Exclusive Interview: The Ivy Talk Synthwave, Setlists, & Striking Gold Ahead of their Spring Headlining Tour
- Abby Anderson
- Mar 25
- 5 min read
Updated: 26 minutes ago
When Wyatt Clem and Shawn Abhari first crossed paths in college, they bonded over a simple shared love of synthwave music and dreams of pursuing music. With Shawn’s talent and drive in the production department and Wyatt’s rich, silky vocal/guitar skillset, the duo ignited a creative spark based in a deep love of creating music in all forms. From that spark, forged in the stairwells and dorm rooms of The Academy of Contemporary Music in Oklahoma City, The Ivy was born. Since their debut in 2017, the band has wracked up millions of Spotify streams across their fresh, synthy alt-pop discography and shared stages with acts like The Band CAMINO, LANY, and Grayscale. Before the band sets off on the road for their headlining 2025 Spring Tour, Wyatt and Shawn joined us to talk about everything from developing their setlist, being inspired by bands like M83 and The 1975, and the moment they struck gold with their first viral hit.
In the early days when they were just starting out, The Ivy was just an outlet for Shawn and Wyatt to turn their creativity and inspiration into something tangible. “Throughout the years, we just kind of were creating music that we enjoyed making, and then it would evolve based on how our listening patterns were evolving as well,” Shawn said. “It's always stayed decently true to who we were at the time that the song comes out. Or at least when it's being written.” Wyatt added, “We kind of shared similar influences in the indie, synth-pop world.” Naming artists like The 1975, Smallpools, FM-84, and M3 as some of their early influences, he laughs as he summarizes the list as “just lots of bands with, like, numbers in the title.” As their friendship grew deeper and they started to look to areas of common ground to refine their skills as a unit, Wyatt fully credits Shawn for opening the door to expanding their creative field in terms of production. “When I met Shawn, I was like, ‘This guy's a production wizard.’ He was on Ableton. I didn't even have Ableton. I was on Logic and Garage Band. He was on a different level.” He added, “I started producing dubstep on an iPad when I was, like, 16. And it was bad. I transitioned into more of a singer-songwriter thing, but Shawn came from kind of an EDM background. So we had that in common right off the bat.”
A few years later, that creative spark started to catch. After years of pushing for a break, the band’s hit, “Gold,” became an overnight success. “It hit the algorithm. It ended up on the Spotify viral charts,” Shawn says. “We had these meetings with labels set up, and we did them with the head of [our] school, who's the Flaming Lips manager, Scott Booker. We learned a lot.”
"'How are we here right now?' And he's like, 'I don't know.' And I was like, 'Me neither.'” - Shawn
“Gold” was something of a “divine, weird universe thing” for the band. When asked about his favorite music memory, Wyatt immediately turns to the song, not for the new level of success it ushered in for the band, but rather the roots of its conception. “Shawn and I had different class schedules at the time [it was written], but we shared a dorm room. I was driving home and I thought of the song idea. Then the first thing Shawn says to me when I walk in the door, he's like, ‘Dude, I just had this idea for a song.’ I'm not even making this up - we both thought of the same thing. We both were like, ‘We should have a song called ‘Gold’.” Shawn added, “I literally had written down the word ‘Gold.’ Hours apart from each other.”
While the band wouldn’t reveal many spoilers about their setlist for their upcoming tour, “Gold” is bound to be a staple in the set. When asked about developing the set and show concept for this go around, Shawn takes the lead on sharing their philosophy and vision for their live shows. “I think developing a show is super fun. It's all trial and error. It's like you have something in your head and you try your best to chase it and just make it happen. Now we're to the point where we can really dial it in in terms of engaging with the audience.” In talking about that ever-important setlist, Shawn adds, ”The setlist order really helps just kind of guide you through the night. As much as possible, I feel like a setlist has to have dynamics, ups and downs, songs that people know, but then also songs that maybe they're more tucked away in your discography but they're just a favorite of yours. And so I think it's cool to blend those and really make it as dynamic as possible.”
Ahead of the tour, the band released a new track, “Don’t Fall Asleep to This,” with tourmate Lyncs. When it was written, Wyatt innocently named the lullaby-like piano sketch file “don't fall asleep to this” and took it to Lyncs on a spontaneous songwriting meet-up in LA. Lyncs picked up where The Ivy left off, filling in with lyrics. Wyatt beams over the response the song has gotten so far and shows obvious excitement at the idea of plugging this one into their set. “I think performing it every night will be super fun. It's exciting. It's also a little bit nerve-wracking because the first time that we [The Ivy and Lyncs] are going to even play it together is gonna be soundcheck of the first show. We've been practicing it on our side, and she's been practicing it on her side. I think she's gonna play bass and I'm gonna play her acoustic. So it should be fun.”
Looking to the future, the band shares that they have more new music “in the pipeline.” While they don’t currently plan to tease anything on the upcoming tour, Wyatt did share that the new music “may not be super similar to stuff we’ve done in the past, but also not so much of a detour that it’ll throw people off. We’ve got some cool stuff.” The Ivy have been constantly evolving over the course of their career, but no matter the magnitude of success they achieve, Wyatt and Shawn don’t fall short of acknowledging how far they’ve come. As our conversation comes to a close, Shawn shares a reminiscence of their we-made-it moment: “We were in a high rise in Berlin because of our music. And so we looked at each other, and I was like, 'How are we here right now?' And he's like, 'I don't know.' And I was like, 'Me neither.'”
Watch All The Things Music: The Podcast x The Ivy here.
The Ivy Spring 2025 Tour Dates
March 25 - Albuquerque, NM @ Juno
March 26 - Tucson, AZ @ Groundworks
March 27 - San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar
March 28 - Los Angeles, CA @ Scribble
March 31 - Denver, CO @ Lost Lake Lounge
April 1 - Lincoln, NE @ Duffy's Tavern
April 2 - Kansas City, MO @ recordBar
April 3 - Milwaukee, WI @ X-Ray Arcade
April 4 - Indianapolis, IN @ Hoosier Dome
April 5 - Chicago, IL @ Subterranean
April 6 - Cleveland, OH @ The Foundry
April 8 - Toronto, ON @ The Drake Underground
April 9 - Montreal, QC @ L'Escogriffe Bar Spectacle
April 11 - Boston, MA @ The Rockwell
April 12 - Brooklyn, NY @ Alphaville
April 14 - Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie
April 15 - Washington D.C. @ Pie Shop
April 16 - Richmond, VA @ The Camel
April 17 - Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
April 18 - Atlanta, GA @ Altar at the Masquerade
April 19 - Nashville, TN @ Exit/In
April 21 - Tulsa, OK @ Vanguard
April 22 - Dallas, TX @ Ruins
April 23 - San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger
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