Ryan Clark (musician)


Ryan Curtis Clark is an American musician who also has performed under the stage name Maven. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the Christian metal band Demon Hunter, which he co-founded with his brother, guitarist Don Clark. He was also the frontman for Christian metalcore band Training for Utopia along with being one of the guitarists for Focal Point. He is featured on Zao's The Lesser Lights of Heaven DVD and Mark Salomon's Podcast, Never Was.

History

Before Demon Hunter, Clark was a guitarist for the short-lived Sacramento/Elk Grove, California-based hardcore punk band Focal Point. Focal Point started in 1995 with the lineup of Clark, Robbie Imrisek, Danny Dinh, Kyle Brown, and Robert Torres. The band released a 7-inch via Life Sentence Records titled Neglected and a Studio album via Tooth and Nail Records.
Clark, then known as Maven, was the second vocalist for Training for Utopia. Don formed the band with the Rob Dennler, Steve Saxby and Morley Boyer. Dennler left the band in 1996 and Clark joined the band. The band released an EP, a Split EP, and two studio albums.
He and his brother formed Demon Hunter in 2000 and released their debut album late the following year through Solid State Records. The group would continue to steadily gain exposure throughout the 2000s.
His grandfather, an artist, helped inspire his grandsons' work in graphic design, which is their true day job. Ryan and Don founded Seattle-based Asterik Studio with their friend Demetre Arges in 2000. The design studio has created CD packaging, poster art, web design, and/or merchandise design for hundreds of artists including Liz Phair, P.O.D., and The White Stripes; however, Clark also notes that he is not a fine artist and that such work is typically outsourced. Based on their design experience, Don and Ryan authored a chapter in the book New Masters of Photoshop, Volume 2. In 2007, the brothers had announced that they were leaving Asterik to start Invisible Creature. Ryan Clark is also art director of Solid State Records and its parent Tooth & Nail Records.
He has twice been nominated for a Grammy Award for his design work on Norma Jean's O God, the Aftermath and Fair's album The Best Worst-Case Scenario.
He currently is working on three side projects. One such project is with former Project 86 guitarist Randy Torres called NYVES. using funding through Kickstarter. In an interview with Billy Power, Matt Johnson, said that He, Ryan, Don, and Johnson's brother-in-law, Nathan Burke and at one point, Sean Ingram formed another project which was titled, Deathbed Atheist. The final project is a band with Jason Martin and originally Steven Dail who later quit, of Starflyer 59 called Low & Behold which released their debut album, Uppers in 2015 via Northern Records.
Ryan Clark's Invisible Creature has become an influential design and illustration studio having achieved international success. In 2025 their commissioned mural for Liberty International Airport pushed the threshold of their iconic illustration style into a giant bas relief sculpture.

Bands

Current
  • Demon Hunter – vocals, guitar
  • Low & Behold – vocals
  • NYVES – vocals
  • Deathbed Atheist – guitar
Former
  • Focal Point – guitar
  • Training for Utopia – vocals, guitar

    Discography

Focal Point
  • Neglected EP
  • Suffering of the Masses
Training for Utopia
  • The Falling Cycle EP
  • Plastic Soul Impalement
  • Training for Utopia / Zao
  • Throwing a Wrench into the American Music Machine
  • Technical Difficulties
Demon Hunter
Low & Behold
  • Blood Red
  • Uppers
NYVES
  • Anxiety
  • ''Pressure ''

    Guest appearances

As Maven
  • Zao – Training for Utopia / Zao
As Ryan Clark