Interview with Ivory Drive

What was the first spark that initiated your love of music and led up to creating Ivory Drive?

Ivory Drive basically started because of a local Battle of the Bands show in ‘07. Our singer/main-songwriter Van Wampler had signed up to play the gig and assembled a trio just a couple days before the show. Needless to say, we did not win the battle, but we went on to add a couple more members, record some music, and things progressed from there.

For each band member, the first sparks of music-love occurred before we can remember. It’s just something we’ve always done.

You have a great blend of music genre's going on in your songs...... how would you explain your sound to someone that never heard you before?

Our sound is really hard to categorize, and I don’t think we’ve ever done a great job of it. We’re rock n roll with elements of jazz/blues/folk thrown in. Not really fusion, not really indie rock either, just something in between. Someone once said “acid-folk” which would probably work for some songs. Imagine 5 guys who grew up studying jazz, and now just play rock, but without a guitar.

Do you feel musicians need record labels in this day of age? What are your steps of getting your music out there for people to hear?

A record label is probably not 100% necessary in this day and age. The internet makes it easy to get music out there and sell it. However, labels certainly can help, especially for emerging bands like us. Funding recordings, publicity, tour promotion, etc, would be nice. To become a top act in the pop/rock world, I imagine you would need a label at least at some point.

What drives you to keep performing?

We keep performing, basically because we like doing it. We all love to play, so I don’t foresee us stopping anytime soon. We also want to develop as musicians and take Ivory Drive further.

If you were able to travel through time what era would you want to live in and why?

Approximately 65 million years ago, give or take. Bring rock to the dinosaurs! Maybe we could even add a raptor on guitar.

What would be the missing piece to complete the puzzle for Ivory Drive?

We’re always trying to refine and dial-in our sound, and to create new songs that may be successful and reach a wide audience, but distinctly Ivory Drive and not compromising our uniqueness. The raptor might actually be the missing piece, though.


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