Photo by David Bergman / www.DavidBergman.netApril 6, 2008Wind Up Records video shootThriving IvoryToronto, ONCanada
With an album and song on the Billboard charts, accolades from VH1 and an ever-expanding fanbase, Thriving Ivory has a lot to celebrate.
But there’s a more mundane goal the rising band hasn’t achieved.
“We don’t have a tour bus yet,” Thriving Ivory pianist/keyboard player Scott Jason said in a recent phone interview. “I really don’t think in the history of musicians there will be a band that appreciates a tour bus more than we do, because we have a stinky 15-passenger van. Before that, we were in a Chevy Tahoe.”
That van will make its way to NEPA on Wednesday, Feb. 25 when the band will headline a show at Tink’s in Scranton. Thriving Ivory is riding high, with its self-titled debut album for Wind-up Records recently hitting the top of Billboard’s Heatseekers chart and the single “Angels on the Moon” in the Top 50 of Billboard’s Pop 100. Thriving Ivory is also a VH1 “You Oughta Know” artist, joining the likes of Adele and Matt Nathanson and following in the footsteps of Feist and Amy Winehouse.
The band’s sound is lush and epic, made unique by the peculiar voice of Clayton Stroope and an instrument that seems to be reasserting itself in rock lately — the piano.
“I think it’s great, and I think we’re fortunate that we’re around when the piano is having a resurgence,” said Jason. “I think it just adds a whole new aspect to rock ’n’ roll. It’s a different type of rock ’n’ roll than just guitar riffs, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s a different sound that I think people have been missing for a long time, which is why it’s doing well.”
The driving, anthemic nature of Thriving Ivory has led to comparisons to bands like U2 and Coldplay. There’s also an atmospheric and widescreen cinematic quality to the music.
“I write all the music on the piano, and I think that might have a part to do with it,” Jason offered. “Film scores and cinematic music is composed for movies to be touching and emotional at certain points in the movie, and I think me and the singer, Clayton, we’re really into movies, and I think that’s the big dramatic moments in our songs, and that’s kind of what we’re going for.”
The music on the album might sound difficult to replicate live, especially in a club setting, but Jason assured that’s not an issue for Thriving Ivory.
“We really put a huge, tremendous effort into our live show and making sure it sounds actually better than the record,” he said. “Fans will say a lot of times, ‘We go to a concert and the live show doesn’t sound anything like the CD.’ We’re fortunate that we get feedback that it actually sounds better than the CD because we … give off a ton of energy and make that important emotional connection with the audience.”
Thriving Ivory — Jason, Stroope, Drew Cribley (guitars), Bret Cohune (bass) and Paul Niedermier (drums, percussion) — formed at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2002 and is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
In 2007, it signed with Wind-up, which boasts bands like Evanescence, Seether and Finger Eleven in its stable. “Thriving Ivory” was released last June.
“Fortunately for us, we are, in our opinion, on the best record company in the world, Wind-up,” Jason said, “because they’re technically an indie label, but they have the financial means and staffing of a major label. And what they do differently than most major labels is once they believe in an artist like they believe in us, they really follow through all the way, even if it takes a year to break a single.”
Thriving Ivory’s aspirations are as lofty as the group’s sound; Jason said he hopes the band is a household name by the end of 2009. That name, by the way, came about when Jason and Stroope wrote down lists of “cool-sounding” words on separate pages, and “thriving” and “ivory” emerged, Jason said. The inclusion of “ivory” came in part because “we wanted to have something to do with the piano,” he said.
It’s a name that’s been growing in popularity with each record sale, song play on the radio and concert ticket sold.
“It is surreal to see yourself on TV,” said Jason. “Even if I see our music video on VH1 or hear our song on the radio, it’s definitely surreal, and you’re living in the middle of your dream. Those are moments that make it all worthwhile after having driven the van for 12 hours.”
w
Thriving Ivory w/
The Five Percent, OurAfter, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 6:30 p.m. at Tink’s, 519 Linden St.,
Scranton. Tickets: $10, all ages. Info: 570.346.8465,
myspace.com/clubtinks,
thrivingivory.com,
myspace.com/thrivingivory
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