Artist Interview: Ashley Clark of Sons of Sylvia

Sons of Sylvia has found huge success with a number one album on iTunes and a major year long tour with Carrie Underwood but the journey has been a long one for these three brothers. Spending a good majority of their life on tour Ashley, Adam and Austin are ready for the world to hear their music. Their new album “Revelation” features their eclectic blue grass roots modernized into a fresh mainstream country/pop sound. We had the chance to speak with Ashley last week about the bands success thus far and what’s ahead for the trio.

Congratulations on the album, it is really fantastic. For those not familiar with “Revelation” can you tell us a little about the album?
Well it’s called Revelation and we have a title song on there called “Revelation.” We named it “Revelation” because it just seems like making this record and getting up to this point has been like a revelation, if you will. It just felt right to name it that. We had some country elements, some pop elements, and some rock elements. We wanted to do something a little out of the box and not predictable. I really like it. It is different and to me it is fresh.

Your first single, “Love Left to Lose” is doing very well on our daily countdown show. Can you give us some background on the song?
We wrote it with our cousin Ryan Tedder from One Republic. We went to Colorado which is where his studio is. We just went over there and spent like two hours just catching up because he has done so many great things in the music industry. We wrote the song so fast, in like an hour and half. It just kind of wrote itself. We just wanted something that sounded fresh and different so we kicked off with the mandolin. We just felt it would be a great first single.

You won The Next Great American Band in 2007 (under the band name The Clark Brothers). Can you tell us a little more about that experience and how it helped get you to where you are today?
That was another, “How did we get here?” moment. I was playing fiddle for Carrie Underwood before that for about two and half years and Austin was playing with another country group. Adam was actually, I don’t know what Adam was doing, but he was in town and we were watching American Idol one night and we saw an ad for the Next Great American Band. It said if you guys are a band send in a DVD or tape and we’ll watch it. If we like it we’ll get you on the show. We were like, “Hey, we’ve played together our whole life, let’s just get together as a band and try it.” We went down to our basement and just filmed us doing a couple of songs and sent it in. We thought, “It’s worth a shot.” The next thing you know, they called us back and asked us if we could play for the judges. We played for the judges, got on the show, and to make a long story short, we won! Being on that show was really our first gig and it kind of forced us to really be a band. To come up with new songs and stuff; we really learned who we were being on that show. After we won the show, we went into the studio, we started recording this record and we changed our names. Musically, we were changing and going different places, we wanted a fresh start. We wanted something fresh and new. We changed our name to Sons of Sylvia. Our mom had eleven kids so we thought it would be cool to put her name in there. Dad was like, “Sons of Sylvia? That will never work. What about Sons of Fredrick? That’s a name (Laughs).” It’s just been a wild amazing ride and we are still on it. We were on American Idol. After American Idol our album went number one on iTunes in pop and number two overall. We did a duet on Carrie Underwood’s album and she had us opening up for her. It just has been a dream. If it ended tomorrow we would be thinking, “That was awesome” but it keeps going and here we are with you.

You mentioned Carrie. How has the tour been going with her?
Each show has been getting better and better, it’s been so much fun. Especially now that people are starting to sing the songs and at the last show we did people were singing the words to every song not just the single. It was wild, pretty cool.

You have been doing music pretty much your entire life. Was there ever a point where you just wanted to walk away from music and get a regular 9-5 job?
We tried that but we just don’t know how to be normal. You get so used to traveling and doing music and then you try to be normal and stuff and you just feel like a fish out of water. I don’t fit in here. Music just feels so natural. If we weren’t doing music I don’t know what… I guess I would figure something out.

What advice would you give young up and coming artists trying to break into the music industry?
I would say never, ever, ever give up. Go with what you believe in and always give it everything you’ve got. Never go halfway, go all the way. Give it your full attention and practice. Do everything the best you can do. Never doubt it and always believe in it. I think when you are in that mindset no matter the outlook and how impossible it looks, when you really have faith, believing in it and not doubting it, it can work.

You have a very eclectic song and utilize many sounds and instruments that many other mainstream artists do not. Who does the band cite as your strongest musical influences?
We grew up playing bluegrass so that is at our core down deep. So that explains the instruments we play. We have influences from a wide range from Tony Rice to the Doors to Elvis to U2 to Bill Monroe. It’s just a wide range. I hope that answers something.

Do you have any dream collaborations?
Well we already did with Carrie! That was pretty amazing. If we had to pick another person I would say Bono.

The music industry has really changed with digital downloading and even with shows like American Idol giving new artists the fast track to fame. What do you feel are the biggest challenges facing the music industry over the next five years?
I would say it would be that it is getting harder to stand out. There is so much music and so many ways of getting it. I would say that would be the next challenge, to find a way to separate yourself from everyone else. There is so much out there right now and a lot of great stuff out there. It’s just finding your nitch.

Social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, etc…have changed the face of the music industry. Do you feel that is helping or hindering an artist?
I find that it is helping. I’m on Twitter all of the time. If I hated it I would say it was hurting but I enjoy being on Twitter and talking to people. I think it’s great. It’s a great way to connect with people and fans. I don’t know what the next wave is going to be. After Twitter it’s probably going to be live video feed of you 24 hours a day or something. Ed TV or something… Right now Twitter is working for me.

Other then the tour with Carrie what else do you have going on this year?
Nothing set in stone right now. The tour goes until the end of the year so that pretty much keeps us booked. Just looking at different things right now, yah know.

Well thank you again for taking the time to talk with us today.
Thank you!

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