Hard work, not luck, key to Black Leaf Clover’s success | Jeff’s Band Notes

Black Leaf Clover, clockwise from left: Brandon Bayles, Dustin Sanders, Mark Sevier, Zim Zaman, Kyle Twist

Check out Black Leaf Clover’s songs Downshifter and Up Until.

By  Jeff Sistrunk
Ozarks Unbound

FAYETTEVILLE – Building an audience takes time, patience and committment.

The five-man rock powerhouse known as Black Leaf Clover- frontman Kyle Twist, guitarist Zim Zaman, guitarist Brandon Bayles, bassist Dustin Sanders, and drummer Mark Sevier – has definitely paid its dues and is reaping the benefits.

The band grew out of the ashes of a group called Myriad three years ago and solidified its current lineup with the addition of Sevier last year. It has steadily built a committed following in Northwest Arkansas and members fulfilled a longtime dream by releasing their debut album earlier this year.

I recently stopped by Black Leaf’s Springdale practice space to talk about the band members’ influences and memories and their new record.

How did Black Leaf Clover come together?

Kyle: While I was going to NWACC a few years ago, I saw a flier that said something like “rock vocalist needed.” So I tore off a tab and called the number – I think it was for Dustin, or Brandon…

Dustin: Yeah, I remember when you left the message, I was like, “What the hell?” What did you say? “I’ve been working on sounding like Steve Perry?”

Kyle: No, I said I had a range from Sammy Hagar to Steve Perry. Anyway, they had another singer at the time…

Brandon: Yeah, we were working on replacing our singer. I remember meeting Kyle in the Hastings parking lot – he was wearing a plaid flannel shirt with the sleeves cut off-

Kyle: An Axl Rose shirt!

Brandon: And so we went to practice, and our old singer was there, so we had to convince him that Kyle worked with Dustin and he was just there to listen to the band.

How’d you come up with the name?

Kyle: Well, black is the rebel color- it’s Johnny Cash’s color. And four-leaf clovers were something I always thought were cool.

What are your primary influences as musicians and as a band?

Mark: We’re all so crazily different from each other that it works out really well. We each bring a different influence.

Kyle: We all like a little bit of something…

Mark: I don’t like any of your music. (Everyone laughs)

Kyle: No, I just try to name off bands you won’t know (laughs). I get most of my influences now from old vinyl records.

Brandon: What bands? Queen?

Kyle: My biggest influences are Queen, Pride and Glory, Extreme, Dishwalla … if I had to choose one band I’d want to sound like, though, I’d say Extreme. King’s X has had a lot of impact on me too. I was also pretty big into the Beatles- their “Anthology” album.

Dustin: The Beatles are a big influence for me, but Van Halen is the biggest as far as what I like to listen to.

Brandon: My single biggest musical influence is (Creed and Alter Bridge guitarist) Mark Tremonti. I think he’s an amazing guitar player and he can write a song in the modern music world like nobody’s business. Going back farther, I would say ‘70s rock, Skynyrd, that type of thing. My dad was a big influence on me.

Mark: Me, I’m the opposite of these guys. I started wanting to play the drums to old-school Offspring and Green Day. Tre Cool was a big influence for me. As I started hanging out with other musicians, I became more interested in your John Bonhams and Lynyrd Skynyrds. Now, I’m really big into modern music like Nickelback and Breaking Benjamin. Both of those (drummers) have phenomenal fundamentals.

Zim: My biggest influence would have to Slash. Band-wise, though, I would say Guns n’ Roses…

Dustin: John Denver…

Zim: …Metallica, Mayhem… closer to the metal edge than rock. I’m more on the heavier side.

From left to right: Bayles, Sanders, Twist, Sevier, Zaman

What is your songwriting process like?

Brandon: Lots of times, one person will come with an idea and we’ll play with it and work on it. Sometimes, if Kyle can’t make practice, we’ll work on the instrumental side of a new song and then give it to him to work on lyrics.

Kyle: It’s kind of tough sometimes, because I live an hour away from here now. So we almost have to clock in these days. We only have so much time here.

Mark: I think we all feed off of each other. We’ve had three new songs come together here lately that we haven’t even played live, and they’ve all been pretty quick. When you’re in the zone, it’s an easy process. Other times, when you hit a roadblock, you just leave a song idea and come back to it later …  It’s almost like a marriage: it’s give-and-take. You have to learn to pick your battles. I was friends with most of these guys for several years before I joined the band. Me, Brandon and Dustin went to high school together and worked at J.B. Hunt together for awhile. For the most part, it’s friends first and then the band.

What do you think about the scene in Northwest Arkansas?

Mark: Man, it’s a tough scene. It’s really dominated by cover bands and blues; Bikes, Blues and BBQ is obviously really big. It’s hard as an original rock band to break through and get a big following. You really have to bust your ass and pay your dues.

Dustin: Fayetteville’s a college town, and most college kids would rather go to a dance club or bar hop than pay a cover to see original live music.

Brandon: It’s sad, because you know if you could get them in the door they’d love it.

Dustin: You can get a good following; it’s just a matter of getting your name out there. We have a dedicated group of people who come to our shows now, and we really show those guys our appreciation.

Mark: Yeah, at the last show I had three guys come up to me who I didn’t really know and they told me they’d been at some of our past gigs and then I remembered: “Yeah, I have seen you guys around before.”

Dustin: Ruben of Pointless Productions has been a great help in getting us on some of the national act shows that have come through Fayetteville, like Sick Puppies, Framing Hanley, and Egypt Central.

Mark: It’s tough, too, because we’re not 19 year-old college kids. If you look at bands like Silverstone, they’re great at drawing in a younger crowd. So it’s tougher being a little older and trying to make it in a college-dominated town.

Kyle: I think we’re to the point that we’ll continue being successful if our audience keeps riding our coattails and keeping up with what we’re doing. And I think that we definitely hit a milestone when we finished the album. We kept telling audiences that we were going to get one out for years, and we finally did.

Dustin: Even more impressive is that Brandon recorded the album out of his spare bedroom. It took a lot of time: the quality and the time he’s put into it are reflected on there. Without having a professional studio and thousands of dollars of gear, Brandon’s done a phenomenal job.

Where do you guys hope to take the band? What would your ideal tour be?

Zim: I’d love to play at Wembley Stadium.

Dustin: Madison Square Garden. You know you’ve made it somewhere if you’re playing there.

Kyle: I would love to do a gig at the top of the Statue of Liberty, with all the Ghostbusters, and I’d like to cover “Higher and Higher” by Rita Coolidge just once during our set.

Brandon: Don’t take him seriously.

Zim: Kyle’s pop culture references are never going to be popular.(Everyone laughs)

Mark: I just enjoy playing day to day with these guys. Whatever happens in the future happens.

Kyle: I want to play at the MTV Music Awards. I just want, for one time, for an announcer to say, “BLACK LEAF CLOVER!”

Brandon: You could go on Conan O’ Brien for that.

Kyle: It wouldn’t be the same!

Dustin: The MTV Music Awards always suck, though. The bands that they have on there- it’s like, “You recorded a badass album and this is the best you can do live?”

Kyle: Yeah, it would suck if we went on the MTV Music Awards, got up onstage, and realized we didn’t know any songs! And then it’s like “Back to the Future” and Marty McFly, and Brandon’s hand starts disappearing and he’s like, “What’s going on? Get out of there!” (Everyone laughs)

Brandon: I think when it comes down to it, we just want to play to a lot of people who enjoy our music.

Mark: Touring with Nickelback would be great. They could open for us!

Brandon: We should get Guns n’ Roses, the original lineup!

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