Thriving Ivory: Back Where They Belong: Part 2

By starrymag | May 30, 2017

By: Lindsay Flanagan

 

If you didn’t catch part one of our interview with the band, head over here now (we’ll wait, because we’re certain you don’t want to miss any of the fun stuff we talked about with them). Back? Great. On to part two.

 

As I talked with Clayton [Stroope] and Scott [Jason], I started to feel as if we’d been friends since high school. Which, actually, kind of makes sense. We’re about the same age and now we’re all grown up—kind of—and we talked about music that we all listened to as teens. I asked the guys to talk about the past, present and future of the band.

 

Q) This is the burning question: how did the two of you rekindle your creative and personal relationship and decide to give Thriving Ivory another shot?

 

CS: We had kind of been on a hiatus—there was this long stretch of time in between when our second record was released and it was also around this time the record label started falling apart. So, it was bad timing all around. We just got out of our record deal recently, as in just last year, so for a time there we were kind of tied down and bogged down legally. Once we got out of our deal, me and Scott met up over the summer and were kind of like, hey, it’s been long enough and we just decided to make a run at it. It was around that time I think I had posted something on my personal Facebook about us making music, that we were approached by Jeremy [Lopez] at Lippman Entertainment—a pretty big management firm. They got involved and just started pushing things forward. So, it’s all been pretty cool and it’s all starting to come together. We just got back from Nashville a couple days ago, working with a really great producer and knocked out our first few songs that we’ll use to show people and say hey, we’re back.

 

Q) There were reports of a hectic touring schedule and other personal reasons as to why you guys weren’t doing anything. But I don’t think that the past matters now because I think what your fans are really excited about is the new music and the future. I do think fans would be interested in what you have been up while you’ve been on hiatus. Clayton, you formed Midnight Cinema with Drew Cribley and Paul Niedermier. As far as I understand, you guys didn’t tour or anything, but I know you did an online show at the end of 2014. Will you continue working on music with them or are you putting all your creative energies toward Thriving Ivory?

 

CS: We had been touring nonstop for years—we were touring well before we even had a record deal. So, when the label kind of failed to do anything with our second record, even by that point, we were already pretty exhausted. It was just kind of a combination of being exhausted and then being tied up and not being able to release anything as Thriving Ivory. We kind of just lived regular life for a while, you know. Couple people got married, I had a couple kids and people went back to school to finish their degrees. It was almost like kind of cleaning up and taking care of normal life stuff we weren’t able to do for years and years. So, in that respect it was a good break. The Midnight Cinema stuff was just kind of an outlet for us, for a quick little period of time. Definitely our main priority was always getting back to Thriving Ivory. And once the gears started really moving last year all of our effort and attention is going to this.

 

Q) Scott, did you continue to write music during the hiatus or did you pursue other passions?

 

SJ: I did continue to write music. We have a whole lot of songs that we have demos for and, for the most part, I’ve been writing this whole time. We recently got introduced to a guy named Petey [Martin] who’s basically become a member of the band, a member of the Thriving Ivory family. He’s turned out to be an amazing songwriter himself. Over the last year we’ve been working with him on the stuff that we wrote during this interlude, kind of putting it together and going through all the ideas that we have and all the things we want to see through and get produced and stuff like that. But, yeah, for the most part the creative and writing process hasn’t really stopped too much. It’s really just the releasing of new music that’s been difficult for us.

 

Q) So, we’re still continuing on that subject of songwriting. A few years ago, Clayton, this was in between the first two records— you said that at the time you weren’t a songwriter “and Scott doesn’t sing. But Scott has this creative force inside him and I just fit as an outlet for him.” Without drawing weird or creepy comparisons or anything, I just have to ask: has anyone ever told you that the two of you are kind of like the Phantom of the Opera in the way that the Phantom funnels his words and music through the angelic voice of Christine?

 

[They both laughed.]

 

CS: Scott loves that question because his dad is a super good piano player and a really big fan of that play in particular. So, it’s actually kind of ironic that you mention that one. So yeah, I mean, I’ve never thought of it that way.

 

SJ: When I was a kid, my house was converted into something called the Jason Opera House. Not joking.

 

CS: That’s funny. That was the dynamic for a really long time. Scott would write the stuff and I would hear it and interpret it and put my spin on it, see how it sounds, because things change when they come out of my mouth. So, we would adjust it from there. But, yeah, I can definitely remember that quote. I think one of the challenges for me personally with our new dynamic is actually being able to have a voice in the songwriting process and throw in ideas because it’s a new dynamic. But it’s been a growth experience for me but it’s been a cool one, because Scott’s been writing a lot longer than me so it’s been kind of cool to at least have a little bit of an opportunity to kind of grow in the same way. And I think that it shows with this new collaboration dynamic that we have going. There’re all kinds of different elements being thrown in. Scott’s much more lyrical than I am. I tend to go for melodies that feel natural for me to sing and you’ll know when you hear the songs—it’s turning out really well. Phantom of the Opera. Yup.

 

[laughing]

 

Q) It sort of fits because, Clayton, your voice is incredible—and in every interview it’s like, “Clayton, your voice is so unique” and I’ve read it described as “opera rock.” So…

 

CS: Yeah…I mean, Bono was a huge vocal influence of mine and when you listen to him sing, yeah, he can sing very intimate. That’s actually one thing we’re working on with these new songs is having areas of the song is where the register of my voice is lower so it’s not super high all the time. But that type of singing is something that has always appealed to me and Bono was a huge influence. And even the rock singers from the 70s, that arena-sounding vocal is something I’ve always loved. I try and do it and make it appropriate. We’re pretty paranoid of things sounding cheesy, so we have to be careful—I can’t like, go into a full [does some sort of high-pitched vibrato that makes me laugh and I think I hear Scott laughing as well] wail whenever I want. We try and do it tastefully.

 

Q) You guys have always done it great, but hopefully you guys won’t walk away from the interview and be like, “Ooookay, we’re Phantom of the Opera. That’s weird.”

 

CS: No! It’s cool when interview questions are off and different so I appreciate it.

 

SM: This next one’s probably not that different. You’re probably going to be getting a lot of this in the future. As of right now, you’re making this album, but are you guys planning on making more albums and going on tours in the future? Or is this a one-step-at-a-time process?

 

SJ: I would definitely say it’s one step at a time. It’s kind of overwhelming to get back into doing all of this. There’re so many pieces to put together and things to do. But we knew kind of going in the very first thing before anything was music. If you don’t have the new music, it’s like, what are you even promoting? We just finished the first handful of songs in Nashville so we feel like at least we’ve got that done. As far as the next step, I don’t know. Clayton?

 

CS: It’s tough. It’s something we’ve definitely been talking about a lot because we see that already—even when we released our second record—the music business is becoming much more single-oriented as opposed to full records. Artists release EPs or a single on its own or release four singles and then a year later after they release each one of those singles then release an entire album. I think we’re still kind of open ended. I think we’re going to release these songs one at time, maybe all together, I’m not sure. And then we’ll kind of see where it goes from there. I think nowadays it seems like it’s pretty common to release singles. Ryan Tedder [from One Republic] recently wrote something about just that. He wrote something about how the concept of releasing an album is looked at it differently. Especially with iTunes, you don’t have to buy the whole thing. I think we’re still not sure what the final game plan will be. I would be just as happy releasing one single at a time over the course of the year or two and just release a single every two months, just put all of our effort into one song at a time so they’re really good. Everyone’s stuff is on their phone now, anyway. I don’t remember—I think the last physical CD I even held was our own from a box I found in the back of my car. It’s interesting.

 

Q) I was actually going to tell you that the last CD I bought was Thriving Ivory.

 

CS: Wow. Yeah, see?

 

Q) I went to the CD store and I was like, “I’m going to buy it! I want to hold it.” And now that CD store is no longer in business.

 

CS: There’s really not any [stores]. Yeah, you can go to Target. But that’s about it. We’re going to have to see. Spotify is so huge now. I think the business model has changed so much in the last four or five years. But it’s still all about the music. Still all about the song. It’s just in what format or platform do you deliver that to people? So we’ll see.

 

Q) Yeah, I mean I’ve bought CDs directly from the artist at the shows and stuff—I actually didn’t have this question written down, but now that we’re talking about it—vinyl is coming back. Do you guys think you’ll release anything on vinyl?

 

CS: Somebody just asked me that. It just hit me out of the blue and I was like, “Oh my gosh, I have no idea.” I think that would be something really cool to offer on our merch store if somebody really wanted it. I don’t know. That would be a trip to hear our stuff coming out of a turntable. I haven’t really thought about that one.

 

Q) I was at a show a couple weeks ago – the band MONA. Nick has a really distinctive voice like yours, Clayton—but they had a legit cassette for sale with their stuff. It was awesome.

 

CS: The problem is that you gotta hope that people actually have a tape player or be able to get a tape player somewhere.

 

Q) You mentioned that you’re with a bigger management firm and they represent Matchbox Twenty and I know you can’t say too much about who you might tour with, but who would you love to tour with? Who’s your dream tour mate?

 

CS: That’s a tough one. I mean, we’re pretty big One Republic fans and I know especially Scott from the writing/lyrical/melodic standpoint. I’d probably say those guys. At least right now, I’d say those guys because we respect his [Ryan Tedder’s] writing so much. I mean, maybe he could help us write a few songs backstage, help us produce a few songs while on tour.

 

Q) Besides music, what other hobbies do you have? Specifically, what do you do in order to rejuvenate your creativity?

 

CS: Oh man. Honestly, since I’ve had my kids, I swear to God I have no hobbies. I mean, just spending time with them. That kind of just resets me and centers me. This is kind of a depressing answer. I mean, anybody who has kids will probably relate to what I’m saying, but gosh, I used to even be able to go to the gym once in a while. But once you have kids—I’m last on the list as far as who’s important around here.

 

SJ: I wish I had something more exciting to say.

 

Q) What do you hope listeners take away from your music?

 

SJ: I don’t know if it’s anything specific. I would just say that our goal, kind of our end reason we do all this is to make some kind of meaningful connection with people. I think that regardless of what they take away from it, as long as we’ve made a connection I think we did what we set out to do.

 

CS: I definitely agree. One of the cool aspects of these first three songs that we just did was, I think even lyrically and stylistically music has changed a bit in the last couple of years, the style of writing popular music. It’s been a really cool challenge and an area of growth for us is, how do we tell these stories and make these connections but frame them in this fresh, musical perspective? I think we’ve found the recipe. We’ll let you judge—and we’ll let everyone else judge when we release these songs—but I think we found our groove or our stride for something we can say that is Thriving Ivory 2017. Still making that connection with people is number one.

 

Q) To have fans stick around for several years obviously must mean a lot to you. You publicly thanked the fans on Facebook who have stood by you. I’m pretty certain the waiting will be well-rewarded. Is there anything else you’d like to tell your fans about the future of Thriving Ivory?

 

CS: Oh man. I would just say we’ve always been extremely grateful and appreciate every comment and all the words and connections and things we hear from fans about the music. I think that connection has remained even though we haven’t had new stuff out in a while. We felt that instant response the minute we started announcing we were working on new stuff. People were right there with us so I would just say, thank you for hanging in there. We promise the wait will have been well-worth it. And we welcome you guys whether through Facebook or Instagram or whatever to come and be a part of this new journey with us. Because we’re really just getting started. We’re just as anxious and excited about this new stuff as everyone else is. Shoot, we just recorded these songs and we’re talking about you waiting to listen to them and we haven’t even heard them! We just left the studio so it’s like, I’m anxious. Very soon, very soon