Artist Advent Day 22: The Ivy

Written by: Keyali Mikaela

Introducing Day 22 of Next Wave Magazine's Artist Advent Calendar: The Ivy, the dynamic synth-pop duo hailing from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Wyatt Clem and Shawn Abhari, the creative forces behind The Ivy, are on a musical journey that constantly defies expectations. In this exclusive interview, they share insights into their inspirations, the pivotal moments that led them to pursue music, and valuable advice for aspiring artists navigating the industry.

-

Next Wave: What inspired you to pursue music?

Wyatt: I was inspired by a healthy mix of George Strait, John Frusciante, and Stevie Ray Vaughan from an early age. John specifically made me want to play electric guitar. I was pretty dead-set on getting my guitar to sound like his. Eventually this spiraled into spending actual money on gear, which led to self-producing my own songs around 16 or 17 years old.

As far as leaving a traditional path to pursue an artistic career, I had a college professor named Dr. Casey tell me that she could see I didn’t want to be there and encouraged me to dive in and pursue music wholeheartedly and come back to college if it didn’t work.

Shawn: Throughout my childhood I always performed music in some capacity from year to year so I hoped this would be something that eventually I would be able to dive deeper into. Wyatt and I both had a moment in our early college days where we switched career paths for music, which is how we met.

Next Wave: Do you have any advice for other up-and-coming musicians trying to make it in the industry?

Wyatt: Not that we’ve officially “made it” but I would definitely recommend pursuing what you think sounds good and not focus on hearing things from the audience’s perspective. If it’s real, it will resonate.

Shawn: Make a lot of music as fast as you can, so you know what works for you and what doesn’t. Trust yourself but listen to what others tell you to grow.

Next Wave: What are your long-term goals and aspirations?

We definitely want to be able to tour long term internationally. That’s something we haven’t quite gotten to yet. A grammy would be cool.

Next Wave: Can you share a memorable moment from your musical journey so far?

Some of the most memorable times were from a writing trip in Germany and Sweden we took in 2018. We were introduced to an incredibly talented and interesting mix of producers and songwriters. It was cool seeing that part of the world and expanding our perspectives.

Next Wave: Can you share a little about your creative process and how you come up with new ideas for songs?

The ideas usually start with a chord progression and a melody that one of us has tracked on a laptop. But other times we might have a song pretty much fully fleshed out production-wise before a melody even comes to mind. We send stuff back and forth with each other a lot.

Their debut album ‘A Door Still Open’ is out February 23rd, 2024. Pre-Save it here.

Find The Ivy on Twitter, Instagram, Spotify and Apple Music.