The Ivy: How Friendship, Chance, and Indie Dreams Built a Band
The Ivy’s music feels effortless, with dreamy, indie-pop soundscapes that seem to flow straight from the heart. But behind the scenes, it's the product of a friendship built on chance meetings, shared influences, and a relentless creative drive. In this conversation, Wyatt and Shawn, the duo behind The Ivy, open up about the band's beginnings at a music school in Oklahoma City, the unexpected origins of their name, and how a mutual love for bands like The 1975 and Coldplay sparked a partnership that continues to evolve. From a summer of poison ivy to late-night writing sessions, this is the story of how The Ivy came to life.
Photo taken by @notaustinwest on Instagram
When and where was The Ivy born?
Wyatt: “The Ivy was born in 2016 at a music school in Oklahoma City called The Academy of Contemporary Music. We had like the same class schedule for the first semester. So that's how we met.”
Shawn: “Yeah, I had a project called ‘The Ivy’ because I got poison ivy a bunch... all in one summer, and then I met Wyatt as I was just getting everything started, and then he wrote some good music - we wrote some good music together, and just put it out to see what happened.”
What drew you guys to one another?
Wyatt: I think initially we just had a conversation about music and realized that we had the same tastes and influences at the time. And he already had a project called The Ivy.
Shawn: “Exactly that. I was a new student at a new school, and he was a new student at a new school. He came up and was like ‘Hey, what’s up?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, hey.’ (The) first day of school, we just met, and then we just kept hanging out and started writing music.”
What were the inspirations that you guys shared? The musical inspirations?
Shawn: “It was definitely like, indie and alternative. When we met in the school that we were at, in that Oklahoma City scene, there was a lot of like, country-blues style, and kind of this underground rap scene, and even like some heavier rock. And I hadn't met a single person that really liked more chill, indie music. I was like, ‘What music do you listen to?’ He was the first one I had heard at that school that was like ‘The 1975, Walk The Moon, Coldplay’... Bands I listened to.”
Photo taken by Unknown
What were your individual backgrounds as musicians? What contexts did you come out of individually before you came to this project?
Shawn: “Music for me was always something that had been a part of my life, just as an extracurricular. I grew up doing piano. I played upright bass in a conservatory. I played in my school band and jazz band, so it was always a part of my life. And then I kind of just played and started writing music that I liked to listen to, and now we make similar music. It was always a pipe dream, you know, to start a band and really go for it. And then halfway through college, I was like, you know what? I'm gonna leave engineering school, and I'm going to go to music school. Wyatt had a similar way to get there, and we both met at the same spot.”
Wyatt: “Yeah, I started playing guitar when I was like 13, and I grew up with country music slash 2000s alternative rock... it was like, George Strait and Red Hot Chili Peppers at the same time. When I started playing guitar, I was trying to emulate like, John Frusciante's style, Chili Peppers stuff... and then that eventually grew into like, oh, how do I record this and emulate some of those sounds? I started producing when I was 16 on an iPad, and I got into dubstep and stuff - I was like, Googling ‘dubstep maker’ because I didn't know what a DAW was. I didn’t know, like, Pro Tools. “
What were you producing on?
Wyatt: “[Now] Logic. Well, at the time, it was literally called, like, “Beat Maker”. It just had like, a drum pad - it was honestly kind of sick for what it was - I'd be curious to see if they're still around. But yeah, just trying to recreate synth sounds that I'd heard on my iPad. My friends were like ‘dude... that's so close.’ It wasn't. I guess that was my production journey. Then that led me into writing my own songs. I was in sort of like a southern rock, folky kind of band for a while, and then I met Shawn and was like, ‘yeah, I'll play a show with you. But like, I'm already committed to this other thing, so I'll play like 1 show, it'll be fine,’ but then it kind of developed into what it is now, because I realized that I believe in The Ivy more than anything else. “
So it sounds like this was sort of [Shawn’s] brainchild, and [Wyatt] was like, “that’s sick”. What was the philosophy behind this specific project? Why were you writing it? What was the feeling/drive behind it?
Shawn: “Yeah, that's a good question. I think you know, when I had the idea to really leave college, I knew I wanted to start a music project, and I didn't end up leaving college because I went back for music school, but during my production and focusing on that, I knew I wanted to start a band. I wanted to be with three people, and the name, The Ivy, just kind of came to me throughout that process. I figured, you know, if I meet someone and they don't like it, I can change it. I was literally on Craigslist, looking up like, singers and other people to be in a band with me. I had songs written and stuff produced, and would have people come to my house and sing the lyrics I wrote. I'd record them and listen and think, ‘Are they going to be in The Ivy?’ By the time I met Wyatt, I was like, nice, this guy's gonna be in The Ivy, because we just hit it off so well the very first time we met.”
Did he know it yet?
Shawn: “No, he was like - and this sounds corny, but he was exactly what I prayed for. Cause I was like, I want to have a band where the singer is like, a really good singer, but chill and laid back. “
Wyatt: “Yeah.”
Shawn: “I think it all flowed, and then it quickly was like, hey, the songs we write together are way better than anything I had written by myself - so that all quickly left Spotify.”
Wyatt: “Yeah. Same. It was kind of like the missing piece in both cases. And I had never intended on being a singer, like, on stage. That's not - I had only ever played guitar.”
So this [project] was your first time singing?
Wyatt: “Yeah. Yeah, and even five days ago was my first time playing without a guitar on stage because of my hand. So it's been a learning curve - it's been fun, though, figuring out how to occupy space without the crutch of an instrument. But yeah, initially I was like, “I don't really want to be a lead singer.”
Shawn: “Yeah, I was like, dude, your voice is so good. You have to sing.”
Photo taken by @elizabethalexandriaphoto on Instagram
How did you guys get connected with Lyncs, and with Winnabego for this show?
Wyatt: “Yeah. First of all, Winnabego is sick. I want to put that on the record. Love Winnabego. Didn't know them before today. I'm not sure how we got connected with them. ”
Shawn: “Winnabego - I think the venue actually recommended them.”
Wyatt: “Yeah, they're like local support. But dude, I wanna play again with them.”
Shawn: “Yeah, definitely. That was super cool. “
Wyatt: “How did we get connected with Lyncs exactly?”
Shawn: “Yeah, Lyncs's manager reached out to our management, and yeah, we thought the music she wrote was really cool.”
Wyatt: “Yeah, we did a writing trip in LA with Jackie. We went to her spot in Echo Park and wrote the song that's out now, ‘Don't Fall Asleep To This,’ just from like, a demo that I had in Ableton, and she helped us turn it into something cool. Also, we hadn't, like, practiced it at all. Like our first show, we showed up and we ran through it at soundcheck for the first time, because we live like 1000 miles apart, and it was just like, cool, guess this sounds good.”
Where are you based out of presently?
Wyatt: “Right now, I live in Oklahoma City, and Sean lives in Tulsa.”
What's it like living in that environment? Those are pretty small communities in comparison to LA or New York.
Wyatt: “Yeah, yeah, it's small. 100% yeah. I think both places, Oklahoma City and Tulsa, have really thriving scenes, actually. And there's a lot of bands that are kind of coming out of those places that are really starting to have full-time careers out of it. Which is cool. I think previously it was like, you would only hear about maybe two or three bands from there - like Flaming Lips, or whoever, but now it's starting to be more thriving - you know, there's husbands in OKC playing festivals all over. There's Broncho, Sports, all these people that are killing it. But it is small. It's kind of like everyone knows each other, or knows someone that knows someone. I said Oklahoma City because it's easy, but I live in like a really small farm town that's like thirty minutes away. I live on a farm with cows. So yeah, it's pretty isolated.”
What outside of this project are you guys passionate about? What is life for you individually outside of the Ivy?
Wyatt: “Yeah. It's still pretty much music. Both of us do freelance production and mixing for people, which is both sort of like a career and a hobby-slash-passion. I'm trying to expand beyond that, but that's pretty much my life right now. Just making music, writing for myself, and I've got a couple of side projects and stuff like that.”
Shawn: “Yeah. I think on the same vein, anything creative really that I can get my hands on. I like being a part of projects and just watching them grow. I've been dabbling even outside of music - I always have music projects going simultaneously, but I've been getting more into even graphic stuff, so it’s been cool. Just like, illustration.”
Photo taken by @jordanlynch_
To a younger you or just any artist looking to create their vision, what advice or sound words would you give?
Shawn: “Yeah, the advice I have is if you have a vision that's strong enough, then you should make your own demands. I guess what I mean by that is like, get to a place to where you have something that you've created that you're proud of, that you're not relying on someone to give you a bunch of money to go make an album, or something like that. If you come to the table with music to show, that you think sounds really good, then I think you have way more of a place to stand.”
Wyatt: “Yeah, I think I said this the other day, even, but don't wait until it feels right - like he said, if you have a project or a song or any sort of art that you believe in, just put it out. Don't wait until you have the ‘right amount’ of support behind you, cause that'll come. I would say that's kind of how we did it - we just put stuff out. And things happened organically for us, and I think it can happen for anybody.”
Shawn: “Yeah, 100%.”
And then final question, any future projects or events you want to direct fans to?
Shawn: “I would say right now it's the tour.”
Wyatt: “Tour for sure. We do have a release plan - I can't say anything about it I don't think, but we've got some new music in the pipeline. Excited for it.”
What began as two students bonding over a shared love of indie music has grown into a project marked by passion, persistence, and a clear creative vision. With new music on the way and an exciting tour underway, The Ivy shows no signs of slowing down. Wyatt and Shawn’s journey is a reminder that sometimes, the most meaningful projects start with simply showing up, taking a chance, and trusting the process. For The Ivy, the best is still yet to come.