Ben Clark grew up in a music-loving family.
"Actually, they loved the Beatles," said Clark during a phone call from somewhere between Dallas, Texas, and Little Rock, Ark. "My mom and dad were super Beatles fans. And that's what I heard growing up. So, you can safely say that the Beatles are a major influence in my music."
Clark had shades of Beatles in his mind when he decided to ditch his boyhood home in Spokane, Wash., and move west to Seattle to form the band in 2000.
"I had played in bands for a while, but I wanted to front my own band," said Clark. "So I guess I moved to Seattle with one purpose — to form a pop band."
There Clark hooked up with guitarist Eric Howk, drummer Mike Loggins and keyboardist Jacob Hoffman.
"I also got a call from my old friends in Spokane — Scotty Rickard and Nate Mooter," said Clark. "They were thinking they wanted to move to Seattle, and I told them to and be in my band."
So, that's how Rickard and Mooter became guitarist and bassist of The Lashes.
"The funny thing about it all was I never heard Mike play drums before I asked him to join the band," said Clark. "I knew he was a cool guy, and I had heard he played drums. But I asked him anyway.
"He had just signed up for technical school and quit his other band. So when I asked him, he jumped up and said, 'I've been waiting for this my whole life.' "
After playing around Seattle a couple of years, the band signed to punk-pioneer Lookout Records, once home of the mighty Green Day.
"We recorded the "Stupid Stupid" extended play and toured to support it," said Clark. "We knew we had big-label executives come hear us, but we really didn't pay attention."
In fact, the band slipped back into the studio to record its first full-length album, "Get It."
"The album was supposed to be released on Lookout," said Clark. "We had recorded some music for them before. So we weren't nervous about making our first album. But when it was finished, Columbia Records came to us and we signed to them.
"The cool thing was they didn't hear the album before they signed us. And they let us release it without making any changes."
Clark said it was a bit nerve-wracking deciding to sign with Columbia.
"It's a scary thing to do when you've been independent," he said. "We wanted to do the right thing and sign with the right people. And so far, we think we have."
If you go
What: Lashes, New Amsterdams
Where: Kilby Court, 741 S. 300 West
When: Sunday, 7 p.m.
How much: $10
Phone: 320-9887
Web: www.kilbycourt.com
E-mail: scott@desnews.com