the EP that you can announce publicly?
We do not have a name yet! We’re waiting to get all the final mixes back before we decide on that.
When can we expect the EP to be released?
I don’t know the exact date; there’s a lot of things that have to be in place first. But I would definitely say late winter or early spring 2020.
I’ve been asking almost everyone I’ve talked to this: Pineapple on pizza?
I’m going to be honest, I think that people who put pineapple on their pizza, should be locked up. There are some underlying issues with them that I think should be monitored, because that is a crazy decision! Crazy! I would never do something like that and I worry about those who do that.
Baby Yoda or OG Yoda?
I’m never going to turn my back on the old Yoda because he has given me some real wisdom that I have used throughout my life. But I’m going to be honest, I am a fucking sucker for cute cuddly looking things, so I’m going new Yoda all the way. That motherfucker when he looks up at me, my heart melts for him, I would do anything for him. He could ask me to do anything and I would do it no matter what, just ask.
You would eat pineapple on pizza?
I would absolutely put pineapple on pizza if Baby Yoda told me. I believe that he would never lead me astray, this might backfire on me but I’m going to give it a shot anyways.
What is your dream lineup?
It would be as follows; First and Forever opening, on the main stage, followed by The Used; followed by Taking Back Sunday; with the headliner being the newly together My Chemical Romance. That would be my dream, dream main stage festival lineup.
What do you hope your band brings to the music scene of today or more importantly to the people in that music scene?
What I hope our new music brings to our scene is something new and refreshing that touches on the older days of the scene, but with a new flavor and new sound. I hope it’s something people relate to because we touched on really heavy subjects, and we really put our heart and soul into it. The best thing that could possibly happen would be the songs gaining traction and with the band gaining traction we’re able to help other artists throughout our community gain traction and grow. My whole goal for this is as we grow our community grows!