288. The Iveys, Family And Music, Born To Be Creative!

dHarmic Evolution

With 10 years and counting of making music together, let’s get to know more about the humble beginnings, struggles, and successes of the wild sibling group – The Ivey’s!

I am joined by 4 out of 5 members of the band, unfortunately, Hugo (lead guitarist and banjo player) can’t make it today. But I am delighted to be graced by the presence of Jessica, Jenna, Galen, and Arlen here on the show.

With seven kids in the family and five of them in the group, their other sibling Julia, used to be part of the band as well, and their oldest brother Shannon is into farming, it is very evident that the family loves music so much. Their interest in music started with their dad who they always hear singing while they are growing up. Their dad also exposed them to trying different vocal harmony lines; eventually, they individually learned to play musical instruments - Jessica with piano, Arlen on guitar, Galen took drum lessons, and so from there, everything evolved into the music that they have today.

To keep the creative flow going, the siblings put a lot of time and effort into discussing, planning everything out meticulously, and establishing the goals ahead of time, even scheduling the days when they have to go to the studio for recording. Luckily, they’ve got a studio a couple of miles away from where they live, and they consider this their second home. It is called Sonic Ranch Studios located in Tornillo, Texas. Over the years, they have gotten to know a lot of different musicians and artists who they’ve got the opportunities to do a collaboration with. One of them is Jerry Ordonez, a fantastic music engineer who co-produced their last two projects, Leslie Johnson played the bass for some of the recordings, Michael Ways recorded cello with them and many other musicians.

Democracy of siblings in a bandAs with all relationships, disagreements cannot be avoided, especially with The Ivey's because not only are their siblings but bandmates as well. Their mindset is really to try to be always focused on their goals and continue moving forward, always trying to remember that it’s not one person against the other. It’s more about having different ideas and coming together for the best possible option. They will always be a family and have each other.

Get to know more about the members of The Ivey’s:

GalenGalen is the drummer of the band; he graduated just last December with a film major. “Running Wild” is one of the first music videos he directed with his siblings. He is now in charge of the music video direction and post-production.

Jenna Jenna is 23 years old, graduated just last semester with a degree in theatre arts. She was helping the band to write songs even before she joined. She usually collaborates with Arlen when conceptualizing and writing songs, and works with Galen when filming their music videos.

JessicaArlen tagged Jessica along when he needed a pianist and a singer. At first, they were just doing cover songs together, then Arlen started bringing in original music, and the rest is history. When Jenna and Galen joined the band, and the group recorded “Colors of Honey”, layers upon layers, getting down the piano, guitar, vocals, and hearing it all together, was when Jessica had this epiphany that these have brought The Ivey’s sound to where it needed to be and completed it.

ArlenHe is the second among the seven Ivey siblings. He is the guitarist, “road manager”, and one of the songwriters of the band. Jenna and Arlen have written songs together; they sometimes write songs out of dreams, sometimes they work together and lead each other to a path, and it fits well. Something magical can happen with songwriters that are connected to each other and constantly working together. Arlen is not only the “spokesperson” of the group but he is also in charge of the bookings and schedules of their shows and tours.

Thoughts about their parentsTheir dad is a firm believer in the power of art. Their parents have been so encouraging now, and as they were growing up. They are so proud of what The Ivey’s have accomplished, and they are no doubt their biggest fans.

Want to know more about The Ivey’s?Click the links below to learn more about their music and future projects.

Timestamps2:12 Humble beginnings of The Ivey’s 5:00 Listen to “You’ve Got Something” by The Ivey’s 9:33 How do they keep the creative flow going 11:25 Recording process 14:22 Listen to “Running Wild” by The Ivey’s 17:41 Get to know more about Galen 19:33 The democracy of siblings in a band 22:27 Get to know more about Jenna 24:01 Get to know more about Jessica 24:47 Songwriting Inspirations 30:04 Listen to “Colors of Honey” by The Ivey’s 36:55 Galen’s experience being on the road with the band 39:54 Arlen’s role on the band 42:28 Listen to “Once an Eagle” by The Ivey’s 47:22 The epiphany of Jessica about the sound of The Ivey’s 49:08 Collaborations with other musicians 51:07 Thoughts about their parents 54:34 Connect with The Ivey’s 55:13 Listen to “Connected” by James Kevin O’Connor

Quotes“I would say what we try to do, is, we try because at the end of the day, you have to focus on the fact that you're both trying to get to a goal, and you both want to do what is best for the band.”

“We're always going to have each other. So that also makes it easier because this is a passion project. And we're all working together for the good of it and trying to convey something and capture a bit of magic with that, so with that focus, it helps because you always get back to that and disagreements have to be resolved, because you want to continue moving forward, and you love each other. You want it to be a positive environment.”

“It's important to be educated about music in general. But the sky's the limit with creativity and how you can apply your own creative juices to the subject constantly and keep learning new ways to do it all the time.”

Connect with The Iveys

Website - www.theiveysmusic.com

Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDQv2iL6DYLU06B-gNr9Ypg

Spotify- https://open.spotify.com/artist/4DfWZliaM2iPkHWyyeNz0j

Selected links and mentions

Beatles Simon & Garfunkel Bob Dylan Johnny Cash The Avett Brothers The Eagles The Lumineers First Aid Kit  Jerry Ordonez AC/DC Metallica Leslie Johnson Michael Way - a symphony orchestra