The San Francisco quintet Thriving Ivory came together when Clayton Stroope (vocals) and Scott Jason (pianist and songwriter) met at college. They were soon joined by Drew Cribley (guitar), Bret Cohune (bass), and Paul Niedermier (drums) and, inspired by U2 and Coldplay, began playing gigs for their fellow students, as well as recording their self-funded, self-titled independent debut with Jellyfish's Chris Manning, who acted as their producer. While building a fan base with their shows and album, Thriving Ivory also got a boost from local radio station KITS, which put their song "Angels on the Moon" in full rotation; listeners soon made it one of the station's most requested tracks. After signing with Wind-Up Records in 2007, Thriving Ivory worked with producer Howard Benson on a new version of their debut album (including new and re-recorded tracks). It was released in June 2008. ~ Katherine Fulton