The Ups and Downs of Thriving Ivory

(bum) - The pop rock fivesome, Thriving Ivory, has spent recent months giving a slew of shows. The American group behind the song Angels on the Moon is still surprised to find that fans travel all across America just to see them perform on stage. Their music candidly incorporates their life experiences that the public can relate to. This is an interview with singer Clayton Stroope, who spoke to us about the band’s pleasant, bizarre and distressing experiences.

Sometimes, we can feel melancholy in your music. Do you think the dark side of your personalities reflects in your songs?

Yeah, of course. I think that every part of our personality reflects in our music; the happy part and also the soft, quiet part. They are all the reflection of the emotions we’re feeling while we’re working on those songs. We’re hoping that comes across in the music, and that anyone listening to that song can feel that same emotion.

 

You’ve been touring for a while now. Can you tell us an anecdote?

Just a couple of months ago, we were in Vancouver and our van that we’ve been driving in basically exploded, and our transmission blew up. We had to fly to all our Canadian shows, but other than that, we have a lot of fans that have started flying around the country to come see us play, and that’s always a little strange. A lot of people will show up at shows now with baked things like cakes and cookies and stuff, and wait outside for hours to give us these things that they’ve made. That’s always kind of strange. But our fans are pretty cool; nothing too crazy has happened.

 

Do you guys get used having plenty of girls screaming at you during your shows?

You know, it’s always nice to see that. But I think they really like the music. You know, seeing people at the shows that are excited about the show and about the music really helps us play a better show.
 

I read somewhere that in high school you guys used to write music to get attention from girls. Has this ever changed?

More so in college, when we started the band, there were a lot of girls... I don’t know if that’s why we started the band, but it definitely helped. It was a lot of fun. Some of the songs were written about our experiences with girlfriends, past or present. Hey Lady, for example, is one of those songs. When you write a song about a personal experience that you had with a girl or whatever, I think it makes a better song, because you can put more emotion into it.

 

While you’re touring, what are you guys listening to on the road?

We listen to a lot of U2. I’d say, as a band, probably our biggest influence is U2. If Bono called me up on the phone and asked me to do a song with him, I would be there in a second. We listen to a lot of Coldplay also. It depends who’s driving, really. We listen to pretty much everything.

 

You already mentioned that for the past few years, Thriving Ivory’s main worry was getting a record deal, and now that you've got one, it's been replaced by a whole new set of worries and obsessions. What are Thriving Ivory’s obsessions?

Well, after you get a record deal, you start worrying about recording a hit song and when you record a hit song, then you start worrying about how well that song is going to do on the radio, and once that song is doing well on the radio, you’re worrying on how your second song is going to do on the radio! I feel like there’s always a goal and something else to strive for. But that keeps us going, you know, always having a challenge.

 

Has Scott Jason, the group’s songwriter, been writing new lyrics lately?

Yeah, we’re always working on new songs. We want to make sure that by the time our new album comes out, we have plenty of material. We’ve got a bunch of new stuff.

 

In 2008, you released a second version of the eponymous album you had launched in 2003. When will you release your next record, with new material?

If things keep going with this record, then we’ll probably be touring it for a while. It might not be for a year or so.

 

In the beginning, you were having trouble getting along during your concert series. Do you also debate or fight when you’re doing an album or do you let Scott write whatever he wants?

We really don’t fight too much when we record. We kind of developed a process over the years. Everything starts with Scott on the piano, and then we work out the lyrics and the melodies and the arrangements, and then everyone else figures out their own part to the song. This system works really well for us.

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Click here to access the official Thriving Ivory Web site.

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