Five questions with Thriving Ivory

by Nikki M. Mascali
Weekender Editor

By now, you’ve probably heard Thriving Ivory’s hit “Angels on the Moon.” The pretty, piano-laden song, from the band’s self-titled debut on Wind-up Records, has been receiving tons of airplay nationwide, and locally. In fact, the VH1 “You Oughta Know” artist was front and center Wednesday morning at 98.5 KRZ’s Spotlight Lounge before its show that night at Tink’s in Scranton.

While 8 a.m. was a little early for the quintet — made up of pianist/keyboardist Scott Jason, singer Clayton Stroope, guitarist Drew Cribley, bassist Bret Cohune and drummer Paul Niedermier — it wasn’t too early for it to play some music. The 40 fans who won seats in the Spotlight Lounge were treated to “Twilight,” “Hey Lady” and “Angels on the Moon” before a meet-and-greet session. (One lucky fan was even able to score Stroope’s empty water bottle to try and peddle on eBay.)

Before the band got started, Niedermier took a few minutes to answer the Weekender’s burning questions.

Is this really early for you guys?

We’re getting used to this — we’ve been doing this for quite a few months now, so we’re kind of adjusting to it and learning to run on 2-3 hours of sleep. We got six last night, which was, no lie, the longest we’ve had in a week and a half.

How do you pass the time when you’re all crammed in your fan traveling show to show?

We each do 200-mile shifts, and then you rotate and have co-captain. When the tour started out, we all had our DVDs and laptops to play video games or just poke each other, but now, pretty much if you’re not driving, you’re sleeping.

What’s the benefit of doing these small shows for fans?

These are really cool, especially when we’re doing a radio show in a city where we’re playing that night. It’s really loud and chaotic at the shows; in the morning, it’s nice to be able to talk to people one-on-one.

Have you heard of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area before?

Only through “The Office,” we’re big fans. But we’ve been told there really is no Dunder Mifflin, and we were kind of looking forward to seeing that.

Will you be able to bum around before your show tonight?

Each city’s different, but we’re pretty busy here today. We have another interview and an in-store performance in a mall this afternoon, then go straight to the venue, play the show, load out and have a nice, long sweaty drive to Philadelphia tonight. w