EVERETT — Steven Graham and Ryan Crowther recently talked about their dreams for the local music scene in Graham’s cramped downtown office along Hewitt Avenue.
Over their shoulders, just outside the window, signs of Everett’s growth were on display. On the street, construction workers lugged sheets of plywood, cranes lifted materials to the heavens, dozens of hammers banged, all on projects that will, when finished, mean increased population density in the downtown area.
The new condominiums, apartments and hotels will house, in the two men’s minds, future musicians and concertgoers, people who will add to the growing music community of downtown Everett.
“The county plans on 60,000 people to move into the county by 2020. That’s an incredible amount of growth,” Crowther said. “What we’re trying to do is create healthy nightlife and culture opportunities. If they’re not there it’s going to be hard for people to buy into downtown.”
Sparked by a mutual love for music, Graham and Crowther started the Everett Music Initiative in May 2012 to highlight the independent music scene in Everett. It started with booking and promoting shows for local bands at disparate clubs around the city, and pulling together the occasional outdoor concert.
In the past year they’ve rocketed past even their own expectations. A month after opening their own venue, The Cannery, in April, EMI put on a two-day, 70-act outdoor festival. Last month they got their favorite musician, indie darling Damien Jurado, to play Everett for the first time. It’s been quite a 2014 for the two entrepreneurs.
The Fisherman’s Village Music Festival attracted more than 3,000 fans to four different venues around the city in May. The Cannery, 2820 Oakes Ave., averages close to 150 people for each show.
What they’ve accomplished is hard to quantify with numbers alone. Local musicians and music fans talk about a community galvanized by their efforts.
“They’ve really tapped into the soul of Everett and peeled back these layers and brought them into the light,” said Doug Evans, a drummer for Everett band Preacher’s Wife. “They’re in a privileged position to do that.”
Graham, 27, has a unique love for music and his hometown. The Everett High grad is no stranger to the Seattle music scene but he had been chipping away for years trying to build Everett’s, meeting with the city’s cultural arts committee and trying to drum up support for local bands. So he jumped at the opportunity when Crowther, 30, called him in early 2012 with the idea of putting on a show in Everett. Two months later they put on the first Everett Music Initiative show with a pair of local bands: The Grizzled Mighty and I Will Keep Your Ghost. “These two are a truly volunteer grassroots effort,” said Carol Thomas, the city’s cultural arts manager. “They’re filling a niche that I can’t tap into. It’s a younger demographic and people who are more excited by really new music.”
The city has always had a solid indie music pedigree. Bands, like The Moondoggies and Mary Lambert , start in Everett but often take their talents to bigger cities with more opportunities, such as Seattle, Portland, Oregon, or Vancouver, B.C. Part of EMI’s goal is to stop that trend, and possibly even reverse it.
Brad Heyne, a vocalist and guitarist in Preacher’s Wife, has witnessed a change in people’s attitudes toward Everett. All five members of Preacher’s Wife either live or work in downtown Everett. Heyne is a manager of a coffee shop downtown. Guitarist Tyler Chism works for the city’s tourism arm, Experience Everett.
“As a member of a band it didn’t mean anything to say you were from Everett before,” Heyne said. “Now bands are coming out of the woodwork and they’re like ‘We’re from Everett.’ ”
Hometown pride was on display Wednesday night at EMI’s holiday show. A wide range of local acts took The Cannery stage to play a few festive songs. Preacher’s Wife, a folk quintet, followed the youthful punk trio Hot Donna. The Banner Days, made up of local musicians Bradford Loomis and Beth Whitney, were followed by Bryan Bradley’s one-man act I Will Keep Your Ghost and Jason Webley, who was taking a night off between shows on his current “Margaret” tour.
Beyond being a place for local bands to play and practice — Everett band Fauna Shade uses it regularly — The Cannery is a place to invite bands from Seattle or Portland to play and create a buzz in the local music community. The Cannery averages close to three concerts every month and hopes to increase that to one every weekend.
Last month, Modern Kin, a Portland band fronted by a Snohomish County native, played The Cannery and brought along another band from the Puget Sound area. It was the first time both bands had played Everett, and Graham said it attracted a number of new fans to the venue.
“It’s not just promoting a show but promoting Everett Music Initiative as a brand,” Crowther said. “If we don’t continue growing we’ll just keep seeing the same people at every show and it’ll slowly die.”
The Cannery, which is self-sustaining financially, wasn’t really in the plans for Graham and Crowther. The two work full-time jobs — Graham manages the Downtown Everett Association and Crowther runs his own marketing and public relations firm. They also work a combined 40 hours a week for EMI, booking and promoting bands, selling tickets, staffing and stocking a bar and other jobs that come with running a venue.
“We laugh because we never wanted to own a venue,” Crowther said. The Cannery wouldn’t be possible without a legion of volunteers, who run the bar, sound, lights and security.
For Graham and Crowther, one of most rewarding aspects of their work is helping get new Everett musicians discovered. Part of that is building Everett’s credibility, which they feel has come a long way since the Fisherman’s Village Music Festival. After badgering bookers for years, Graham said they’re now calling EMI, asking if an artist can play.
Artist development also includes giving bands a stage — literally and figuratively — and helping them promote themselves. After seeing an EMI show that Preacher’s Wife played at Kroakers in 2013, one of the bookers for Summer Meltdown contacted the Everett band about playing the summer festival. Fauna Shade, a recent recipient of the Mayor’s Arts Award, was named Best Band from Everett by Seattle Weekly.
“Everett Music Initative has brought attention to music in Everett,” said Morgen Schuler, who writes for Seattle Weekly. “Bands aren’t necessarily inclined to promote their own shows. EMI helps with that.”
Graham and Crowther have big plans in the new year. In April, they plan to partner with Everett’s Bargain CDs, Records and Tapes on National Record Store Day for a joint concert and sale. They also plan to increase the Fisherman’s Village Music Festival to a three-day affair with more than 80 bands and at least 5,000 concertgoers.
“I think when you ask people where they want to live they want certain things,” Thomas said. “Music is the most popular cultural activity there is. Everyone can relate to music. It gathers people together for an experience. As a society we are turning away from gathering together so this can be very powerful.”
Aaron Swaney: 425- 339-3430; aswaney@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @swaney_aaron79.
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