Sumner band ‘The Cloves’ release new album after 10 years

The story behind The Cloves, a local Sumner band that recently released their first album in 10 years, is a tale of patience, camaraderie and community. And the moral of their story is, with enough community support, everything is possible. The album, aptly named, “Revival”, was released July 27, and the band wasted no time in giving back to the community that supported their efforts to record their album back in December. The band was crowdfunded through Kickstarter , where they reached and surpassed their goal of eight grand on Dec. 15.

You can listen to The Cloves song “Pass the Wine” here.

The story behind The Cloves, a local Sumner band that recently released their first album in 10 years, is a tale of patience, camaraderie and community.

And the moral of their story is, with enough community support, everything is possible.

The album, aptly named, “Revival”, was released July 27, and the band wasted no time in giving back to the community that supported their efforts to record their album back in December. The band was crowdfunded through Kickstarter, where they reached and surpassed their goal of eight grand on Dec. 15.

“The challenge now is getting the gifts to everyone,” said co-band leader Michael Hochstatter, describing how they have nearly two hundred CDs to hand out and mail out from Sumner to Seattle and even out of the country. “It’s a lot of work, with the Kickstarter stuff. It’s like a full-time gig. You wouldn’t expect it.”

But that doesn’t mean Hochstatter and Kevin Poleskie, the other band leader, are complaining. They are more than happy to put off promoting their upcoming shows and other band work to make sure their fans are all happy and taken care of.

“We know that this record was funded by our friends, family and fans, so we want to take care of them first,” Hochstatter said. “That’s why we are doing that before doing the promotion side.”

The album took around five weeks to record, and while most of it went without a hitch, there were some hiccups that could have put the album in jeopardy.

“A thing that gave us a scare was our cello player, Alec Duggan, broke his wrist,” Hochstatter said. “Literally the first time he could hold his bow again was the day we got into the studio to record.”

The recording itself, though, was easy, even though the band travelled to and from Seattle nearly every day, staying in the city until two in the morning before coming back to Sumner to sleep, just to wake up and do the whole thing over again.

“The six of us have been playing these songs for a year and a half,” said Poleskie, “so recording-wise, we already knew what we needed to do.”

“Three Fourths Alive” – an emotional journey

One of the many reasons The Cloves took 10 years to put this album together was because of Hochstatter’s health.

Hochstatter has been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, and his battle with depression, anxiety and a lack of energy was an uphill battle.

His fatigue might have kept him down at times, but Hochstatter was never out, and with the release of the new album came the song “Three Fourths Alive,” which is about depression and how it has affected him throughout his life.

“But the song ‘How Amazing,’ which is at the end of the record, is about how I got through it,” Hochstatter said. “It’s looking back and going, man, this is a pretty amazing life. I know it’s been tough, but it’s amazing.”

Upcoming show

The Cloves are scheduled to play this Friday at 7 p.m. in Tacoma to help celebrate the release of their new album.

But, the concert will be in an unusual location – First Presbyterian Church on 20 Tacoma Ave. S.

“We are in to making shows unique. And instead of looking to book yourself at a club, and then being the next band that has to hurry and set yourself up in the next five minutes, we have more control,” Hochstatter said.

One way The Cloves is advertising their show is by hiding free tickets to the concert with concert posters around Tacoma, partnering with guerrilla art creator Beautiful Angle to help create the art design for the posters and the tickets.

The first time they did this was at the church itself, and Hochstatter and Poleskie watched in the background as people passed by their posters.

We will post something on Instagram with a clue, and then people will follow us and be on it,” Hochstatter said. “All five of the (tickets) were gone really quick, within the first half-hour.”

By press deadline, Poleskie and Hochstatter said they have a few posters and tickets left and may be planning to put them up in Tacoma early in the week.

Reach Ray Still at rstill@courierherald.com or 360-825-2555 ext. 5058. Follow him on Twitter @rayscottstill for more news, pictures and local events.